The Environmental Protection Agency in the US has blocked a proposal for what may have been the largest mountain top mine in Appalachia, Logan County, West Virginia. The rejection of the coal mine was justified by the EPA saying that the mine would have caused irreversible damage to nearby streams.
The pollution from Spruce No.1 mine would have caused pollution in waters downstream and destroyed wildlife. It would have increased the risk of water contamination for people living in West Virginia’s heavily mined Coal River basin as well. Thus the Environmental Protection Agency vetoed the previously granted permit for the mine.
This is the first time that the Environmental Protection Agency has refused permission for a coal mine based on a valid clean water permit. This is only the 13th time the EPA has vetoed a permit since the clean water law went into effect in 1972. Arch Coal had proposed the Spruce No.1 mine in Logan County via a subsidiary called Mingo Logan Coal Co.
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The project would have buried miles of Appalachian streams under millions of tons of residue. This has been the basis of many environmentalists who have been protesting the application which was first filed more than a decade ago with the Bush Administration. Once permission to construct the mine was received in 2007 the opposition intensified its attack.
After the veto the company spokesperson Kim Link said that they believed that this decision would have a chilling effect on future US investment.