Federal Regulators Say An Alabama Coal Mine’s Plans May Violate Law, Leaving Citizens At Risk
A “ten-day notice” issued to Alabama officials aims to mitigate risks to citizens living above Oak Grove Mine. It comes after months of state inaction and community outrage.
For what may be the first time in its history, the Alabama Surface Mining Commission, charged with regulating the surface impacts of underground coal mining in the state, has been put on formal notice by its federal counterpart to force a coal mine’s compliance with the law or face further regulatory action.
In a “ten-day notice” sent to the agency in early December, officials with the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) wrote that investigators had determined that Oak Grove Mine in western Jefferson County may be out of legal compliance for failing to adequately monitor potentially explosive methane emissions from the mine.
The federal regulatory action comes about nine months after a March 2024 home explosion atop the expanding mine killed the home’s owner, 74-year-old W.M. Griffice, and left his grandson seriously injured. The family’s lawsuit against Crimson Oak Grove Resources, which operates the mine, alleges that methane escaping from the operation filled the Griffice home, causing the explosion. Lawyers for Oak Grove Mine have denied responsibility in court filings.
The ten-day notice by U.S. regulators was issued following a federal inspection of the mine and visits to residences across Oak Grove that came days after an Inside Climate News investigation into federal inaction on the issue.
State regulators have done virtually nothing to address the concerns of citizens in Oak Grove who fear the risks of longwall mining. It took regulators months to hold a public meeting for citizens to voice those concerns, and officials said they had little power to intervene. So far, Alabama legislators have made no move toward proposing legislation to address the issues in Oak Grove, or risks from longwall mining more generally.
In the OSMRE inspection report, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, investigators wrote that Oak Grove Mine’s current subsidence control plan does not adequately address the risks associated with methane release from the mining operation. Alabama officials approved its subsidence plan as recently as June 2024, according to the federal inspection report.
The ten-day notice directed Alabama mine regulators to require subsidence and methane gas monitoring as mining moves forward beneath the small, rural Alabama community.
Alabama regulators now have 10 days within which to either force correction of the violation or “show cause” for any failure to do so.
Cover photo: Kathy Love, director of the Alabama Surface Mining Commission, listens during a discussion highlighting the consequences of longwall coal mining at Oak Grove High School. Credit: Lee Hedgepeth/Inside Climate News
