Fed. Appeals Court Reinstates Easier Mountaintop Removal Mining Permits

RICHMOND, Va. - A federal appeals court on Wednesday reinstated streamlined permitting for mountaintop-removal coal mines in West Virginia.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin last year revoked 11 permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the Nationwide Permit 21 process, which is intended for activities that cause no more than minimal environmental damage. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously vacated Goodwin's decision, ruling that the corps complied with the Clean Water Act.

Corps spokesman Chuck Minsker said he had not seen the ruling and could not comment. Coal officials in West Virginia and Kentucky hailed the ruling as a positive one for the industry.

"The coal industry prevailed in an extremely important court case today which upheld the ability of the Corps of Engineers to issue general permits for valley fills," said Bill Caylor of the Kentucky Coal Association, which intervened in the case with the West Virginia Coal Association and others. The ruling should "bear heavily" on a similar case pending in federal court in Kentucky, Caylor said.

EDIT

I'm sure it will, Bill. I'm sure it will.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10194185/

:cry:

"Almost level, West Virginia".

Specifically, how did they deduce that removing the top of a mountain,and filling the surrounding valleys, causes "minimal environmental damage?"