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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

WVDEP sues Lexington Coal Co. for $8.6 million in delinquent fines. Photo by @coalrivermountain.bsky.social, flyover courtesy @southwings.bsky.social. Read more at www.crmw.net/updates/wvde...

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

Act today to keep 10 million tons of coal in the ground & protect 670 acres of Appalachian headwater forest from a New mountaintop removal permit. Comment by 11/12/25, details at www.crmw.net/updates/oppo... #EndMountaintopRemoval #EnvironmentalJustice

Appalachian mountain valley in fall foliage. This is Righthand Fork near Rock Creek, WV, on Coal River Mountain. Coal giant Alpha Metallurgical Resources has submitted an application to strip mine (mountaintop removal) 670 acres of the ridges at the head of this and adjacent hollers.

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Apparently, the only "elevated enforcement actions" that WVDEP intends to take is to threaten elevated enforcement actions. This is just one of many violations that WVDEP keeps extending for Lexington Coal Company, months beyond the 90-day limit. #EndMountainTopRemoval #EnvironmentalJustice

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

And if you’d like to support our frontlines, eyes in the sky and boots on the ground work in the literal trenches, please do so at secure.givelively.org/donate/coal-.... We need all the help we can get. Thanks!

secure.givelively.org

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Act at link in comments to protect 1,900 acres of lush forested Appalachian Mountains, keep 56 million tons of coal in the ground, & keep 3 miles of headwater streams from being buried by chronic violator Lexington Coal Co. LCC owes $3 million in delinquent fines. youtu.be/jv_uZmwVgw8?...

youtu.be

Surface mine violations by Lexington Coal Co. on Cherry Pond Mountain, WV Flyover 8/8/2024

YouTube video by Coal River Mountain Watch

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Imagine if they’d had sandwiches. 🥪

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

Hazardous dust cloud from #MountainTopRemoval blasting on Coal River Mountain, WV, 8/8/2025. Communities near MTR suffer high rates of deadly illnesses-cancer, heart disease, etc #EndMountainTopRemoval #EnvironmentalJustice Flight by @southwings.bsky.social Video by @coalrivermountain.bsky.social

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

I misspoke. Still, keeping 56 million tons of coal in the ground seems like a worthy endeavor.

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Keep 63 million tons of coal in the ground, protect 1,900 acres of Appalachian Mountain headwater forest, and protect the health of communities downwind and downstream. Easy to comment today. #EndMountainTopRemoval #EnvironmentalJustice #KeepItInTheGround docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

A forested mountain valley, Matt’s Creek holler in Boone County, WV. The mountain to the right of the stream is largely denuded, with bare rubble, erosion gullies, and rock cliffs, and has the permit number S502007 superimposed on the rubble. This permit is the Crescent #2 surface mine operated by Lexington Coal Company, which owes over $3 million in delinquent fines for violations on this and other permits.
The mountain ridge to the left of the stream is covered with green forest and has the permit number S502808 superimposed. Lexington has requested renewal of permit S502808, which is so far undisturbed, by WV Department of Environmental Protection.
The photo is in a post with a link where people can comment to oppose renewal of this permit. If it is renewed and Lexington begins extracting coal, they will turn the lush forest on the left into more of the dusty, polluting moonscape on the right. This is 1,900 acres of Appalachian headwater carbon-sink forest that would be bulldozed and burned to extract 63 million tons of climate-killing coal.

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

I wish the media would stop saying “detained” and “in detention.” That sounds so temporary. “We were detained by a traffic jam.” “Two students got detention for cussing in class.” Abducted, imprisoned, etc seems more semantically appropriate.

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Alpha Metallurgical Resources must be just giddy to profit even more from polluting our rivers, land, air, and lungs.

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Alpha Metallurgical Resources must be just giddy to profit even more from pollution like this.

A polluted tributary running black into a river. A road bridge crosses the tributary.

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Vernon Haltom @vernon-haltom.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Plundering polluters always claim “no environmental harms” and lavish prosperity for all. And since they pollute with relative impunity on land, such as mountaintop removal for coal, it’s laughable to imagine any effective regulation in the deep sea.

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 05/07/2025

As climate-crisis “freak” weather events become the norm and forecasting, preparation, and reporting are defunded into oblivion, some likely Orwellian statements may include “we’ve always had deadly floods” and “weather forecasters are always wrong; this is their fault; fire and prosecute them.”

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Vernon Haltom @vernon-haltom.bsky.social · 05/07/2025

“They work cheap” may be the worst reason to oppose abducting and disappearing people.

