Stacy Branch

Stacy Branch is a proposed surface mine in Sassafras, Kentucky, being pursued by Leeco. It would be 849 acres and would include six valley fills that would affect 4.3 miles of stream. State officials have given Leeco permission to mine, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently reviewing Leeco's application to dump mining wastes into local streams. Conductivity levels of Stacy Branch already are above the safe limit of 500 micro-Siemens set by the EPA in its conductivity standards. In December 2010, the EPA asked Leeco to make some changes to its permit, to reduce anticipated water quality impacts and monitor stream quality. Leeco refused. At a meeting between the company and agency officials, representatives of U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers and Senators Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell to pressure for the mining to take place.

In September 2013, a U.S. District Court ordered Leeco to halt mountaintop removal mining at Stacy Branch mine. The order came into response to an appeal by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and the Sierra Club. In January 2014, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the injunction that stopped valley fills at the proposed mine.

Project Details

• Sponsor: Leeco
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• Status: Cancelled
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Articles and resources

Related GEM.wiki articles

• Coal and jobs in the United States
• Coal phase-out
• Headquarters of U.S. coal mining companies
• Global list of coal mining companies and agencies
• Proposed coal mines

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Other resources

• [https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/Reply-Brief_01-22-2014.pdf Reply Brief by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and the Sierra Club," U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, January 21, 2014</ref>