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State Undecided on Appeal of Burr Oak Mining Case

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The state of Ohio has not yet decided whether to appeal a federal court decision that says the state should not have allowed coal mining beneath Burr Oak State Park.

The Messenger reported earlier this week that the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court’s ruling in a federal lawsuit that had challenged the right of the state to lease coal rights to Buckingham Coal Co. to mine a corridor beneath the park to connect the company’s coal reserves.

Dan Tierney, a spokesman for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, said Friday that the 6th Circuit decision is still being reviewed and a decision has not been made on whether to appeal. If an appeal is attempted, the U.S. Supreme Court would have to decide whether to accept the case.

Efforts by The Messenger to seek comment about ramifications of the 6th Circuit decision from the attorneys involved in the case had not be successful as of Friday.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment Friday.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers filed the original lawsuit in U.S. District Court arguing that the property where the mining would take place is within a federal flood control project and the state could not unilaterally give Buckingham permission to mine there.

The federal district court judge turned down the Corps’ request for a temporary retraining order to stop the mining while the case was pending, and the underground corridor has been mined. The same judge granted the state and Buckingham a summary judgment in the case, which the Corps appealed to the 6th Circuit and last week won a reversal of the lower court ruling.