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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 05/07/2025

Tragedy in Texas hill country, where 4 months’ worth of rain in just four hours caused Guadalupe River levels to spike 30 feet in just an hour and a half - in the middle of the night. Two dozen are dead in the resulting floods and another 20 young campers still missing. apnews.com/article/texa...

washingtonpost.com

Why the Texas floods were so severe

Flooding rains in and around Kerr County had brought a widespread 10 to 15 total inches by Friday morning. Four months of rainfall came down in four hours.

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

Babies born to mothers living near mountaintop removal are 42% more likely to have birth defects, probably due to the ultrafine dust from blasting. It’s good to see new studies connecting more dots.

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Appalshop @appalshop.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

This #PrideMonth, we’ll be sharing AMI’s LGBTQ+ film catalog. Up first is one of our earliest LGBTQ+ films, showcasing queer voices from Appalachia. loom.ly/IiYjlA0 🎥: Appalachian Media Institute, “Through Their Eyes,” Danielle Burke, April Caudill, Charles Cupp, Brittany Rowlette, 1999.

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Law requires WVDEP to decide within 60 days of the hearing. On 3/5/25, 429 days after the hearing, in response to our FOIA request, they decided Lexington should keep their permit. *Even though* Lexington is doubly delinquent on $3M in fines, including this permit. crmw.net/updates/lexi... 2/2

crmw.net

Updates | Coal River Mountain Watch

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Just the latest in a series of violations by Lexington Coal Co. In a Show Cause hearing 4/10/24, their head polluter said they wouldn’t violate anymore if WV Dept of Environmental Protection would let them keep their permit. We intervened, saying it should be revoked. 1/2 #EndMountainTopRemoval

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Meanwhile, residents have zero protection from the silica dust they’re forced to breathe by coal companies conducting mountaintop removal blasting near their homes. This was the explosive equivalent of 305 tomahawk missiles. #EndMountainTopRemoval

Aerial view of a dust cloud from a mountaintop removal blast drifting through a community in a narrow valley.

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Aerial view of a dust cloud from a blast at a mountaintop removal coal mine, drifting through a hollow with homes.

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Meanwhile, residents have zero protection from the silica dust they’re forced to breathe from mountaintop removal near their homes.

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

On April 5, 2010, the Upper Big Branch mine in our Coal River community exploded, killing 29 miners. The CEO of Massey Energy spent a year in prison for conspiring to violate safety requirements. In 2025, two miners have died within 5 miles of the disaster. Now Mine Safety offices are closing.

Brass plaque reading “In memory of the 29 men whose lives were lost at Upper Big Branch April 5, 2010.

29 black hardhats mounted below 29 photos, under a brass plaque reading “In memory of the 29 men whose lives were lost at Upper Big Branch April 5, 2010.” All are mounted on a structure of steel beams with a concrete foundation. Wreaths, angel statues, and other items adorn the display. Trees are in the background with a gravel parking area in the foreground.

A vertical brass plaque mounted on a large rock. The plaque reads “The Upper Big Branch
Miners Memorial
Dedicated July 27, 2012
This memorial is dedicated to twenty-nine miners who lost their lives in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Coal Mine on April 5th, 2010 and to all miners who have suffered injury, illness or death as a result of working in the coal industry. This granite monument will forever stand as a reminder to all that pass here of the human cost that West Virginians have so dearly paid to power this great nation. It is our sincere hope that all who visit will find peace in these words and images.
Planned, Developed and Funding Raised by The Upper Big Branch Mining Memorial Group, Inc
Sheila Combs - President
Michael Gwinn Il - Vice President
Pamela Miller - Treasurer
Project Designed by Rob Dinsmore, ASLA
Chapman Technical Group
Built by
Pray Construction
Made possible by contributions from Alpha Natural Resources and over 100 other corporate partners.

A long, thin granite wall, with the top shaped like a mountain range. On it is a light silhouette of 29 miners with a dark background.

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

My first thought was that water monitors were people who monitor water for pollution.

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

You don’t have to live in the immediate area or even WV to comment. If you live on Earth, your interests are adversely affected. But Permit supervisor Laura Claypool seems to never deny a permit, regardless of comments. Comment anyway. #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJustice #ClimateCrisis

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Taishan Coal has demonstrated that they are unable or unwilling to operate the site in compliance with laws and permit requirements. WVDEP has demonstrated that they are unable or unwilling to take effective, meaningful enforcement measures. 🧵

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Coal River Mountain Watch @coalrivermountain.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Taishan has already been violating these sediment control requirements. One violation for allowing sediment accumulation more than 60% of design capacity ran from 2/9/2023 until 7/31/2024. That’s 538 days, when the law allows only 90, & abated only after CRMW complained to federal oversight. 🧵

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