HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - A trio of coal companies has agreed to temporarily limit operations at three mountaintop removal mines opposed by environmentalists.
The deal struck Wednesday settles the latest round in a long-running battle pitting the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and several other groups against the Army Corps of Engineers and coal mine operators. OVEC won a court ruling in March 2007 that the corps violated federal law by issuing valley fill permits for mountaintop removal mines without conducting extensive environmental reviews.
OVEC contends three Clean Water Act permits the corps issued in March "suffer from the same defects" cited by U.S. District Judge Chuck Chambers in 2007 when he rescinded permits issued for four Massey Energy Co. mines. Chambers followed that decision up in June with a ruling that using settling ponds to remove sediment from streams at mountaintop removal coal mines violates the Clean Water Act.
3 coal companies agree to temporarily limit operations at mountaintop removal mines
