The Ohio Valley Coal Company said Tuesday that stopping the mining project around Ohio University-owned Dysart Woods until a conservation group’s appeal is decided would threaten the safety and employment of 550 miners.

Mining has continued under and around the Belmont County site despite an emergency request in August by two environmental groups to stop coal mining there until their appeal of OVCC’s mining permit is decided by the 7th District Court of Appeals.

In the response to the request by the Buckeye Forest Council and Dysart Defenders, the OVCC affirmed the validity of independent research supporting the August 2003 mining permit. It also offered evidence to support throwing out an affidavit that determined the need for an emergency halt of mining.

“(The Buckeye Forest Council and the Dysart Defenders’) motion is nothing more than an eleventh-hour, naïve and frivolous attempt to temporarily close the OVCC’s Powhatan No. 6 Mine with no regard for the serious consequences to the company or its 550 employees,” according to the OVCC’s response.

Re-opening a closed mine threatens the safety and employment of the miners, according to the OVCC, because of possible methane gas buildups and deteriorating working conditions.

The OVCC said in its response that closing the Powhatan No. 6 Mine below and around Dysart Woods for more than a few days “will force the OVCC to default on its coal contracts” and could lead to permanently closing the mine and the loss of 550 jobs.

Furthermore, the OVCC states that the Buckeye Forest Council waited to seek its emergency halt to force the mine to close instead of being able to mine around contested areas while the appeal is decided.

Dysart Woods is one of the few old-growth forests left in Ohio. OU purchased the 455 acres of land in 1966 for $60,000.

“(Mining beneath Dysart Woods) is a game of Russian roulette,” said Brian McCarthy, director of Dysart Woods and OU professor. “You can’t re-plant a 400-year-old forest.”