FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2025
CONTACT
Andrew Young
Staff Attorney, Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance
607-377-1450
WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Delaware ruled Tuesday in favor of two motions filed by conservation groups, allowing key legal and administrative actions to move forward to protect portions of the Monongahela National Forest from mining activities by South Fork Coal Company, despite the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. South Fork Coal Co. filed for bankruptcy in February 2025.
Today’s ruling lifts the bankruptcy-related pause — known as an “automatic stay” — on two separate efforts by conservation advocates to stop illegal coal hauling operations by the company through the Monongahela National Forest. The decision breathes new life into legal actions and administrative appeals aimed at holding the federal government accountable for allowing these destructive activities in one of West Virginia’s most cherished public landscapes.
West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Appalachian Voices, Greenbrier River Watershed Association, Kanawha Forest Coalition, Center for Biological Diversity and the West Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club are all plaintiffs in the ongoing lawsuit. Allegheny Blue Ridge Alliance joins West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and Appalachian Voices in the administrative matters.
“Yesterday’s orders reaffirm a simple principle: Bankruptcy is not a free pass to ignore environmental laws or silence public oversight,” said Andrew Young, staff attorney for the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance. “This is a win for the Monongahela National Forest, for clean water and for every American who refuses to let our public lands be sacrificed for short‑term profit.”
The conservation groups are represented by Appalachian Mountain Advocates and the Center for Biological Diversity in the U.S. Forest Service matter, and by the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance in the administrative matters. Ashby & Geddes provided local counsel in the South Fork Coal Co. bankruptcy proceedings. In 2024, the groups sued the U.S. Forest Service for allowing coal trucks and heavy equipment to be transported through the Monongahela National Forest in violation of the Endangered Species Act and other key environmental laws. Some of the groups also began formal appeals under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act to revoke permits granted without proper environmental oversight.
The court’s decision allows both the lawsuit against the Forest Service and the ongoing administrative appeals within the Department of the Interior to proceed while the company remains in bankruptcy.
South Fork Coal Company has been cited for more than 140 environmental violations since 2019. These violations occurred overwhelmingly in the Cherry River watershed, a habitat for the endangered candy darter and a vital headwater of the Gauley River, a cornerstone of the region’s ecotourism economy. The company’s permit, issued in 2013, was based on unsupported claims that its operations did not impact the national forest, yet records show that hauling through the forest began as early as 2021 and has continued largely unchecked until early 2025.
In January, after conservation groups submitted evidence of the illegal coal hauling, federal regulators temporarily ceased coal hauling on the roads in the national forest. But that decision was quietly reversed just weeks later, in a proceeding that the public and conservation groups were not notified about.
“We have members who fish and paddle the Cherry River and hike in the Monongahela National Forest,” said Willie Dodson, Coal Impacts Program Manager at Appalachian Voices. “They care deeply about this place. We are drawing a line in the sand — if coal companies think they will get a rubber stamp to steamroll public lands and clean water, they’re in for a fight.”
West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and Appalachian Voices also filed a separate lawsuit against South Fork Coal in December 2024 for repeated violations of the Clean Water Act. That case remains on hold due to the company’s bankruptcy.
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LINK TO COMMENTS IN OPPOSITION of Valid Existing Rights Determination
Comments in Opposition
LINK TO OUR MOTIONS IN DELAWARE
Reply ISO Motion for relief from the automatic stay (USFS Case)
Motion for relief from the automatic stay (administrative)
Reply ISO Motion for relief from the automatic stay (administrative)
Order granting relief(administrative)