SPECTRUM NEWS: Safety, Environmental Violations Pile Up at Kentucky’s ‘Zombie’ Coal Mines

“Mary Varson Cromer, an attorney and deputy director of the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center in Whitesburg, told James Bruggers of Inside Climate News that data shows there are many “zombie” coal mines, which are operations that have been idled, sometimes for years, without the required reclamation work being done on those sites. 

According to Inside Climate News, a state official wrote in an email on Dec. 15, 2021, that 810 notices of noncompliance with surface mining regulations were active, a record high. John Mura, spokesperson for the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, explained the data by looking at the “unprecedented number of bankruptcies’’ caused by the decline of coal mining operations in the Commonwealth.”

Read the article here.