The subject of coal mining, particularly surface mining, has been a matter of controversy for some years. While new laws have been enacted and old ones amended, the General Assembly, at its 1972 regular session, feeling that the subject should be dealt with in depth, adopted House Joint Resolution No. 86.

Pursuant to the directive, the Council appointed a Committee to conduct an initial study and report to it.

John N. Dalton, of Radford, a former member of the House of Delegates, and of the Senate, now Lieutenant Governor elect of the State of Virginia and then a member of the Council, was selected as Chairman of the Committee to make the preliminary study and report to the Council. The following persons were chosen to serve as members of the Committee with Senator Dalton: Donald A. McGlothlin, Sr., attorney-at-law, a member of the House of Delegates and Vice-Chairman of the Committee, Grundy; George F. Barnes, a former mine operator and a member of the Senate of Virginia, Tazewell; John C. Buchanan, a medical doctor and a member of the Senate of Virginia, Wise; Orby L. Cantrell, a merchant and a member of the House of Delegates, Pound; E. K. (Monk) Geisler, a coal sales agent, Pennington Gap ; J. Richard Lucas, Head of the Division of Minerals Engineering and Professor of Mineral Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg; Harry W. Meador, Vice President of a coal company principally involved in deep mining, Big Stone Gap; Philip C. Shelton, Assistant Professor of Biology, Clinch Valley College, Wise; and Donald Reid Womack, a former strip mine operator and past President of the Virginia Mining and Reclamation Association, Big Stone Gap. Ray R. Thornsbury, a member of the United Mine Workers was also appointed to the Committee but resigned at the first meeting.

Valuable help to the Committee was given by the Department of Conservation and Economic Development, represented by Charles C. Christophersen, William O. Roller, and others of the staff of that Department; the Division of Mines and Quarries of the Department of Labor and Industry, represented by W. Foster Mullins; the Division of Forestry, represented by Eugene E. Ohlson and Ralph Bartholomew; the State Water Control Board, represented by Larry Owens; and John Frank Clevinger, a Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor. The Division of Statutory Research and Drafting, represented by G. William White, Jr., served as counsel and secretariat to the Committee.

The Committee held public hearings at Wise and Richmond, and made a three-day tour through the areas affected by mining, particularly surface mining. Many points of view from concerned individuals, some representing themselves, some representing the ecology interests and others representing the mining interests were heard at length.

The Committee submitted its report to the Council and we have reviewed and studied it with care. We now submit the following recommendations and report.