Coal company officials and environmental groups reached agreement Friday afternoon on a deal to avert layoffs at Hobet Mining's mountaintop removal operation along the Boone-Lincoln county line.

Limits on toxic selenium discharges will be added to the company's water pollution permit, and Hobet will hire an expert recommended by environmental groups to advise it on a forest reclamation plan for the site, said Cindy Rank, mining chairwoman for the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy.

Lawyers for the Conservancy and Hobet parent company Patriot Coal reached the deal after a 90-minute meeting this morning in which Gov. Joe Manchin encouraged the sides to try to reach a compromise.

Citizen groups were also put in a tough spot in arguing to block the Hobet permit, because the company had already dumped waste rock and dirt into streams on the site.

"Patriot has filled all the streams with rocks already," Rank said.

Patriot had received state Department of Environmental Protection permits for the site last year, and apparently began filling in streams soon after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved a Clean Water Act permit on Aug. 1.

Lawyers for the Conservancy and other groups rushed into court on Aug. 7, and on Monday U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers issued a temporary restraining order that blocked the permit, which Hobet wants to use to expand its existing Hobet 21 operation.

Coal company officials and environmental groups reached agreement Friday afternoon on a deal to avert layoffs at Hobet Mining's mountaintop removal operation along the Boone-Lincoln county line.

Limits on toxic selenium discharges will be added to the company's water pollution permit, and Hobet will hire an expert recommended by environmental groups to advise it on a forest reclamation plan for the site, said Cindy Rank, mining chairwoman for the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy.

Lawyers for the Conservancy and Hobet parent company Patriot Coal reached the deal after a 90-minute meeting this morning in which Gov. Joe Manchin encouraged the sides to try to reach a compromise.

Citizen groups were also put in a tough spot in arguing to block the Hobet permit, because the company had already dumped waste rock and dirt into streams on the site.

"Patriot has filled all the streams with rocks already," Rank said.

Patriot had received state Department of Environmental Protection permits for the site last year, and apparently began filling in streams soon after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved a Clean Water Act permit on Aug. 1.

Lawyers for the Conservancy and other groups rushed into court on Aug. 7, and on Monday U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers issued a temporary restraining order that blocked the permit, which Hobet wants to use to expand its existing Hobet 21 operation.

Lawyers for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and three other groups sought the court order to halt any damage to streams at the site until Chambers could hold a full hearing on their new lawsuit over the project.

Late last week, environmental group lawyers filed that lawsuit, arguing that the corps did not properly consider the mine's impact or give the public adequate opportunities to comment on the proposal.

An appeal of a broader, March 2007 ruling by Chambers on mountaintop removal is scheduled to be heard by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., in late September. The issues in the new Hobet case are similar, and could be resolved by the appeals court decision.

Corps permit records say Hobet 22 would employ 75 workers, and mine 2.4 million tons of coal over a three-year period.

Rank said environmentalists plan to pursue some action to force the corps to provide more timely and detailed information about pending permits, and to allow the public an opportunity to comment later in the permitting process - when more details about impacts are available, but before permits are actually approved. Currently, the corps issues public notices and accepts comments, but this process occurs very early in the corps' permit review and little detail about potential impacts is provided to the public.

UMW President Cecil Roberts said the union would call off a rally it had planned for Monday to show support for the Hobet miners.

"The UMWA is pleased that an agreement was apparently reached between the parties that will remove the threat of layoffs from our members at Hobet," Roberts said. "It demonstrates that when all parties are willing to work together on finding a solution, good things can happen."

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 348-1702.