LONDON —
The last effective tie that Stearns Coal and Lumber has to McCreary County may soon be cut.
Last Tuesday, the United States government at the behest of the USDA Forest Service filed suit against Stearns Company Ltd. — the Lexington-based successor to the Stearns Coal and Lumber Company — alleging that the company is liable for “costs related to releases and threatened releases of hazardous substances such as lead from the Lower Rock Creek Mines Site in McCreary County.
Stearns Coal and Lumber was founded by Michigan timber baron Justus S. Stearns and began mining operations in what would become McCreary County in 1902. Though the company operated for eight decades, in 1937 it sold 46,800 acres to the federal government for the formation of the Cumberland National Forest — now the Daniel Boone National Forest — while retaining mineral rights.
Robert Gable, the great-grandson of Justus Stearns, is Stearns Company’s sole employee. After federal regulations began to limit mining disturbances on federal lands, Gable filed suit alleging that the government had left those mineral rights virtually worthless.
The case lasted more than 20 years, with a $72 million judgment in Gable’s favor ultimately being overturned on appeal. Gable told the Lexington Herald-Leader last week that the suit left the company with a $7 million legal bill and that there is no money to pay for cleaning up the old mines.
The government claims that it has spent more than $330,000 to reclaim various sites which were improperly closed.
Gable indicated to the newspaper that this case would be settled through a consent decree, where a party takes action without admitting fault or guilt. In this case, the company would have to sign away the mineral rights to some 55 square miles within the county.
On Friday Senior U.S. District Judge Joseph M. Hood issued an order acknowledging that the proposed decree is lodged but that no action will be taken until a period for public comment has expired and the government moves to enter the decree into the court record.
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