Former Mine Permits Director Sues State

• {Kentucky}...Kentucky's former mine permits director, Ron Mills, is suing the state for wrongful termination, claiming he was fired because he opposed illegal mining practices. But, Energy and Environment Secretary Len Peters says Mills was fired over job performance. Alliance Coal Manager Rusty Ashcraft sent an email on November 13, 2009, to others in the coal industry announcing that Mills was being fired that morning. Ashcraft said in a deposition that he got the heads-up from an aide to the governor, but he could not remember which aide. Ashcraft said in the deposition, "It was either Geoff Dunn or Jeff Belcher." In their own depositions, Belcher denied calling Ashcraft about Mills' firing while Dunn said he cannot remember if he called Ashcraft. Mills was unpopular with the industry for blocking a controversial policy called "the 331⁄3 rule," which allows coal companies to mine without showing they hold the legal right to enter all of the land in their mining plans. The Beshear administration overturned Mills and reinstated the policy following industry lobbying.