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Environment & Energy

unhappycamper

(60,364 posts) Sun Apr 28, 2013, 07:52 AM Apr 2013

Arch Coal Denied Permission to Blow Up West Virginia Mountain

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15835

Activists Dump Coal Waste at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington DC.

Arch Coal Denied Permission to Blow Up West Virginia Mountain
by Puck Lo, CorpWatch Blog
April 25th, 2013

A subsidiary of Arch Coal of St. Louis, Missouri, has been denied permission to dump nearly three billion cubic feet of dirt into local headwater streams after blowing up a mountain in West Virginia. The object was to extract coal from a project known as the Spruce No. 1 Surface Mine.

Arch Coal, the second largest coal producer in the U.S., sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2010 when the agency vetoed a mining permit that had been approved in 2006. The EPA said that new studies published since the permit had been issued showed potential harm to the area’s water quality.

A landmark decision issued Tuesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the EPA was within its rights to revoke water permits after another agency had issuing them.

“This is a major milestone in the fight to end the destructive practice of mountaintop removal mining,” Mary Anne Hitt, Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign director, wrote. “Today's ruling affirms EPA's authority to ensure the safety of our waterways and the health of our communities, including by vetoing improper permits issued by the Army Corps of Engineers.”