Court Reverses E.P.A. On Big Mining Project

Source: NY Times

In a sharp rebuke, a federal judge on Friday reversed a decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to revoke a critical permit for one of the nation’s largest mountaintop removal mining projects.

The United States District Court judge, Amy Berman Jackson, said that the E.P.A.’s unilateral decision in January 2011 to rescind the waste disposal permit for the Spruce No. 1 mine in Logan County, W.Va., exceeded the agency’s authority and violated federal law. She declared that the permit was now valid, paving the way for a large and long-disputed mining project covering 2,278 acres to go forward.

In taking the rare step of revoking the mining permit, originally granted in 2007 by the Bush administration, the E.P.A. said that the mining operations would have done unacceptable damage to rivers, wildlife and communities. The mine, owned by Arch Coal of St. Louis, would have buried hundreds of miles of streams under millions of tons of residue.

The agency said at the time it was using its authority under the Clean Water Act to rescind a legally issued permit, an action it had taken only twice in the past 40 years and never before for a coal mine.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/24/science/earth/court-reverses-epa-saying-big-mining-project-can-proceed.html