Coal

The firm offers vast experience and success in assisting clients in development and management of coal operations.Donald has experience and success in the negotiat[ng, drafting, evaluating and litigating coal leases and contracts.  He has reviewed hundreds of coal leases in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky.  Also, he has managed the legal effort in contract mining for Clinchfield Coal Company.  He has also managed, and has filed and argued as counsel in coal litigation in Virginia and West Virginia in trial courts and appellate courts.  He has managed coal lands in West Virginia and has helped manage as counsel thousands of acres of mineral land in Virginia and West Virginia.  He has helped with the responses to taxation of coal in Virginia and West Virginia. 

In addition to representing the coal industry in the negotiating and drafting of the Virginia Gas and Oil Act, Donald has been a leader in defending coal reserves against oil and gas and coalbed methane development to prevent loss of coal reserves.  His defense of coal has been in the state courts and the regulatory agencies in Virginia and West Virginia.