Official Denying Mining Permits Fired [View All]

[PVnRT]

Lexington Herald-Leader

The former head of Kentucky's mine permit division, who was fired last week by Gov. Steve Beshear, said Tuesday he had been trying to block what he called illegal mining permit practices.

Ron Mills said he refused to issue about a half-dozen mine permits requested over the past year, chiefly by the politically connected Alliance Resource Partners of Tulsa, Okla., because they did not comply with federal and state mining law.

Coal companies are required to provide documentation showing they have a legal right to enter and disturb all of the areas they will mine, Mills said. Instead, the Beshear administration issued permits to coal companies that demonstrate the right to enter and mine as little as two-thirds of the land in question, he said.

"I refused to sign those applications," Mills said. "I thought they were illegal. There was no support for them under the law."

The stench of corruption is strong with this one.