Oral arguments in the appeal of the latest mountaintop removal legal fight have been delayed for four months, the 4th U.S. District Court of Appeals has announced.
The Bush administration and the coal industry are appealing two 2007 rulings by U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers to require more thorough review of mountaintop removal Clean Water Act permits.
Arguments in the appeal had been scheduled for May 13 in Richmond, Va.
On Wednesday evening, the 4th Circuit issued a one-paragraph order rescheduling the argument until the court's next session Sept. 23-26. The order cited "reasons appearing to the court," and did not offer any further explanation.
Mining appeal argument delayed until September
