The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must stop stonewalling environmental group requests for information about new mountaintop-removal mining permits, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must stop stonewalling environmental group requests for information about new mountaintop-removal mining permits, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers ordered corps officials to immediately notify lawyers for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition when the agency issues new mining permits.
Chambers also blocked additional valley fill activities at locations with three new mining permits until the mine operators provide details of how far work on valley fills has progressed at those sites.
The judge set a hearing for Wednesday in Huntington to hear testimony about the three permits.
"What I don't want to see is streams and the area around streams being disturbed between now and Wednesday in a way that creates the kind of irreparable damage that the plaintiffs seek to prevent," Chambers said during a telephone hearing Thursday afternoon.
Chambers ruled on a request by citizen group lawyers to temporarily block three new permits they allege might violate two rulings by Chambers last year that require more corps scrutiny before the agency authorizes valley fills.
The 2007 rulings are being appealed by the Bush administration and the coal industry to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Richmond, Va.-based court has scheduled oral arguments for May 13.
On Wednesday, citizen group lawyers asked Chambers to stop valley fills at the Tyler Morgan LLC mine near Standard in Kanawha County, a Massey Energy permit in Raleigh County, and the Ike's Fork permit of Fola Coal Co. in Nicholas and Clay counties.
Environmental groups allege the corps' permits suffer from the same deficiencies cited by Chambers last year when he blocked four Massey Energy permits and ordered more detailed permit reviews in the future.
Corps lawyers and industry attorneys disagreed, telling Chambers Thursday that the new permits address the issues raised in his rulings last year.
In his March 23, 2007, ruling, Chambers concluded the corps had not fully evaluated the potential environmental damage before issuing the Massey permits.
Citing the "alarming cumulative stream loss" to valley fills, Chambers ruled the corps needed to more thoughtfully consider mining's potential impacts before granting permits.
In a second ruling on June 13, Chambers concluded the Clean Water Act does not allow coal operators to build in-stream sediment ponds at the bottom of valley fills.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must stop stonewalling environmental group requests for information about new mountaintop-removal mining permits, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers ordered corps officials to immediately notify lawyers for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition when the agency issues new mining permits.
Chambers also blocked additional valley fill activities at locations with three new mining permits until the mine operators provide details of how far work on valley fills has progressed at those sites.
The judge set a hearing for Wednesday in Huntington to hear testimony about the three permits.
"What I don't want to see is streams and the area around streams being disturbed between now and Wednesday in a way that creates the kind of irreparable damage that the plaintiffs seek to prevent," Chambers said during a telephone hearing Thursday afternoon.
Chambers ruled on a request by citizen group lawyers to temporarily block three new permits they allege might violate two rulings by Chambers last year that require more corps scrutiny before the agency authorizes valley fills.
The 2007 rulings are being appealed by the Bush administration and the coal industry to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Richmond, Va.-based court has scheduled oral arguments for May 13.
On Wednesday, citizen group lawyers asked Chambers to stop valley fills at the Tyler Morgan LLC mine near Standard in Kanawha County, a Massey Energy permit in Raleigh County, and the Ike's Fork permit of Fola Coal Co. in Nicholas and Clay counties.
Environmental groups allege the corps' permits suffer from the same deficiencies cited by Chambers last year when he blocked four Massey Energy permits and ordered more detailed permit reviews in the future.
Corps lawyers and industry attorneys disagreed, telling Chambers Thursday that the new permits address the issues raised in his rulings last year.
In his March 23, 2007, ruling, Chambers concluded the corps had not fully evaluated the potential environmental damage before issuing the Massey permits.
Citing the "alarming cumulative stream loss" to valley fills, Chambers ruled the corps needed to more thoughtfully consider mining's potential impacts before granting permits.
In a second ruling on June 13, Chambers concluded the Clean Water Act does not allow coal operators to build in-stream sediment ponds at the bottom of valley fills.
Joe Lovett, a lawyer for the citizens, said he learned of the new permits only after a financial analyst pointed out a trade journal article about them.
Lovett said the corps has refused to provide his groups with information about new permits and has stalled on responding to weekly Freedom of Information Act requests for permit documents. By delaying the public notification about new permits, Lovett said, corps officials allow coal operators to bury streams before environmental groups can challenge those permits in court.
"The corps doesn't really want us to know is our feeling on it," Lovett said. "The corps has turned from a public agency to a private-service provider to the industry."
Cynthia Morris, a lawyer for the corps, suggested that notification of the permits at issue might have fallen through the cracks because Lovett's staff did not always file its weekly requests.
But Morris also said she did not even have documentation of all of the three permits at issue in Thursday's hearing, and was waiting for the corps to provide them.
Chambers said requiring the weekly records requests was not acceptable and ordered the corps to provide notice of any new permits to Lovett at the same time coal companies learn that their permits were granted.
"Whether it's because of the bureaucratic process or any other reason ... it is just unacceptable that in this case the plaintiffs are not advised until weeks or sometimes longer after that permits have been issued and that documents are publicly available," Chambers said.
Details were somewhat sketchy during Thursday's hearing about the progress on valley fills at the sites with the three permits at issue, but company lawyers Bob McLusky, Allyn Turner and George Patterson indicated some amount of stream filling has already occurred at each site.
Chambers told the lawyers to bring details to next week's hearing and indicated he was unlikely to shut down a mine where stream damage was already done.
"If a stream has already been filled, for better or worse, it's beyond the court's ability to grant any relief," Chambers said. "It's too late."
Lovett said that's exactly what he was concerned would happen because of the corps' stonewalling in releasing information about newly issued permits.
"We can't stop these permits because the corps is cutting the public out of the process," Lovett said.
To contact staff writer Ken Ward Jr., use e-mail or call 348-1702.
