"Federal Judge Rejects Process for Approval of Mining" is the headline of this story today in the NY Times. Some quotes:
A federal district judge in West Virginia struck down on Thursday an Army Corps of Engineers procedure that gives a blanket pre-clearance to Appalachian mining operations that dynamite away mountaintops and dump some of the refuse into streams.Here is a story from the Chicago Tribune.The judge, Joseph R. Goodwin of Federal District Court in Charleston, ruled that the procedure, called a nationwide permit, improperly bypasses the requirement that the impact of mining on streams be determined "before, not after" such a permit is granted.
The judge added that the general permits allowed "an activity with the potential to have significant effects on the environment to be permitted without being subject to public notice or comment," in violation of the Clean Water Act. He added that "a post hoc, case-by-case evaluation of minimal impact defeats" the purpose of the law.
Currently, 11 mining operations are under way under the general permit process that was just voided. Judge Goodwin suspended any operation that had not begun construction by Thursday, the day of his ruling. * * *
In his ruling, Judge Goodwin said that citizens did not have enough access to the decision-making process. Speaking of the environmental groups that brought the action, he wrote that the nationwide permit procedure "has abolished the plaintiffs' opportunity to object to proposals to discharge before they are authorized, and the nature of the corps' permitting process has made it difficult to object afterward." The permit, he said, "is already impacting the waters of the United States," adding that a federal Fish and Wildlife Service estimate showed that hundreds of miles of streams in the Appalachian coal fields have been filled in accordance with the general permit.
Here is the opinion: Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, et al v. Bulen (SD W.Va. 7/8/04).
Posted by Marcia Oddi at July 10, 2004 11:41 AM