Lawyers for Arch Coal moved things a step closer to possibly having that lawsuit be decided. In their filing, Arch’s lawyers have asked Judge Chambers to lift his stay on the proceedings and make a decision on the company’s longstanding motion for summary judgment.
In their filing, Arch attorney’s indirectly referenced U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s recent decision on the EPA’s actions related to the permit.
“USEPA participated in a lengthy permit review process that took the better part of a decade. It did not object when the Corps issued the permit in January 2007,” Arch states. “It did not object when Mingo Logan started to mine. It has not gathered or requested any information from Mingo Logan to determine whether any impacts have resulted from over three years of mining that have already occurred under the Spruce No. 1 Permit. It has never rebutted the Corps’ determination that Mingo Logan’s operations have been conducted in compliance with the Section 404 permit. Its belated political decision to exercise its Section 404(c) authority has been rejected as untimely and illegal. There simply is no reason to deny Mingo Logan the right to a resolution of its outstanding motion for summary judgment.”