Protecting environmental integrity in the Allegheny-Blue Ridge region
Press ReleaseAugust 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.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) effort to designate metallurgical coal a “critical material” in the department’s 2026 Critical Materials Assessment relies on a flawed and insufficient process, as detailed in a letter signed by a dozen groups. The Department
Today, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement determined that a bankrupt coal company with a long history of regulatory violations has the right to haul coal through the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. Richmond, Virginia-based South Fork
Dominion Energy wants to spend $4.5 billion on a massive gas-burning plant at its old Chesterfield coal station—right next to the Dutch Gap Conservation Area. Chesterfield neighbors have already lived with coal-ash pollution for decades. Now they’d get millions more
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.
Last week, ABRA joined representatives of conservation organization from across the nation in Washington, D.C. The trip was sponsored by Earth Justice and Sierra Club. We met with lawmakers to convey our concerns about the potential harms to our national
The threat of toxic pollution from coal strip mining in the headwaters of one of the Gauley’s primary tributaries — the Cherry River — has made it one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers® of 2025. In Greenbrier and Pocahontas counties in West Virginia, South Fork Coal Company operates a network of strip mines, haul roads and a coal preparation plant spanning over 3,600 acres.
ABRA—together with the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and Appalachian Voices—has been deeply involved in exposing and challenging an illegal coal haul road used by South Fork Coal Company in the Monongahela National Forest. After these groups filed formal complaints last
The Cherry River uprising: A David vs. Goliath showdown to defend the Monongahela By Andrew Young, chair of the WVHC Extractive Industries Committee and staff attorney for the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance Since 2023, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, together with
Today, 11 conservation organizations urged the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement to take immediate action to close an illegal coal haul road in the Monongahela National Forest in Greenbrier and Pocahontas Counties, West Virginia.