CARROLLTON, Ohio (AP) — A citizens group is requesting extra
scrutiny of a company’s plans for an underground coal mine in eastern
Ohio because of the January chemical spill that contaminated the water
supply for 300,000 West Virginians.
The mine south of Carrollton
is planned by Rosebud Mining Co., whose owner, J. Clifford Forrest, also
owns Freedom Industries, the company responsible for the spill. Freedom
Industries has filed for bankruptcy, temporarily shielding it from
dozens of lawsuits, many by businesses that lost money while shuttered
during a water-use ban.
The Carroll Concerned Citizens group in
eastern Ohio has asked the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to put a
hold on new coal mining permit requests by Rosebud, according to The
(Dover-New Philadelphia) Times-Reporter (http://bit.ly/MSchnx). The
letter to the department from the group’s attorney, Richard Salhi,
requested extra scrutiny on Rosebud’s application and raised concerns
about whether the lawsuits and other issues involving Forrest’s business
might affect the Ohio project.
"The big question today in Carroll
County is: Can a company facing such enormous liabilities be counted
upon not to cut corners on the protections for Carroll County’s
irreplaceable groundwater sources?" Salhi wrote.
Officials with Pennsylvania-based Rosebud didn’t respond to a request for comment, the newspaper said.

The company’s planned underground mine would cover more than 9,400 acres, stretching across three
townships.
The company also wants to open a surface mining operation on nearly 70 acres.
Officials
with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said the agency’s review
of the company’s permit request will take quite a bit of time and is far
from being completed.
The citizens group wants the department to
suspend that consideration process until the completion of an
investigation by federal prosecutors and the clarification of any
liabilities for Forrest and Rosebud for damages by Freedom Industries.
Paul Feezel, head of the citizens group, said they have not received a response from the state.
The
Jan. 9 spill of a coal-cleaning chemical at Freedom Industries in
Charleston, W.Va., spurred a water-use ban for 300,000 people for up to
10 days.
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Information from: The Times Reporter, http://www.timesreporter.com
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