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Monday, April 30, 2012

Coal industry says court rulings pose obstacles to citizens' court action against strip-mine permits

Coal industry lawyers in West Virginia are using the results of several recent court cases to try to convince a federal judge that citizen groups should have little voice in blocking mountaintop-removal coal mining permits.

Alpha Natural Resources lawyer Shane Harvey told The Charleston Gazette that Judge Robert C. Chambers should be left "with very little ability" to overrule a pending Army Corps of Engineers permit. Citizen groups have asked Chambers to let them challenge at least two Corps permits in the state -- one to Alpha subsidiary Highland Mining in Logan County and another to a mine in Nellis County.

The brief that is causing such a stir points to previous rulings -- a district court ruling, an appeals court decision contrary to a Chambers ruling, and a U.S. Supreme Court decision -- all of which had the effect of quashing public input. Reporter Ken Ward Jr. writes that Chambers didn't initially agree with Harvey's position that federal judges should "defer to the corps' review of applications for the Clean Water Act 'dredge and fill' applications," which are essential to mountaintop-removal jobs. Obama administration lawyers argued against the narrow reading of the law.

Lawyers for citizens' groups are involved in seeking a legal ruling to narrow the issues on the permit and will begin arguments on May 8. (Read more)

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