Frasure Creek Mining Permit Hearing Set

{West Virginia}...The Surface Mine Board has held a hearing on the appeal of a permit for Frasure Creek Mining and has scheduled a meeting to discuss the permit again on August 17th. Opponents of the 221-acre Open Fork No. 2 mine near Fayetteville rallied against Frasure's plan Tuesday in Charleston, saying it could disturb some 3,662 acres in an area that has spent two decades turning itself into a popular tourism destination. The site is near the New River Gorge National River and Gauley River National Recreation Area, but the DEP believes neither would be harmed.