Earlier this week, several mines in West Virginia were idled, including American Consolidated Natural Resources’ (ACNR) longwall operations in Marshall and Ohio Counties.

While ACNR has not issued a formal statement regarding the situation, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey spoke about it at his budget update press conference, saying that there were issues between the mines and the Soil Conservation District regarding permitting issues.

“I won’t go into all those details now, but the moment that was brought to our attention, we leapt into action. And we’ve been working with [the] Department of Environmental Protection, working with the company. We can’t afford to see those people out of work,” the governor said.

ACNR produces approximately 30 million tons of coal each year, using five longwall mining systems at four mines in West Virginia.