SUPREME COURT HEARING COAL SILO CASE - Company Wants To Build 2nd Silo Near School

(04/09/2009)

(Hur Herald Photo)

The West Virginia Supreme Court is set to consider whether a coal company should be allowed to build a second coal silo near Marsh Fork Elementary School.

The current hearing involves Coal River Mountain Watch's appeal of a circuit court ruling that upheld Massey Coal's plan to build another storage silo about 260 feet from the school.

Coal River Mountain Watch has long opposed the silo's location a few feet from the school.

The state Department of Environmental Protection rejected Massey Coal's permit, but that decision was overturned by the Surface Mine Board. Kanawha County Circuit Judge Duke Bloom upheld the board's decision in September 2007.

Chief Justice Brent Benjamin has removed himself from the case.