A massive dragline, dwarfed by the huge scale of the operation, at work on a mountaintop removal operation near Kayford Mountain, W.Va. Photo courtesy of Vivian Stockman, OVEC.

In an important decision on November 24, the US District Court in southern West Virginia scolded the US Army Corps of Engineers for granting permits to two MTR operations without following public notification laws. This decision, based on the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) could lead to the resubmission of hundreds of permits for new mining across Appalachia.

Plaintiffs in the case were the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, the Sierra Club, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and Coal River Mountain Watch.

In an earlier MTR matter on Nov. 18, the Department of the Interior announced that it is “taking immediate actions to strengthen oversight of state surface coal mining programs and to promulgate Federal regulations to better protect streams affected by surface coal mining operations.”

Unfortunately, the department intends to delay proposing a new stream buffer zone rule until at least 2011. This delay could mean devastation for more areas of Appalachia. The rule is needed to ensure that mining waste cannot be dumped within 100 feet of a mountain stream in order to protect nearby waterways, communities, and wildlife from pollution and destruction.

The public will be able to review and comment on the proposed rulemaking when it becomes available shortly in the Federal Register.