A federal Judge in Washington ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was out of bounds when it began reviews of individual Clean Water Act permits for mountain top mining operations in 2009. The U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton issued a partial summary judgment on Thursday.
Judge Reggie B. Walton issued the judgment in a lawsuit that had been filed against the EPA and the US Army Corps. of Engineers by the coal mining industry coalition known as the National Mining Association.
They had challenged the decision of the two government agencies to coordinate reviews of backlogged permit applications for waste disposal at Appalachia mountaintop mining operations that raise serious environmental concerns. Judge Walton said that the EPA's 2009 process exceeded its statutory authority under the Clean Water Act.
US Rep Shelly Moore Capito said that this was a significant step in our efforts to rein in the EPA, which remains intent on rewarding a core constituency that doesn't want any coal mining, no matter the cost to West Virginia or our nation.
Sen. Joe Manchin responded to the ruling by saying that he was excited to hear that the federal court has ruled in favor of West Virginia and against the EPA for overstepping their boundaries on this partial summary judgment. Today’s court ruling reaffirms what they had known all along in Appalachia, that the EPA has been overstepping its boundaries in the permit approval process in order to advance an anti-coal agenda, he added.