HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Obama administration officials are reviewing possible changes in how mountaintop removal coal mining will be regulated, a government lawyer told a federal judge Monday morning.

But administration officials are not ready to release more detailed information about their review of the issue or what new policies they are considering.

"We are in a state of transition," said Cynthia Morris, a Department of Justice lawyer representing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Morris added, though, that she had "nothing significant to report" yet about what was being considered.

Morris made her statements during a hearing called by U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers to discuss the status of the mountaintop removal litigation pending in his court.

Last month, a three-judge panel from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a March 2007 ruling by Chambers that required more detailed permit reviews by the corps before it approved Clean Water Act authorizations for coal operators to bury streams.

An injunction issued by Chambers remains in effect until after the 4th Circuit decides on a request by environmental groups that the full appeals court hear the case. That request has not been filed and is not due until March 30.

Also, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition lawyers still have pending claims against several corps permits, focused on whether agency officials did not give the public an adequate opportunity to review and comment on those mining proposals.

Currently, a trial on the notice-and-comment issue is scheduled for late April.

Over the last two weeks, environmental groups from around the Appalachian region have been pressuring Obama and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to step in and block a long list of pending permits the corps is poised to issue following the 4th Circuit decision.

Some activists and lawyers for the groups had hoped to hear something during Monday's hearing about where Obama is headed on the issue. They were disappointed by the lack of detail but hope a review by the new administration would lead to tougher regulations.

"I'm pleased that the administration is reconsidering its position on mountaintop removal, and hope that it will solidify its new position before more mountains and streams are lost," said Joe Lovett, a lawyer and director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment.

None of the coal industry lawyers who spoke during Monday's hearing addressed the issue of a potential change in policy by the Obama administration.

Carol Raulston, spokeswoman for the National Mining Association, said her organization "knows of no significant directional change from the Obama administration" on the issue. Raulston said the Obama administration is simply reviewing "about a half-dozen" Clean Water Act permits pending at the corps.

"While we are concerned about the overall delay throughout the region in processing permits, it's simply premature to prejudge the meaning of this particular review" of permits, Raulston said.

Read more in the Coal Tattoo blog online at wvgazette.com

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.