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Sierra Club Takes Action Against Illegal Coal Mining in Tennessee

Case Updates:

June 23, 2008

The Sierra Club and its allies recently caught Appolo Fuels, Inc., in the act of illegally burying streams in northeastern Tennessee.

The Jellico Strip Mine is near the towns of Clairfield and Eagen in Claiborne County, Tenn. Appolo Fuels does not have a permit to construct valley fills and sediment ponds or mine through streams on that site, yet that's exactly what it is doing. Officials at the Office of Surface Mining's Knoxville Environmental Field Office, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville office, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's Mining Section have confirmed that the company has mined through streams, buried significant portions of at least one stream and constructed a sediment pond - but none of the agencies have acted in response yet.

The Sierra Club, Save Our Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee Clean Water Network sent Appolo Fuels a notice of intent to initiate a legal challenge. The groups are represented by attorneys Joe Lovett and Gena Lewis with the Appalachian Center for the Economy & the Environment.

This event comes just a week after Sierra Club and other environmental groups exposed illegal dumping of mining waste from mountaintop removal operations into streams around Fish Trap Lake in eastern Kentucky.

Details and Documents:

News Articles:

Coal Companies Accused of Mining Without a Permit
June 20, 2008, by Scott Finn, West Virigina Public Broadcast