Appalachian Center for the Economy & the Environment

The “Wild Monongahela Act” has been introduced and co-sponsored by West Virginia’s Congressional Representatives (Nick Rahall, Shelley Moore Capito and Alan Mollohan). It would create four new wilderness areas within the Mon encompassing 27,141 acres and add 19,987 acres to three wilderness areas created in the 1970s and 1980s.

Oppose Effort by the Bush Administration to Blow Up Mountains and Destroy Streams in Appalachia

On August 24, 2007, the Bush administration proposed repealing another longstanding environmental protection law in order to allow the coal mining industry to engage in “mountaintop removal” mining. In mountaintop removal mining, coal companies actually blow up entire mountaintops and dump millions of tons of waste into nearby streams, burying them forever. This parting gift from the administration to its coal industry friends will allow coal companies to continue their assault on the forests, streams and communities of Appalachia. Deadline for commenting is October 23, 2007. CLICK HERE TO COMMENT AND LEARN MORE

Victory in case challenging the Corps permitting of valley fills at mountaintop removal sites.

On March 23, 2007, a federal judge in West Virginia issued a very favorable decision blocking the permitting of valley fills in headwater streams at four large surface mines. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' had authorized the filling of more than 12 miles of headwater streams at the four sites.

Judge Chambers is the third federal district court judge in West Virginia to find that the Corps' actions permitting mountaintop removal mines violate the Clean Water Act. It's clear that the Corps has been permitting the destruction of Southern West Virginia without complying with the most fundamental federal environmental laws. This decision is likely to change the way coalmines are permitted throughout central Appalachia.

The Appalachian Center and Earthjustice represented the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Coal River Mountain Watch and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy in the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, Judge Robert C. Chambers.

For the full decision click here also see the media coverage posted on our media page

Large mountaintop removal mines like the one pictured above loom over small communities, predisposing them to devastating floods. Valley fill permits authorize the waste from mines to be disposed of in headwater streams. So far, over 2000 miles of Appalachian streams have been permanently buried.

Ninth Circuit Amicus Brief: The Center was recently honored to have been asked to file an Amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of fourteen members of the United States Congress who have been steadfast defenders of the 1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act (Clean Water Act), and all of whom are cosponsors of The Clean Water Protection Act. We represent these members of Congress who believe that the Clean Water Act does not allow the waters of the United States to be used solely for waste disposal. The Amicus brief that we prepared and filed on their behalf supports the petitioners' challenge of the U.S. Army Corps' illegal issuance of a "fill" permit for a gold mine in Alaska. If that permit were upheld, it would be the first time since the Clean Water Act was passed that the Corps allowed a mining operation to dump process wastewater directly into a lake, river or stream as "fill." However, a win by the petitioners in the Ninth Circuit would also have strong precedential value and would greatly help our fight against mountaintop removal. We are currently awaiting the Circuit Court's ruling in this appeal. Click here to read our legal brief.

Mountaintop Removal/Valley Fill NW21 West Virginia Litigation
Earlier this year, by a 5-3 vote, the federal Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit overturned our July 2004 General Nationwide Permit 21 (NW21) victory, in which the federal District Court had struck down a permit used by the Army Corps of Engineers for over twenty years to illegally authorize all mountaintop removal mines in central Appalachia. The Fourth Circuit remanded the remaining issues in the case to the District Court for further consideration. In response, we have filed a motion for summary judgment in District Court and are awaiting the Court’s ruling. We anticipate that the case will again be appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals after the District Court renders its decision.

Mountaintop Removal/Valley Fill Individual Permits
In September of 2005, the Center and co-counsel from Earthjustice filed litigation in federal District Court on behalf of local residents affected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ issuance of individual permits for valley fills at large surface mines. Intended to address systemic problems in the issuance of valley fill permits, this lawsuit specifically challenges four individual § 404 CWA permits. On Thursday, June 8th, 2006, less than two weeks before the trial was scheduled to begin, the Army Corps of Engineers suddenly suspended all four of the challenged permits.

Mountaintop Removal/Valley Fill NW21 Kentucky Litigation
In November 2005, a federal District Court in Kentucky heard oral arguments on our motion for summary judgment in a case that we, co-counsel from Kentucky and DC’s Trial Lawyers for Public Justice had filed to extend our success in our West Virginia NW21 litigation.

Acid Mine Drainage
Our ongoing challenge of a permit that West Virginia’s Department of Environmental Protection issued despite knowing that the mine would create perpetual acid mine drainage (AMD) in the Potomac watershed has broad implications for the health of waters throughout the region. Without further advocacy, coal that has not been subject to mining because of state and federal policies to deny permits where production of AMD is expected will likely be mined after all. This return to the irresponsible permitting practices that allowed thousands of miles of streams throughout the region to be killed by AMD negates decades of citizen concern, comment, litigation, and negotiations to prevent further AMD destruction of our region's waters.

Mercury
Recent government studies show that West Virginia streams are dangerously contaminated by mercury. Fish from these streams contain toxic levels of mercury that can harm those who eat them. The threat to human health from the consumption of mercury-contaminated fish is much higher than previously thought and is especially damaging to fetuses. EPA now calculates that twice as many people, one-sixth of all women of childbearing age in the U.S., carry blood mercury levels that threaten the health of the unborn. Children exposed to even low levels of mercury before birth can experience catastrophic neurological and developmental impairments, permanent IQ loss and numerous other serious diseases. EPA estimates between 300,000 and 600,000 children each year are exposed in the womb to mercury levels high enough to pose risks of lowered IQ and other problems.

A recent study conducted by the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine found that the loss of intelligence resulting from mercury exposure causes diminished economic productivity that persists over the entire lifetimes of these children. Lost productivity in the U.S. amounts to $8.7 billion annually. While the exact number of children poisoned by mercury in West Virginia is unknown, the legacy of mercury pollution will certainly dim our future for years to come.

Chlor-Alkali Plant in New Martinsville
PPG's Natrium chlor-alkali plant is the largest source of mercury pollution in West Virginia. The plant is one of only eight in the entire U.S. that still use an outdated mercury-based technology from the 1800's to produce chlorine and other chemicals. We appealed PPG's water pollution discharge permit for the Natrium plant and recently scored a major victory when the appeals board decided in our favor. (For details, see http://www.appalachian-center.org/media/2006/08_15.pdf.)

Fish Abnormalities in the Potomac
In the past three years, male fish producing eggs (a condition called "intersex") have been found in widespread areas of West Virginia's Potomac Headwaters. The geographical extent of this problem is unknown - thus far, data show the problem exists in a four-county area of West Virginia and more intersex fish were recently found 160 miles further downstream, a mere 60 miles from the D.C. metropolitan area.