Consol Energy warned nearly 500 miners at its Fola and Little Eagle coal operations in Clay County could that they could be laid off in the new year and said an environmental group’s appeal of the mine’s water quality permits is to blame.

The Canonsburg, Pa.-based energy giant said Dec. 8 layoff notices will start going out Feb. 7 unless deficiencies found by U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers in the public comment process for the mine’s water quality permits can be corrected over the next six weeks. The notices might be sent to roughly 378 workers at Fola and another 104 at Little Eagle.

Janet Keating and Vivian Stockman, contacts at the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, the group that appealed Fola’s permits, could not be reached for comment.

Consol spokesman Joseph Cerenzia described the situation as “perplexing,” pointing out “substantive issues of the permit had been approved, and we were able to mine Fola. The permits were issued in January 2009, so we’ve been mining almost a year there already.”

Chambers, though, suspended the mine’s water permits after OVEC filed the appeal. He gave Consol and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers until Jan. 23 to resolve the deficiencies.

“We’re willing to work with the Corps to correct them, but we’ve not heard officially back from the Corps what they are going to do,” Cerenzia said.

“If we don’t get relief from the judge’s ruling on the 23rd of January, then we will follow through with the WARN notice,” he added. “The anticipation is they’ll last at least six months if we have to follow through.”

Fola is Clay County’s largest employer. However, Cerenzia said the impact will extend beyond the mining community.

“We’ve seen different figures,” he said. “(It’s safe to say) several other jobs will be adversely affected for every single mining job. It starts adding up. Even if the number is on the low side, it’s going to be significant, especially at a time when unemployment is so high.”

Consol Chief Operating Officer Nicholas J. DeIuliis said the timing is “unfortunate.”

“It is challenging enough to operate our coal and gas assets in the current economic downturn without having to contend with a constant stream of activism in rehashing and reinterpreting permit applications that have already been approved or in the inequitable oversight of our operations,” DeIuliis said in a prepared statement.

“Customers will grow reluctant to deal with energy producers they perceive are unable to guarantee a reliable supply due to regulatory uncertainty. It inhibits the ability to remain competitive.”

DeIuliis said nation's energy industries “are coming under repeated assault from nuisance lawsuits and appeals of environmental regulations” at a time when reliable and affordable energy is “desperately needed” to reinvigorate the nation’s economy.

“It is Consol Energy's policy to operate our coal and gas assets safely and within the framework of the laws regulating our industry, but we oppose any efforts to use them to unnecessarily impede our ability to sustain our operations,” he said.

Steve Roberts, president of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, said the WARN notice is a “clear example of the devastation that ongoing environmental actions will have on workers and communities across our state.” Idling Fola could cut school revenue up to 25 percent and “dramatically increase unemployment,” he said.

“Other mining operations are reviewing future viability due to EPA’s mine permit review process and other federal actions,” Roberts said. “Workers at Arch Coal’s Mingo Logan Spruce No. 1 mine face uncertainty due to an EPA announcement in mid-October that it was initiating a process to veto the issuance of the mine’s 404 water discharge permit.

"Unless something changes, I suspect that today’s announcement by Consol will be what is in store for many counties and communities in the southern half of our state. Coal operators will not be able to employ miners, produce coal and generate tax revenues if mine permits are revoked or disallowed.” Cerenzia said the Fola and Little Eagle operations are “very important to Consol.”

“We have a lot of investment in operations like that, coal is a high capital investment type business. To put it in human terms, it’s the employees who are the issue here — they’d be out of a job. Our business is to mine coal, that’s what we want to do — mine coal efficiently and safely.”