SELC Asks VDOT to Re-evaluate Environmental Risks

SELC has urged VDOT to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement for the proposed Coalfields Expressway, which is essentially a mountaintop removal coal mining project camouflaged as a highway. The agency has failed to consider the harmful environmental and human health impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining, which would take place as a result of the project.

We are insisting that VDOT fully and fairly analyze the hazards of mountaintop removal and the greater “footprint” that the project’s new alignment would have on wildlife, water quality, and wetlands, among other resources. Three federal agencies have also submitted comments advocating for the preparation of a supplemental environmental impact statement before any plans for this project proceed.