FELLOWSVILLE, W.Va. — The environmental arm of state government reached out to Preston County where residents near an underground mine fire have thrown up their hands asking for help.
West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Cabinet Secretary Austin Caperton was on site Tuesday to tour reclamation work at the Brocum Run mine.
Residents have complained to state regulators of the smoke and odor coming from the burn.
The mine fire, between Fellowsville and Newburg, has been active at least a couple of years.
Caperton and Rob Rice, the chief of the WVDEP’s Abandoned Mine Lands and Reclamation Division, both attended the noon Abandoned Mine Lands reclamation funding event.
Secretary Caperton is emphasizing how budget reductions would impact funding for reclamation projects.
Those projects address hazardous abandoned mine land sites.