Environmental Justice in Appalachia: Procedural Inequities in the Mine Permitting Process in Southeast Ohio

Abstract

Abstract

This paper examines the permitting process for a coal strip mine in Southeastern Ohio using a distributive and procedural environmental justice framework. A permit application to mine Joy Hollow, a site in rural Athens County, was submitted to the Ohio Division of Mineral Resources Management in 2011. The permit applicant promised the mine would bring jobs and environmental restoration to the Appalachian region already damaged by previous rounds of coal mining. Landowners in favor of the mine leased their property to the mining company, while others living near the proposed mine site opposed it. The opposing groups engaged in the familiar “economy versus environment” debate; however, both groups used ecological narratives to justify their positions. We used semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and document analysis to determine that proponents and opponents of the mine both faced distributive injustice in the form of environmental damage to their hollow from earlier mining activities. However, opponents worried about additional environmental health problems associated with renewed mining faced significant procedural injustice in getting regulators to hear their concerns. Ultimately, the citizen group overcame structural constraints in the permitting process and obtained some justice by putting much pressure on the regulatory authority to fully review, and delay granting, the permit. The applicant subsequently put its permit application on hold and its plan to mine Joy Hollow was tabled. This case study is indicative of the damaging, intra-racial antagonisms created by—and contributing to—enduring forms of injustice in Appalachia wrought by the boom and bust coal economy.