Water, Timber & Right-of-Way

Grant District, Nicholas County, WV. Sources cited inline.

1. NPDES WV1024558 (Keenan Branch mine stormwater)

• STATUS: Denied. WVDEP DMR Monthly Status Report (2013) lists NPD application WV1024558, Keenan Minerals, LLC among DENIED applications (search-index/cached; live PDF dir since removed from dep.wv.gov).
• EPA ECHO Detailed Facility Report for WV1024558 returns "ID WV1024558 is invalid" (echodata.epa.gov/echo/dfr_rest_services.get_dfr) = never issued / no active facility.
• The parent SMA (S-3008-10 / S300810, "Keenan Branch Surface Mine") was likewise denied; the ePermitting package's own NPDES-No field was blank (NPDES filed as separate Art. 11 app).
• Receiving waters per the mine PHC (Att. I-9, J-6): Keenan Branch, Laurel Creek, Whitewater Branch (all tribs toward Meadow Creek / Laurel Creek); No.2 Gas, Eagle A, Eagle Rider, Eagle seams; sediment channels + embankment ponds (0.125 ac-ft/disturbed ac).

2. Ragland -> Brown right-of-way (haulroad access)

From permit package (docx a-467652, c-467652, c-723096, C-6):

• Attachment C-5 exhibit titled "Ragland Brown permission to cross property."
• WVDEP reviewer comment (2011-06-07): "see page 3 (underlined) of attachment showing right of Delporto to utilize road through Christopher Brown and George Ragland."
• George Ragland is an owner in fee, within 100' of operation, and "appears to own a section of the haulroad"; Christopher Brown co-owns the crossed tract. No mining on their tracts — the instrument is a road/access easement, not a mineral conveyance.
• The haulroad meets County Route 129 near a cemetery; "in existence for many years … used by Greenbank Coal Company for deep-mine haulage" in the 1950s-60s (Att. C-6).
• Prior-iteration recording ref: Nicholas Co DB 288/609 (not independently re-verifiable online; Nicholas County land records are not free-text searchable on the open web).

3. Duke Coal Co 1978 Declaration of Unitization — Nicholas Co Bk 48/105

• Not present in the permit package; not found on open web (Nicholas records offline).
• Circumstantial read: Duke Coal Co held the fee/mineral (title root Bk 251/359, 1973). The six on-parcel shallow gas wells were permitted 1975, 1978, and 1979 (see CSV) — i.e., the 1978 declaration brackets the drilling campaign. Most consistent with an oil-&-gas shallow-gas unitization/pooling enabling wells across the Keenan/Koontz/ Jacobs ownership lines, NOT a coal instrument. Confirm at Nicholas Co Clerk (Bk 48 p.105).

4. Blasting / water-well / dam / other permits in bbox

• All are components of the denied SMA S300810, so none independently issued:
  • Blasting: general blasting plan (T-6, form EB-37; 199CSR1-3.5), pre-blast survey area per WV Code 22-3-13a; no WV Office of Explosives & Blasting standalone permit issued.
  • Dams/impoundments: only in-permit sediment channels + embankment ponds (J-6); no separate WV Dam Safety permit indicated.
  • Water wells: baseline monitoring wells only (KB-1-09..KB-4-09, GW inventory); the domestic aquifers of record are on Laurel Creek, Dalporto Fork, Whitewater, Keenan Branch, Meadow Creek (Att. I-9). No new water-well permits.
• Active regulated features in the bbox = the six abandoned gas wells (WVDEP OOG).

5. WV Division of Forestry — LSCA logging-notification records path (Grant Dist / Keenan Br)

• Governing law: WV Logging Sediment Control Act (LSCA), W.Va. Code §19-1B.
• Record type: Timbering Operation Notification Form, WVDOF-LSC-F4 (Rev. 12-24). Fields: logging company + timbering license #; certified logger-in-charge + cert #; timber owner; property owner; county / nearest town / USGS 7.5' quad; Official Designated Watershed; UTM landing coords (NAD83); acres by harvest method; planned start/completion dates; BMP checklist. Form: wvforestry.com/logging/logging-forms/.
• Filing rule (verbatim): "MAIL OR DELIVER THIS FORM SO THAT IT WILL BE RECEIVED AT LEAST THREE (3) DAYS PRIOR to beginning the logging operation to the appropriate Forestry Office."
• Office that holds Nicholas County notifications: WVDOF Region 3, Buckhannon — 61 5th St., Building 1, Suite 201, Buckhannon, WV 26201; (304) 439-3003 (covers Braxton, Clay, Lewis, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Randolph, Upshur, Webster). Nicholas County forester: Jack Spencer, Jack.J.Spencer@wv.gov, (304) 731-6138. Regional Forester: Jason Jones, Jason.L.Jones@wv.gov, (304) 380-2227. Office assistant: Jenny Huffman, Jenny.M.Huffman@wv.gov.
• Records-request procedure: WV FOIA (W.Va. Code §29B-1); no special form required; address to WV Division of Forestry (parent: WV Dept of Commerce). State HQ: 7 Players Club Drive, Charleston, WV 25311, (304) 558-2788. Practical route: ask Region 3 (Buckhannon) / Jack Spencer for LSCA notifications on file for the Grant District parcels (identify by owner name + USGS Gilboa quad + Keenan Branch/Laurel Creek watershed).

Corporate corroboration (from permit "org chart")

Keenan Minerals, LLC sits under: Prime Coal, LLC (operating co.) <- Purest Energy, LLC <- Periama Holdings, LLC <- Planck Holdings, LLC <- Perian Salviola (100%) — the JSW Steel USA coal group. Sister LLCs on the same chart: Meadow Creek Minerals, Hutchinson Minerals, RC Minerals, Peace Leasing. (Meadow Creek Minerals ties the group to the Meadow Creek ROW area.)