Companies Appeal Violations, Fines
 
 
By JOHN MONGLE, Staff Writer
November 18, 2004
 

Matt Mining Co. Inc. wants the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy to review violations, a cessation order and fines levied following the Aug. 20 death of a boy in Inman.

Matt Mining requested an administrative review of violations and a cessation order on Sept. 20. The company asked for an administrative review of fines levied against it on Oct. 7.

No date has been set for the administrative review, which will likely cover the violations and the fines, according to agency spokesman Mike Abbott. A group of attorneys with experience in mining laws are appointed for this work by the executive secretary of the Virginia Supreme Court, Abbott explained. The hearings officer will be chosen from that group, based on scheduling availability, he said.

Matt Mining holds the permit for a surface mine in Inman. It was being mined by A&G Coal Corp., which holds the license to mine the site, when a rock rolled downhill and struck a home below. Jeremy Kyle Davidson, 3, was killed when the rock crashed into his bedroom.

Abbott said violations in this case were issued to Matt Mining as the permit holder and to A&G as the contractor, but "Matt Mining made the request for the hearing."

Matt Mining and A&G each were issued three mining violations and fined $5,000 for each violation following the Aug. 20 accident.

Any violation cited or fine levied by state mining inspectors is subject to administrative review.

"It's the right of companies to request a review," Abbott said Wednesday. "We get a fair number of them."

The hearing, likely to be held in Big Stone Gap, will be open to the public, but there will not be an opportunity for pubic comment.

In order to comment at the hearing, a person would have to have a "valid legal interest" in the hearing, according to Abbott. Anyone wishing to speak would have to file a petition to intervene with the hearing officer.

A draft of the agency's report on the accident was presented at a public hearing earlier this month. About 300 people from the community and the mining industry attended and 20 people spoke at the hearing held at Mountain Empire Community College.

Abbott says the agency is revising the draft and will address comments raised at the hearing in the final report. He says issues raised at the hearing not directly related to the Inman death also will be included in the final document as an addendum.

The August fatality also is the subject of a $26.5 million civil suit filed recently by Del. Terry Kilgore, the attorney representing the Davidson family.

Marcus McClung, Scott County commonwealth attorney, is the special prosecutor investigating possible criminal aspects of the accident.
 
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