A federal judge has blocked Hobet Mining's expansion of a mountaintop removal mine along the Boone-Lincoln county line.
U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers issued a temporary restraining order Monday to allow more time to consider arguments in a lawsuit seeking to halt the project.
The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and other groups are challenging a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit for the project. The groups say the corps didn't properly consider the mine's impact on the environment or give the public adequate opportunity to comment.
A lawyer for the corps says Hobet's permit is different than most because the company will return most of the rock and debris displaced by mining to the mining area instead of creating valley fills, which bury streams.
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