Consolidation Coal, a division of Consol Energy, has submitted a permit application that would expand Blacksville No. 2 in Greene County by 3852 acres underground and add 3172 acres to its longwall subsidence control plan; it has asked for permission to perform full extraction longwalling with stream restoration as necessary.

The meeting will begin at 1pm local time.

The DEP said the impetus for the gathering was to allow general discussion on the project and underground mining as well as take specific questions.

The proposed project is located within an environmental justice area, which is defined as a partial or complete census tract where the minority population exceeds 30%, or at least 20% of residents are at or below US poverty levels.

While Consolidation Coal and Consol Energy have not commented on the event itself, the Pennsylvania producer said its Blacksville complex produced 5 million tons of output in 2006 via one longwall and three continuous miners transported by conveyor to a skip hoist to its preparation facility in northern West Virginia.

In July, the 90-worker mine suffered an explosion incident injuring three workers that may have been linked to methane levels. The operation was evacuated and production was idled at the time until an inspection could be performed.