DEP report concludes KD 1 Surface Mine is cause of acid mine drainage near Marmet

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 10, 2025

CONTACT
Dan Radmacher, Media Specialist, (276) 289-1018, dan@appvoices.org 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has concluded that a surface mine near Kanawha State Forest is polluting a tributary to Lens Creek outside of Marmet with acid mine drainage and high levels of manganese, aluminum, conductivity and sulfates. This is according to a Sept. 9 report that the agency’s Division of Mining and Reclamation conducted in response to complaints submitted about the KD 1 Surface Mine by the Kanawha Forest Coalition and Appalachian Voices.

The KD 1 Surface Mine covers 160 acres near Kanawha State Forest. It operated between 2007 and 2011. During a 2017 citizen inspection of the mine, representatives of the Kanawha Forest Coalition notified DEP of acid mine drainage emanating from the ground within the mine permit area, but not passing through required drainage control systems. At that time, DEP conducted a cursory investigation, and could not demonstrate a clear link between the acid mine drainage and KD 1. Kanawha Forest Coalition requested that DEP conduct a thorough investigation at several points over the ensuing years, but DEP declined until earlier this year.

Keystone West Virginia, the company responsible for the KD 1 Surface Mine, applied for bond release for the mine in 2023. Mining companies must provide financial assurances called bonds to regulators before conducting mining operations. The regulators can then seize the bonds in order to clean up mining damages if the company fails to do so itself. If regulators determine that all reclamation activities are fully and adequately completed at the end of mining, they will approve “bond release” for that mine, relieving the company of the need to provide these financial assurances.

In January 2024, representatives of the Kanawha Forest Coalition accompanied DEP on another inspection of the site, again noted the ongoing acid mine drainage and reiterated the request that DEP conduct a thorough investigation. In February 2025, Kanawha Forest Coalition and Appalachian Voices sent a letter to DEP opposing the bond release, and again requested that the agency adequately investigate the acid mine drainage.

DEP approved bond release for KD 1 on March 27, 2025. On April 28, 2025, Kanawha Forest Coalition and Appalachian Voices appealed this decision to the West Virginia Surface Mine Board. Finally, DEP agreed to conduct an investigation of the acid mine seep. The Sept. 9 report is the result of that investigation.

“If DEP had bothered to seriously investigate the acid mine drainage when they first became aware of it eight years ago, they could have required Keystone to clean it up,” said Willie Dodson, Coal Impacts Program Manager at Appalachian Voices. “Instead, this pollution has been pouring into the creek ever since. It is now DEP’s responsibility to reverse the bond release they recklessly granted, and ensure that Keystone funds ongoing treatment of this pollution until it clears up.”