Mountaintop mining project moving forward after judge reinstates mine permit

West Virginia’s largest-ever mountaintop mining project is moving forward again, after a federal judge ruled the EPA overstepped its authority in rejecting a critical permit.

The massive strip-mining operation involving 2,278 acres south of Charleston has been in the works for 13 years. The waste disposal permit for the operation, first granted to Arch Coal in 2007, was overturned by the US EPA in 2010 because it would cause unacceptable damage to rivers, wildlife and communities. (an article by Poten & Partners says “the Spruce Mine project would bury more than 6 miles of Logan County streams and pollute downstream water with toxic chemicals that turn fresh water into salty water, the agency said. The result: dead fish and wildlife, as well as a more hospitable habitat for toxic algae that could bloom in the waters.”)

Arch Coal then sued the EPA for revoking the permit, and in mid-March, a federal judge ruled the EPA overstepped its bounds in vetoing the project. Poten & Partners reported it was only the second time in 40 years that a permit was revoked under the Clean Water Act, and quotes an Arch Coal spokesperson saying “the 13-year permitting process included the preparation of a full environmental impact statement, the only permit in the eastern coal fields to ever undergo such review.”

On the other side of the argument, the Washington Post quotes Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, defending the EPA’s right to overturn critical permits:

“The Spruce Mine is one of the most ecologically destructive mining projects in Appalachia. It’s inconceivable that EPA does not have the obligation to protect the region’s water quality from such a massive project.”

Poten & Partners reported the EPA has not said whether it will appeal the decision by Judge Berman Jackson, while Arch Coal has not supplied a date for the start of operations. The company expects to invest about $250 million in the operation, which would create about 250 permanent jobs, according to the story.