Obama administration agencies appear to be sending mixed signals about where the government is headed on the mountaintop removal issue.
Read more in Coal Tattoo.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials have lodged objections to three more mountaintop-removal mining permits, but the federal Army Corps of Engineers is - at least for now - sticking to some Bush administration positions on the issue.
At the same time, a federal appeals court this week gave Obama environmental advisers two more weeks to consider their position in one of several high-profile mountaintop-removal cases that are pending.
Earlier this week, EPA officials released the letters that object to corps' permits for three mines, including two in West Virginia, which together would bury about eight miles of streams.
EPA officials say the mining proposals, as currently configured, would violate the Clean Water Act by burying streams and impairing downstream water quality. All three letters were dated April 3, but not released by EPA until five days later.
The two West Virginia permits are "individual" Clean Water Act permits for Massey Energy's Republic No. 1 Surface Mine in Kanawha County, and Frasure Creek Mining's Spring Fork No. 2 Mine in Mingo County.
Also targeted by EPA was A&G Coal Corp.'s Ison Rock Ridge Surface Mine in Wise County, Va. In the Virginia case, the EPA urged the corps to refuse to approve the mine through a streamlined permitting process - recently outlawed in West Virginia by a federal judge - and force the company to reapply for an individual permit.
Since Obama took office in January, the EPA has filed objections to seven major surface mining permits, with all but one of those objections coming since the agency announced tougher permit reviews late last month.
But while the EPA has been objecting to permits, the Corps of Engineers issued another large surface mine permit in Kentucky without telling the EPA about the action.
And this week in federal court in Huntington, Corps lawyers stuck with the Bush administration position that citizens and environmental groups are not entitled to a more timely release of proposed mining permits and more time to comment before valley fills are approved.
At the same time, a federal appeals court gave the Obama administration more time to consider its position on mountaintop removal.
In the case, environmental groups want the full 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., to reconsider a three-judge panel's decision to throw out a lower court ruling that required tougher reviews of corps permits for valley fills. The 4th Circuit took the unusual action of requiring the government to respond to the motion for a rehearing.
Originally, the court required Department of Justice lawyers to respond by April 14. DOJ lawyers asked for and received two additional weeks. Their new deadline to respond is April 28.
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.
Read more in Coal Tattoo.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials have lodged objections to three more mountaintop-removal mining permits, but the federal Army Corps of Engineers is - at least for now - sticking to some Bush administration positions on the issue.
At the same time, a federal appeals court this week gave Obama environmental advisers two more weeks to consider their position in one of several high-profile mountaintop-removal cases that are pending.
Earlier this week, EPA officials released the letters that object to corps' permits for three mines, including two in West Virginia, which together would bury about eight miles of streams.
EPA officials say the mining proposals, as currently configured, would violate the Clean Water Act by burying streams and impairing downstream water quality. All three letters were dated April 3, but not released by EPA until five days later.
The two West Virginia permits are "individual" Clean Water Act permits for Massey Energy's Republic No. 1 Surface Mine in Kanawha County, and Frasure Creek Mining's Spring Fork No. 2 Mine in Mingo County.
Also targeted by EPA was A&G Coal Corp.'s Ison Rock Ridge Surface Mine in Wise County, Va. In the Virginia case, the EPA urged the corps to refuse to approve the mine through a streamlined permitting process - recently outlawed in West Virginia by a federal judge - and force the company to reapply for an individual permit.
Since Obama took office in January, the EPA has filed objections to seven major surface mining permits, with all but one of those objections coming since the agency announced tougher permit reviews late last month.
But while the EPA has been objecting to permits, the Corps of Engineers issued another large surface mine permit in Kentucky without telling the EPA about the action.
And this week in federal court in Huntington, Corps lawyers stuck with the Bush administration position that citizens and environmental groups are not entitled to a more timely release of proposed mining permits and more time to comment before valley fills are approved.
At the same time, a federal appeals court gave the Obama administration more time to consider its position on mountaintop removal.
In the case, environmental groups want the full 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., to reconsider a three-judge panel's decision to throw out a lower court ruling that required tougher reviews of corps permits for valley fills. The 4th Circuit took the unusual action of requiring the government to respond to the motion for a rehearing.
Originally, the court required Department of Justice lawyers to respond by April 14. DOJ lawyers asked for and received two additional weeks. Their new deadline to respond is April 28.
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.
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