COAL OPERATORS WIN BATTLE TO REMOVE BLAIR MT. FROM HISTORIC REGISTER

(07/07/2009)

The Blair Mountain Battlefield, a historic site where coal miners and mine operators fought in 1921, has had a brief listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The 1,600-acre site of a bloody battle in Southern West Virginia over union organizing is being removed from the list. Property owners and coal industry officials say the preservation effort is an attempt to block new surface mining operations from starting in the area. State coal officials submitted form letters for owners asking the request be denied. Federal rules bar listing an area on the register if a majority of area property owners oppose it. Historians and environmentalists have argued that the site is as historically significant as Gettysburg. A coalition of historians, environmentalists and Logan County residents have been trying since 1980 to get federal recognition for the site where 10,000 miners battled the State Police and federal troops in what has been called the largest armed uprising in America. West Virginia's Governor at the time had the US Army drop bombs on the miners. Massey Energy plans surface mining operations near the proposed historic site.

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