Mountaintop Mining Opponents Win West Virginia Battle

Environmental groups have won a temporary reprieve for mountains -- and the people who live near them -- in Boone County, West Virginia. A federal district court yesterday ruled for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition in their battle against mining company Jupiter Holdings over a surface mine plan.

For more on what mountaintop removal mining means, environmentally and humanly, read my article on it. Even if one thinks these mines are inevitable, the tortured legal process that's sustained them defies common sense and the spirit -- if not the letter -- of environmental law. From OHVEC's press release:

In ruling that the mining cannot go forward at this time, federal district Judge Robert C. Chambers noted that the environmental groups "made a strong showing that the permits issued by the [Army Corps of Engineers, who review mountaintop mining applications] are arbitrary and capricious, contrary to law, and contrary to the economic and environmental balance struck by Congress in the passage of the relevant environmental statutes." [...]

On March 23, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Coal River
Mountain Watch and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, represented by Earthjustice, the Appalachian Center for the Economy & the
Environment and now Public Justice, won a victory in the same case, when the Court rescinded four similar valley fill permits. The Court ruled that the permits violated the Clean Water Act and the National
Environmental Policy Act. In particular, the Court found that the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers granted the permits without adequately considering the environmental effects of the fills, and without providing any scientific support for the Corps’ claim that stream damage from the valley fills could be offset through "stream creation."
The Callisto Mine valley fill permit suffers many of the same defects as the permits that the Court rescinded in March.

This isn't the final chapter in the fight against mountaintop mining, or even against this particular mine -- the judge granted a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the plan, meaning the case will have its day in court again. But the language of the decision is certainly reassuring.
And -- is it too much to hope for? -- maybe if a Democrat takes the
Presidency next year, mountaintop mining can be ended while there are still Appalachian mountains left.

Image: OHVEC

See Also:

• Bush Administration Skewed the Science of Mountaintop Mining
• The Economics of Mountaintop Mining
• Blowing the Top Off Mountaintop Mining