WAYNE, W.Va. -- Wayne County is preparing to sit down with officials of a coal company that want to mine public land near East Lynn Lake.
Argus Energy environmental compliance manager Randall Maggard says he plans to address county concerns about his company's joint mining proposal with Foundation Coal Corp. subsidiary Rockspring Development at Monday's county commission meeting. The companies want to mine 26 million tons of coal near East Lynn Lake.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers bought the property and built East Lynn Lake in the 1960s and spent $55.5 million buying mineral rights to protect it from mining from 1977 to 1991.
Federal legislation pushed by W.Va. Rep. Nick Rahall allows the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to lease the mineral rights, not the Corps.