WASHINGTON (CN) — Environmental groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the U.S. Forest Service for allowing a private coal mining company to operate in the Monongahela National Forest, claiming the move put nearby endangered species "on the knife's edge of extinction."
In the suit, filed in the U.S. District for the District of Columbia, a lawyer from the Center for Biological Diversity described how the South Fork Coal Company’s daily coal-hauling traffic can cause sediment from the road and harmful coal dust to pollute the Cherry River watershed — home to the endangered candy darter.
The watershed, made up of the South Fork Cherry River, North Fork Cherry River, Laurel Creek and the Cherry River, is located in the southwestern portion of the Monongahela.
The candy darter, listed as an endangered species in 2018, has lost nearly half of its historical range, with the total loss of 17 of 35 known populations caused by damage to their habitats.
Margaret Townsend, senior freshwater species attorney for the conservation group, explained in the suit that the area is a stronghold for the candy darter — known for its vibrant red-orange and blue-green stripes — but it has been put in unnecessary danger.
“I’m appalled by the Forest Service’s blatant disregard for the candy darter and the Cherry River watershed,” Townsend said in an emailed statement. “These beautiful little fish are on the knife’s edge of extinction, and they can’t withstand any more harm from the coal industry.”
The suit was filed with fellow plaintiffs Appalachian Voices, Greenbrier River Watershed Association, Kanawha Forest Coalition, the Sierra Club and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy.
The groups say the company’s activities also put two bat species, the endangered northern long-eared bat and the endangered Indiana bat, at further risk, thanks to coal hauling, tree cutting and using herbicides along roadways that can contaminate surface and groundwater.
The Forest Service issued the mining company a permit authorizing the use of Forest Service Road 249, which runs along the South Fork Cherry River and near the Rocky Run Mine, a surface coal mine operated by the company.
With the permit, the company can haul oversized coal loads from the mine and conduct construction projects to improve Road 249, a gravel road.
Additionally, the company can use Forest Service Road 223, which runs along a tributary to the North Fork Cherry River, to haul coal-mining equipment like fuel and explosives back and forth from the mine.
Townsend says the hauling activities alone cause damage to the nearby waterways, but by facilitating the operations at the Rocky Run Mine, the permit allows for even more significant environmental damage in the area.
Both the northern long-eared bat and the Indiana bat have suffered extreme population loss already over the last few decades. The northern long-eared bat was first listed as a threatened species in 2015, but reclassified as endangered in early 2023 after significant population declines.
Partly to blame for the decline is a fungal disease known as White-nose syndrome, which colonizes the bat’s skin and causes excessive activity in the winter month that lead to starvation and death.
In some parts of the bat’s habitat, the disease has partially caused a 99% decrease from pre-white-nose syndrome levels. While the disease primarily spreads bat-to-bat, increased human activity can carry the fungus and inadvertently spread it to the animals.
The Indiana bat has suffered similar declines, too, losing over half its population since it was first listed as an endangered species in 1966 under the Endangered Species Preservation Act — the predecessor to today’s Endangered Species Act.
Since 2007, the species has suffered a 19% decline due to white-nose syndrome, clearing out many of the 223 hibernacula — caves and mines in which the Indiana bat spends its winters — that held over 537,000 bats as of the 2019 winter census.
According to Townsend, the Forest Service failed to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service, which would have ensured the permit would not jeopardize the nearby endangered species continued existence or destroy their habitat.
The Service also failed to conduct their own environmental analysis, which together amount to violations of the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act, Townsend wrote.
The Forest Service declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing the case’s status as pending litigation.
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