This news story originally provided by The Herald-Dispatch

Corps plans to suspend contested mountaintop removal permits

By PAM RAMSEY
The Associated Press

CHARLESTON -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to suspend four valley fill permits at mountaintop removal mines in West Virginia that are being challenged by environmental groups, according to a court order issued Thursday.

Lawyers for the corps announced the decision Thursday during a telephone conference hearing on a complaint challenging one permit that the agency had issued in April to Independent Coal Company, according to the order issued by U.S. District Judge Chuck Chambers in Huntington.

The permits are for new or expanded mines owned by Richmond, Va.-based Massey Energy.

The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Coal River Mountain Watch and West Virginia Highlands Conservancy filed the complaint on Monday. The groups had filed a similar lawsuit last year challenging three other permits issued to Aracoma Coal Company's Camp Branch Mine, Elk Run Coal Company's Black Castle Mine and Alex Energy's Republic No. 2 Mine.

The complaints allege that the corps failed to conduct thorough environmental impact reviews before approving the valley fill permits at those operations.

Chambers consolidated the two cases on Thursday and issued a temporary restraining order barring Independent Coal from conducting any activity under the valley fill permit within the drainage area of the fill at the company's Laxare East Mine.

"As the hearing began, counsel for the Corps informed the Court and the parties that the Corps plans on issuing, early next week, a letter suspending the permit at issue in this case and the three at issue in the related case," the judge's order said.

The corps also wants to re-evaluate the permits, the order said.

It was not immediately clear how long the planned suspensions would last. No other information was available Thursday evening.

A corps spokesman in Huntington said he was unaware of the decision and had no information. The corps is represented in the cases by the U.S. Department of Justice. Ruth Ann Storey, a Justice attorney who, according to the order, participated in Thursday's hearing did not immediately return a telephone message left at her office late Thursday.

Mountaintop removal mining is a high-efficiency process that involves blasting the mountaintop to uncover coal seams. Leftover rock and dirt is deposited into nearby valleys, burying streams.

The complaints allege that the targeted valley fills will degrade water quality downstream and destroy wildlife habitat.

"We are very glad to see that destructive mining practices at these mines will stop at least for now," Vivian Stockman with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition said in a news release. "But it is unfortunate to see that a flawed process that the Corps has used to approve these mines has shown to be so ineffective. By allowing mining at the wrong sites and violating the law, jobs could be lost and economies could be hurt by the blatant disregard of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers."

Another hearing is set for June 20 in U.S. District Court in Huntington, the plaintiffs said.