Amid KY coal bankruptcies, who cleans up the environmental mess left behind?

More than 15 months after seeking bankruptcy protection, Blackjewel still holds 209 Kentucky mine permits. Though most have sold, the buyers have yet to transfer the permits and assume the responsibilities of environmental compliance and reclamation. Those responsibilities remain with Blackjewel. Unless they don’t. Since it entered bankruptcy, Blackjewel has spent little on environmental compliance and has racked up thousands of violations.