Press Release
August 19, 2025
CONTACT
Dan Radmacher, Media Specialist, (276) 289-1018,
Wilmington, DE. — Late last week, White Forest Resources, the parent company of South
Fork Coal Company announced that its bankruptcy would end in liquidation rather than
restructuring. South Fork Coal has a history of more than 140 environmental
violations at its mining complex near Richwood, West Virginia. The company also illegally
transported coal through the Monongahela National Forest from 2022 until earlier this year.
In an Aug. 15 motion in its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, the company declared it could
not continue to conduct coal mining operations or find a buyer for its mines, and would
liquidate.
South Fork Coal Company’s operations surround and impact the headwaters of the South
Fork of Cherry River, with additional runoff from the company’s mines, haul roads and coal
processing plant also impacting the North Fork of Cherry River, Laurel Creek and Big Clear
Creek, all of which are in the Gauley River watershed.
“I’m not surprised that South Fork has struggled to find a buyer for these mines,” said Willie
Dodson, Coal Impacts Program Manager at Appalachian Voices. “The company’s years
long pattern of neglecting environmental protections has led to a situation where its coal
reserves are largely depleted, but its mines are saddled with massive liabilities. What
company would want to buy that kind of mess?”
Last month, the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement issued a
“valid existing rights” determination giving the company permission to haul coal through
the Monongahela National Forest — even though the company doesn’t satisfy the
requirements for this exception to the ban on operating within eastern national forests,
outlined in the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.
The determination was based on the existence of a road use permit previously issued to the
company by the Forest Service. That permit was issued in violation of the National
Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, prompting conservation groups
represented by the Center for Biological Diversity and Appalachian Mountain Advocates
to sue the Forest Service in January 2024. That suit is on hold until after the bankruptcy is
resolved.
The Forest Service is expected to issue a new special road use permit to South Fork in the
coming weeks. This permit, as proposed, would again bypass requirements laid out in the
National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, with the agency
unlawfully attempting to use a “categorical exclusion” intended to streamline permitting for
minor projects that will not result in significant impacts on the environment. It is unclear
how White Forest Resources’ move to liquidate may affect this permit issuance.
In December 2024, Appalachian Voices and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy,
represented by Appalachian Mountain Advocates, sued South Fork over more than 80
violations of the Clean Water Act and Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. That
suit is on hold until the bankruptcy proceedings resolve.
“South Fork has cut every corner it could to get coal out of the ground, and it still wasn’t
enough to turn a profit,” said Andrew Young, staff attorney for the Allegheny-Blue Ridge
Alliance. “The company has collapsed under the weight of its own mismanagement. The
Cherry River and the Monongahela National Forest are nothing but collateral damage as far
as these inept profiteers are concerned. But we are going to keep advocating for the land,
the water, the people and the critters, whatever happens next.”
There are also numerous outstanding administrative complaints that were brought before
the OSMRE by Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance, Appalachian Voices, West Virginia Highlands
Conservancy and others. These include a January 2025 complaint over the illegal hauling of
coal through the national forest, a July 2025 complaint over South Fork falsely asserting in
its state mining permit application that its haul road would not enter the national forest,
and an August 2025 complaint about orange mine drainage leaving South Fork’s Lost Flats
Mine, and flowing down an access road into a tributary of the Cherry river.
“It was the West Virginia DEP that allowed this company to wreck the mountains and
pollute the river,” said Olivia Miller, Program Director for the West Virginia Highlands
Conservancy. “Now that the very predictable end of South Fork Coal is on the horizon, it’s
time for the DEP to own its mistakes by seizing the company’s reclamation bonds, and
using that money to reclaim these mines. In fact, DEP should hire the miners who have lost
their jobs through no fault of their own to perform this reclamation.”