WISE, Va. (AP) — State regulators have upheld the denial of a permit for a proposed mountaintop removal mine in Southwest Virginia.
The Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy denied the permit for A&G Coal Corp.'s proposed 1,300-acre Ison Rock Ridge mine in February. The department said A&G hadn't resolved certain violations and bonds and fees that were due by November 2012 to the Division of Mined Land Reclamation.
The Bristol Herald Courier reports that the department sent a letter to A&G Coal owner Jim Justice and the parent company, Roanoke-based Southern Coal Corp., last week notifying them that it had upheld the denial.
A&G had applied for the permit in 2007. The state agency says the company can submit another application.
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Information from: Bristol Herald Courier, http://www.bristolnews.com