Group appealing Blair Mountain's removal from historic register

A West Virginia history group is appealing the decision to take Blair Mountain off of the National Register of Historic Places. The Blair Mountain Battlefield was added to register on March 30, protecting it from mountaintop removal mining and other economic development activities. But on Dec. 30, Carol Shull, interim keeper of the National Register of Historic Places, removed it from the list. Shull works for the National Park Service. On Saturday, Gordon Simmons, president of the West Virginia Labor History Association, said his group is appealing Shull's decision. The Battle of Blair Mountain, fought between Aug. 25 and Sept. 4, 1921, was the largest armed confrontation in U.S. labor history.