Environmental groups are suing South Fork Coal Company, alleging the company has repeatedly violated federal law in Greenbrier County.

The lawsuit said the company has continued to discharge pollutants into nearby waterways at levels exceeding legal limits. Environmental advocates said despite years of dumping pollutants, the state's environmental protection department has not taken action to stop South Fork Coal.

Andrew Young, chair of the extractive industries committee for the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, said the lawsuit is asking for an injunction to immediately stop the dumping and ensure the company properly reclaims the land.

"We noticed that South Forks' own monitoring data showed that they were often discharging pollutants like iron, manganese, in excess of their legal limits," Young pointed out. "The allegations are based largely on what the company itself is reporting."

Advocates said the five mines in the lawsuit all discharge pollutants into the Laurel Creek Watershed and/or the South Fork of the Cherry River Watershed. Both streams feed into the Gauley River, an internationally renowned destination for whitewater rafting and kayaking, and home to the endangered candy darter.

The lawsuit also highlighted the company's failure to submit required water quality assessments and reclaim unused sites. Young argued the company's neglect of water and land standards puts local communities and the outdoor recreation economy at risk.

"The mines at issue here lie adjacent to the Monongahela National Forest, and it's less than six miles from the world-renowned Cranberry glades and Cranberry Glades Wilderness Area," Young explained.

The state's tourism industry brought in nearly $9 billion last year. According to the governor's office, more than 75 million visitors traveled to the Mountain State last year, and spent more than $6 billion.

One of many federal agencies facing cuts by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Scientists said it will threaten Americans' safety, especially in states with extreme weather events, including Montana.

NOAA employees are bracing for expected staffing cuts of up to 20%, or more than 1,000 jobs. Among other roles, NOAA's National Weather Service provides open-source weather data the majority of U.S. forecasters use, including for warnings and advisories.

Bernadette Woods Placky, chief meteorologist and vice president of engagement for Climate Central, said NOAA provides critical weather data.

"Because of NOAA data, we know when to evacuate ahead of storms, fires," Woods Placky explained. "We know when not to evacuate, which is also really critical because that saves a lot of money and a lot of time."

Other conditions NOAA data helps Montanans understand include avalanches, floods, high winds, air quality, red-flag warnings and extreme heat. Woods Placky added beyond short-term predictions, NOAA data helps farmers understand what to plant and when to harvest, especially as crop hardiness zones shift due to climate change.

NOAA's data on storm events and climate change dates back to 1950 and goes beyond U.S. borders. Woods Placky pointed out unstable governments can interrupt data gathering.

"When you get that gap in the data, it invalidates the long-term data sets," Woods Placky stressed. "You can't carry it with the same weight to tease out longer-term trends to keep people safe and prepared on longer-term shifts that we're seeing."

She added global groups use NOAA's data, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the United Nations.

David Dickson, TV engagement coordinator for the nonprofit Covering Climate Now, said while some have argued services NOAA offers could be privatized, the sentiment shows a misunderstanding.

"To argue against NOAA not being useful because we have private companies offering weather apps would be to argue against farmers because we have grocery stores," Dickson emphasized. "It really does fund the invisible backbone of virtually everything we consume."


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Forty religious leaders from different denominations gathered in Texas this week to call for an end to fossil-fuel subsidies and expansion of related infrastructure.The meeting occurred just days before the Environmental Protection Agency announced it is rolling back landmark environmental regulations.

Aly Tharp, Gulf South organizer for GreenFaith USA, said the faith community has a moral obligation to oppose the cuts and organize against the changes.

"So, when we listen to the science and when we listen to Scripture, to moral lessons from all faith traditions,' she said, "it's a clear call that we're on a path that's mutually assured destruction. And we must change and start investing in our common survival. "

The religious leaders took part in public demonstrations outside the annual oil and gas industry CERAWeek conference in Houston. They also drafted a letter to the Trump Administration calling for subsidy money to be redirected to improve the environment.

Faith leaders toured communities near fossil-fuel facilities in the Houston area. Ilka Vega, executive for economic and environmental justice for United Women in Faith, said the neighborhoods are predominantly made up of low-income people of color.

"Seeing through their eyes what used to be their post office, their houses, their schools and everything that was taken away from them," she said. "Places where they would go fishing and where they would go swimming and have fun, that were contaminated."

The head of the EPA has said he and President Donald Trump support rewriting the agency's 2009 finding that planet-warming greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.

Religious leaders and people of diverse faiths are being invited to sign the letter to the Trump administration on the GreenFaith USA website.

Virginia has certain restrictions in place for workers handling animal waste in order to avoid contaminating groundwater sources. But one expert says the Commonwealth could do more to educate people about the risk.

Last year, Virginia updated regulations for animal waste at animal feeding operations. One of those regulations included ensuring that storage areas are higher than one foot above the seasonal high water table.

Bryan Dunning, a senior policy analyst for the nonprofit Center for Progressive Reform, said the Commonwealth took a step in the right direction with increased monitoring.

"It's for all facilities constructed after '98," he said. "So, that is some improved monitoring to get an idea of if there are problems with the facility that is breaching into the groundwater."

Dunning added that pre-1998 systems are grandfathered in under the new regulations. The agriculture industry accounts for half of the nitrogen and phosphorus that sucks oxygen out of Chesapeake Bay, which is needed to sustain aquatic life.

Dunning said Virginia officials could take steps to further combat groundwater contamination from manure at animal-feeding operations. That includes making data electronically available to the general public without the need to file a Freedom of Information Act request.

"Public information for these sorts of things is really important because if you source your water for your house from a private well, you're responsible for making sure that your water's clean," he said. "And without having that sort of publicly available database, basically to increase public knowledge, you're kind of operating in an information blackhole. "

Dunning added that unauthorized discharge of animal waste should be publicly disclosed. Confinement operators have said they are always looking for ways to be more environmentally friendly, while also keeping up with consumer demand for high-quality meat.


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