Carroll Concerned Citizens (CCC) asked the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) in February to delay the Rosebud applications, including one for a new underground mine south of Carrollton, a village in northeastern Ohio. The mine will be a room-and-pillar operation. The group said Rosebud owner J. Clifford Forrest also owns Freedom Industries, the company responsible for the January 9 spill. Attempts to reach Forrest for comment were unsuccessful.
In the letter, the group told ODNR Director James Zehringer the state agency should hold Rosebud’s mining applications to “greater enhanced scrutiny” to protect Carrollton and Carroll County. Among other things, CCC says it is concerned about the possibility of subsidence damage from future underground mining by Rosebud.
But the Ohio Division of Mineral Resources Management, which is part of ODNR and reviews coal mining applications, has no intention to delay any review of Rosebud requests, according to Brent Heavilin, permitting manager for ODMRM.
The Vail underground mine, Rosebud’s newest operation in Ohio, finally began production in early 2013 in Harrison County and turned out about 206,000 tons last year. Altogether, Rosebud’s approximately two dozen deep and surface mines in Ohio and Pennsylvania typically produce about 7 million tons of thermal coal annually.
