 Appalachian Wireless now has new forward pay pricing where you can pay up front and get the data and features you desire. Five gigabytes of data, just $39.99. Unlimited, just $79.99. Better service, bigger savings. That's today's Appalachian Wireless. A coal operator in Pike County is asking for the Pike Fiscal Court's assistance on a project that could keep a coal operation open for the next decade. The company is also asking the court for a break on the county's occupational tax. At a meeting Tuesday representatives from Alliance Coal asked the Pike Fiscal Court to approve a resolution in support of the company taking steps to expand its operation at Scott's Branch at Johns Creek in order to tap new coal reserves. Rusty Ashcraft with Alliance said the new reserves must be tapped or the operation will be forced to shut down within two years. In order to prevent the closure of the complex, Alliance is pursuing every opportunity to invest nearly $76 million in a new reserve on brushing. The hope would be that MC and Excel could seamlessly transition the current 210 employees, or I believe it's approximately 250 employees today, into this new mine. Ashcraft said MC mining and Excel mining, which operate under the Alliance banner, hope to apply for a state tax credit that would allow a new mining operation to open up new reserves to feed Scott's Branch and keep Scott's Branch open for another 12 years or longer. The new reserve contains approximately 15 million tons of clean coal, recoverable coal that could extend the life of the complex and the likelihood of the associated employees by over 12 years. During that period MC and Excel anticipates paying over $200 million in local wages. As part of its request for support, Alliance is also seeking a local tax credit by way of the county's 1% occupational tax, something which concerns county officials about the budget going forward. The court tabled the issue and told Ashcraft they would revisit his request at a meeting early next week. Ashcraft said the tapping of the new coal reserves will keep Scott's Branch open when it will otherwise close. The entire project, he said, is subject to approval by the Alliance Coal Board. The reality is that in this marketplace that we're in, Alliance Coal has operations in other parts of the country and there are other companies out there trying to compete for dwindling markets. So we're just trying to basically put everything in place in order to ensure the success of this operation. Ashcraft said in exchange for the county's assistance, Alliance would be willing to help fund local emergency response agencies. The Scott's Branch operation has been operating since 1996. In Pike County, Chris Anderson, EKB News.