The Mingo County Redevelopment Authority has created several several businesses on mountaintop removal sites, and says the Obama administration’s stance on the controversial mining technique could mean dire consequences for future development in southern West Virginia.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently began scrutinizing mining permits, affecting the methods coal companies can use to dispose of waste created when the top of a mountain is removed to mine the coal underneath. The flat land created by the process has been used in Mingo County to hold Twisted Gun Gap Golf Course, the Wood Products Industrial Park the Mingo Air Transportation Park.  A new consolidated school, Mingo Central High School, is planned for a reclaimed mountaintop removal site, as well as the Mingo Hybrid Energy Center, a multi-billion dollar facility that will, if completed, include a plant that will convert coal to gasoline and diesel, as well as other alternative energy projects.

MCRA Chairman Mike Whitt says he feels that, if the criteria for mountaintop removal is going to be changed, the county should be given specific guidelines as to what is expected of coal companies.

“If the EPA says the process [of mountaintop removal] doesn’t work, we need to know what we can do to fix the problem,” Whitt said. “We have a good track record, and we want to go forward with these projects.”

Whitt’s statements come following public support by the Mingo County Commission for mountaintop removal projects. The MCC has petitioned legislators, including Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) and congressman Nick Joe Rahall (D-WV) to help support mountaintop removal, calling the mining method ‘crucial’ to future development in Southern West Virginia. County Commissioners John Mark Hubbard, Greg “Hootie” Smith and David Baisden, in a letters to the congressmen, said denial of mountaintop permits will “jeopardize the tax base of southern West Virginia counties, severely hampering the ability of local governments to provide basic resources to residents.”

Whitt agrees, and says he knows Mingo County’s representatives in Washington will look out for the best interests of their constituents.

 “Our congressional delegates are working hard to get the EPA to issue permits,” Whitt said. “They know how important mountaintop mining is to the state of West Virginia.”