RAYMOND PROFFITT FOUNDATION
NEWS RELEASE

VESTA MINING COMPANY WITHDRAWS VALLEY FILL PERMIT BECAUSE IT DOES NOT WANT TO CONTINUE LITIGATION WITH THE FOUNDATION

On November 16, 1998, the Raymond Proffitt Foundation (Foundation) learned that Vesta Mining Co. was withdrawing its valley fill permits, which the Foundation was fighting in three different legal actions. In conversations with Vesta's attorney, it was stated that Vesta's assets, including the permits, were purchased by Laurel Run Mining Co., which is part of the CONSOL Coal Group. Vesta's attorney further said that the new owners did not want to continue the litigation, and therefore were requesting that the permits be withdrawn.

The permits had approved Vesta's plans to create a valley fill in Scenery Hill, PA to handle over 30 million tons of coal refuse from a proposed longwall mine that would affect over 8,000 acres. The Foundation argued that this project would destroy over three acres of wetlands and two miles of stream, and cause harm to nearby residents who were members of the Foundation. The Foundation had maintained that the antidegradation water laws prohibited this type of destruction.

Joseph Turner, a Director and Officer of the Foundation, said that "this action shows that if good people can unite and stand together, they can force the mining industry and DEP to obey the law." The Foundation has argued in this and other cases that the mining industry has been allowed to destroy Pennsylvania's water resources despite tough laws that prevent other industries from doing the same.

The lawsuits that would be affected by this withdrawal are the following: 1) the appeal of the valley fill permit to the state Environmental Hearing Board; 2) the Complaint filed in federal court in Pittsburgh against the Secretary of the DEP for issuing the permit without approval from the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM); and 3) the Complaint filed in federal court in Pittsburgh against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for allowing the conversion of waters of the U.S. into a waste disposal site. The Foundation has a Complaint against OSM in Harrisburg federal court that will not be affected, because it involves OSM's approval of Pennsylvania's entire valley fills law.

Turner also said that "we are happy for our members who live near Vesta, because now their streams and way of life will be preserved. This is not, however, the end of our fight with valley fills. We will continue to oppose them because they violate the water laws of both this Commonwealth and the United States."

For further information, please contact Raymond Proffitt Foundation, P.O. Box 723, Langhorne, PA 19047- 0723 or call John Wilmer, legal counsel for the Raymond Proffitt Foundation, at (610) 565-2736 or at jwilmer@ix.netcom.com.

<<<<END>>>>