Help Protect the Black Mountains in Southeastern Kentucky
10/19/98
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Help Protect the Black Mountains in Southeastern Kentucky
Source: Kentuckians for The Commonwealth
Status: Distribute freely with proper credit to source
Date: 10/19/98
ACTION ALERT
To whom it may concern:
The Harlan County chapter of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth seeks your
support in its efforts to protect Black Mountain, Kentucky's highest
mountain, from further strip mining. As you will read in the letter
below, Black Mountain is a biological habitat unique in Kentucky,
containing the only acreage in the state higher than 3600 feet above sea
level. Marc Evans, senior ecologist with the Kentucky State Nature
Preserves Commission, says of Black Mountain, "Ecologically and
biologically, it's the crown jewel of Kentucky."
Jericol Mining Inc., which is leasing land from Arch Mineral, whose
majority shareholder is Ashland, Inc., has a preliminary permit
application filed with the Kentucky DSMRE (Division of Surface Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement) to strip mine within hundreds of feet of
Kentucky's highest point on Black Mountain, but the opportunity exists for
the state or federal government to acquire parts of the mountain and add
Black Mountain's higher elevations to the public trust.
At the federal level, Ashland, Incorporated, maker of Valvoline motor oil
and majority owner of many coal properties on Black Mountain, has recently
been assessed with $32.5 million in fines by the federal Environmental
Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice for illegal air and
water pollution. It has been suggested that Ashland might make recompense
in some part by donating its property on Black Mountain to the public
trust.
KFTC is asking for help. What can you do?
1) Contact Kentucky Governor Paul Patton, state representatives and
senators, the state Department of Natural Resources, or the Kentucky
Heritage Land Conservation Fund and ask that they work to acquire as
public land as much of Black Mountain's higher elevations as possible.
2) Contact your U.S. Senator or House of Representatives member and ask
them to assist the Department of Justice and federal E.P.A. in making it
possible for Ashland to put the parts of Black Mountain it owns in public
trust in recompense for past environmental violations.
3) Remind Governor Patton, state representatives, and the U.S.
congressional delegation that the pending mining applications on Black
Mountain should not be approved because of 1) the potential impact on the
headwaters of Clover Fork and Razor Fork which run into the Cumberland
River and 2) the impact the mining would have on the only plant and animal
habitats above 3,000 feet in altitude in Kentucky.
4) Urge the U.S. EPA and Ashland, Inc. to consider the donation of Arch's
reserves on Big Black to the Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission in lieu
of a comparable amount of penalties, or if Arch has sold the reserves,
that Ashland / Arch arrange with the purchaser to donate the reserves.
(Addresses: Paul W. Chellgren, CEO 1000 Ashland Drive Russell, KY 41169
(606) 329-3333; John Hankinson Regional Administrator EPA - Region 4 61
Forsyth Street, SW Atlanta, Georgia 30303)
5) Write letters to the editor of the Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader and the
Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal. (Addresses: Herald-Leader: 100 Midland
Avenue, Lexington, KY 40508; hledit@lex.infi.net Courier-Journal: Readers
Forum, The Courier Journal, P.O. Box 740031, Louisville, KY 40201-7431;
cjletter@louisv02@gannett.com)
Attached is a letter to Kentucky officials, adapted from a letter written
in October, 1998 by Tom FitzGerald, executive director of the Kentucky
Resources Council.
Thank you for your help. For more information, check the website
cataloging recent publications about Black Mountain and mountaintop
removal at
http://www.appalnet.org/BlackMountainBlues.htm
or contact Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, 606-878-2161, or write KFTC,
P.O. Box 1450, London, KY 40743-1450.
[form letter based on a letter written in October, 1998 by Tom FitzGerald,
director of the Kentucky Resources Council]
Hugh Archer, Commissioner
Department for Natural Resources
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
William Martin, Chair
Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Dear Mssrs. Archer and Martin:
I am writing to convey my support for the acquisition and protection of
Black Mountain in southeastern Kentucky, and to ask the support of the
members of the Kentucky Heritage Land Conservation Fund Board for such
efforts.
Big Black Mountain, located in the Cumberland Mountains in southeastern
Kentucky, is the tallest of the Cumberland Mountains, a ridge extending
some 28 miles from Loyall, in Harlan County, Kentucky, to Wise County,
Virginia, and shaping the Kentucky-Virginia border for some of that
length. Much of the land comprising Black Mountain, some 4400 acres,
according to the Kentucky Nature Preserves Commission, is unique in
Kentucky as the only place where the elevation exceeds 3,600 feet above
sea level.
Black Mountain is a unique ecological and biological resource, because of
its elevation and the unique species composition arrayed at the higher
elevations, and because of the diversity of species. Although the
mountain has never been systematically assessed for cultural and
biological resources, what is available reflects the health of the
biological and ecological resource unique to Kentucky.
A Comprehensive Protection Plan developed by the Kentucky Nature Preserves
Commission for U.S. Steel, which formerly held interests on Black
Mountain, recognized the importance of Black Mountain with these words:
Big Black Mountain, reaching an elevation of 4,150 feet is the highest
point in the Commonwealth and may very well be Kentucky's most
significant ecosystem. . . . This mountain, with its unique plants and
wildlife and sweeping panoramas, is an important part of the cultural
and natural heritage of the region. Because of its altitude, it serves
as a refugium for some of the state's rarest organisms, making the
area extremely important to the preservation of Kentucky's natural
diversity.
According to that same protection plan, coal reserves still remain in the
two lower seams in the mountain. Mining is currently ongoing at a lower
elevation, and the possibility exists of future mountaintop or strip
contour mining which could adversely affect the biological integrity of
the area.
The acquisition of mineral and surface rights on behalf of the public in
Black Mountain, and dedication of the area above the 3,000 foot interval
as a natural management and nature preserve, should be a priority for the
public and government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Initially, it is extremely important that a comprehensive inventory be
conducted of the biological and ecological resources of Black Mountain.
Assuming that landowner consent can be obtained, the Council asks the
Board to authorize the Department for Natural Resources to engage in
discussions concerning the inventory and possible acquisition of interests
in Black Mountain, and to develop a comprehensive plan for protection of
Black Mountain's unique ecosystem.