CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Coal company officials and environmental group lawyers were negotiating today after an early morning meeting with Gov. Joe Manchin about a new permit for Hobet Mining's mountaintop removal operation along the Boone-Lincoln county line.
Manchin met with the parties for about 90 minutes this morning in an effort to push for a deal that would avoid layoffs of United Mine Workers members at the Hobet operation.
Lara Ramsburg, Manchin's communications director, said that no agreement was reached, but both sides agreed to continue talking to try to work something out before a federal court hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
"It's my understanding that we've had productive discussions with both sides and we now have to wait to see what happens from here," Ramsburg said.
Controversy over the mine geared up this week after U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers on Monday issued a temporary restraining order that blocked the permit, which Hobet wants to use to expand is existing Hobet 21 operation.
Lawyers for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and three other groups sought the court order to halt any damage to streams at the site until Chambers could hold a full hearing on their new lawsuit over the project.
Late last week, environmental group lawyers filed that suit, arguing that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not properly consider the mine's impact or give the public adequate opportunities to comment on the proposal.
An appeal of a broader, March 2007 ruling by Chambers on mountaintop removal is scheduled to be heard by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., in late September. The issues in the new Hobet case are similar, and could be resolved by the appeals court decision.
Corps permit records say Hobet 22 would employ 75 workers, and mine 2.4 million tons of coal over a three-year period.
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