The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved just two valley fill
permits in the last eight months as the agency, environmentalists and
those associated with the coal industry await a decision from the 4th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. on the controversial
mining technique. Corps of Engineers Regulatory Branch Chief Ginger
Mullins says the approval process is slow because the agency is
weighing the impact of a pair of rulings earlier this year from U.S.
District Judge Chuck Chambers
A Slow Process
MetroNews - Monday, December 10, 2007
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved just two valley fill permits in the last eight months as the agency, environmentalists and those associated with the coal industry await a decision from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. on the controversial mining technique. Corps of Engineers Regulatory Branch Chief Ginger Mullins says the approval process is slow because the agency is weighing the impact of a pair of rulings earlier this year from U.S. District Judge Chuck Chambers. "What we've been spending most of our time on is trying to address the judge's comments in his orders," she said. "We've been trying to address his concerns and answer the questions he had."
Judge Chambers' March order took aim at the agency's approval process for valley fills in mountaintop removal mining saying the agency had not fully considered the environmental impact. A June order says coal operators cannot build in-stream sediment ponds at the bottom of valleys fills. Chambers says that's a violation of the Clean Water Act. Mullins says, as the cases are pending before the 4th Circuit, the Corps wants to try to answer Judge Chambers' questions in the approval process. "It's been very slow because of the time it takes to read the decision, understand the concerns and address them properly," she said.
The Army Corps of Engineers has 33 pending individual permits for valley fills and it doesn't know how long it will take to address the backlog. The state Department of Environmental Protection is also waiting to see what the Richmond appeals court does with Chambers' decisions. The DEP jointly filed a friend of the court brief with the state Development Office.
DEP Director of Mining Randy Huffman says the judge's June order concerning sediment ponds is in "direct conflict with the Surface Mining Act" that allows for in-stream sediment ponds at the bottom of valley fills.
"The Surface Mining Act anticipated the construction of valley fills and it also anticipated the construction of in-stream ponds to deal with the runoff from those valleys fills," Huffman said.
Huffman says Chambers' order has left the agency with an "unanswerable question on how to regulate the construction and operation of valley fills." Huffman says there's no way the order can be accepted because it's clearly wrong in relation to the Surface Mining Act. Environmentalists says Judge Chambers did not outlaw mountaintop removing mining with his orders, but he did say environmental laws, like the Clean Water Act, have to be followed. There's no word on when the 4th U.S. Circuit will decide on the appeal.
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