The office says it's for failure to perform mitigation requirements at former mining sites in Kentucky’s Muhlenberg and Crittenden counties. Elgin Mining and its subsidiaries have agreed to pay a $3,221,292 settlement.
Between 2005 and 2009, the attorney's office says the Army Corps of Engineers Louisville Division (USACE) issued four permits or authorizations pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, to three companies which at the time were wholly owned subsidiaries of Phoenix Coal Corporation, which is owned by Elgin Mining. Those permits were issued to Charolais Coal No. 1,LLC; C&R Coal Company, Inc., and Crittenden County Coal, Inc.
The attorney's office says the permits allowed these companies to discharge dredged or fill material into waters of the United States in conjunction with their surface mining operations located in Muhlenberg and Crittenden counties. The permits provided that the companies had to comply with certain conditions specified in them. Among the conditions were requirements that the permit holders provide mitigation by restoring or establishing additional streams and wetlands to replace the streams and wetlands lost as a result of the mining activities. The government alleged that the current permit holders, all wholly owned subsidiaries of Elgin Mining, failed to perform the required on-site mitigation which resulted in the loss of aquatic resources. Specifically, they say, streams, wetlands and open waters were filled in with soil and mining overburden, and mitigation to replace the lost aquatic resources was never completed.
All parties agreed that Elgin Mining would pay $3,071,292.00 to the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources’ Wetland and Stream Mitigation In-Lieu-Fee Program, which provides mitigation credits for impacts to Kentucky’s wetlands and streams associated with discharges of dredged or fill material. Elgin Mining is also required to pay a civil penalty of $150,000 to the United States.
