Help Montgomery Creek residents stop expansion of ICG mine

Residents of Montgomery Creek in Perry County are resisting efforts by International Coal Group (ICG) to add more than 200 acres to its already 1,600-acre mountaintop removal mining operation that has caused them endless hardship, sleepless nights and considerable property damage. They invite other KFTC members to join them for a permit conference on Wednesday as they make demands of the state and the coal company so that their homes and quality of life will not be further diminished.

Mostly, Montgomery Creek residents say they would just like to be treated with respect.

One of ICG's targets, McKinley Sumner, returned to his family's homeplace a few years ago to care for his parents in their last years. He and other family members have consistently said NO to ICG efforts to get them to sell out, including company attempts to divide family members. McKinley even spent a considerable amount to have the land surveyed and the boundary clearly marked. Then in August 2006, ICG trespassed on the Sumner land and stole a portion of the land - literally stole it, it's no longer there. Where McKinley's mountaintop should be is a great void that drops 150 feet to ICG's mining pit.

Although there is no dispute of ICG's thievery, the company has still not been fined by the state.

ICG has consistently been a bad neighbor to other residents by damaging people's property with poor blasting practices, impacting water quality, and creating dust problems. Since filing for this permit amendment, this company has also harassed other residents about property boundaries.

Residents want to see changes in the way this company operates. At the permit conference they will be asking that ICG be required to:

• respect people's property boundaries


• stop harassing residents to continuously expand the mining operation


• stay away from community cemeteries


• use blasting techniques that do not shake people's homes


• not bury any more streams with valley fills (they already have 1,600 acres to dispose of their mining wastes)

In order to do some cosmetic repairs, the company has included the portion of the Sumner land in the permit application. Family members want assurances that ICG will be allowed to come on this land only to reclaim, and want to know how the state will enforce this as it is not possible for McKinley, now 75 years old, to climb to the top of the mountain every day. The company already has posted permit signs further onto McKinley's land than they have indicated in the permit, and have not been very forthcoming about all of this.

Action:

Residents would appreciate people's attendance at the conference to send a message to ICG to leave McKinley and his family alone and treat the rest of the community with respect.

The permit hearing is 10 a.m. on Wednesday at the London regional Department of Natural Resources office. We are going to meet at 9:30 a.m. at the Arby's across the street for an orientation. Please note the start time for the hearing is different than what was originally listed (it was changed from 2pm). Contact Colleen Unroe at 606-632-0051 if you think you will be able to attend.

DIRECTIONS: Get off I-75 at exit 41 and turn on HWY 80 towards Hazard. The Arby's is less than a mile from the exit on the right. The DNR office is a short distance further on the left (85 State Police Road), up the hill by the state police post.