"Impact of Proposed Crayfish Protections on Mining Industry Uncertain"

"WASHINGTON — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to list species of Appalachian crayfish as endangered, with potential consequences for the struggling eastern Kentucky mining industry.

The Fish and Wildlife Service said Monday that the Big Sandy crayfish, which lives in streams in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia, is in danger of extinction. The agency is also proposing to list the Guyandotte River crayfish, found at a single site in Wyoming County, West Virginia.

The proposed endangered listing follows a 2013 settlement agreement between the agency and the Center for Biological Diversity , an environmental group that sued to get protection for the crayfish, saying mountaintop removal coal mining was destroying its habitat."

Sean Cockerham reports for the McClatchy Washington Bureau April 6, 2015.