Recent reports indicate that the main coal company in this particular case has announced that it will cease all mountain top removal mining in that area.

It would appear that additional petitioning in the case would be redundant, although resuming, preferably with new petitions, might be needed if the company fails to follow through as promised.

While the announcements made reference to "environmental issues" and made other attempts at claims they were responding to "public concerns," the simple fact, and likely the most important consideration in the mining company's decision, is that falling coal prices have made it unprofitable to operate mines of the kind.

New natural gas availabilities have made it much more economical than coal, and resulting shutdowns of coal fired generating plants needing maintenance and updates have made conversions or replacements with gas fired generation more profitable, so the demand for coal is evaporating.

So instead of more mountaintop removal mining, we'll have the much cleaner(???) fracking for natural gas, ... but mostly elsewhere.

Status updates based on something more reliable than chain letters are still of value, to be sure that the intended changes are implemented, but the expectation would be that the "forward" immediately above will still be arriving for at least the next ???? years.

John