Big news: Judge halts streamlined mining permits
This just in from the federal courthouse here in Charleston:
U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin today issued his long-awaiting ruling in That other mountaintop removal case.
I’m still reading … but we’ve got a quick breaking news item up on the Gazette’s Web site. And I’ll be making some calls in a bit to get reactions and try to get a better handle on what this means.
Meanwhile, the ruling is available online for free at the court’s website, here.
Briefly: Judge Goodwin appears to have blocked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from authorizing further mountaintop removal permits through the Clean Water Act Section 404 “nationwide permits,” a streamlined process meant only for activities that would cause minimal environmental damage.
This differs from the issues in the ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers — overturned last month by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals — because Judge Chambers was examining questions about the adequacy of the Corps’ review of “individual” permits under Section 404.
Much more to come on this development … I welcome your comments.
3 comments
It’s about time- way past time, actually.
Thank you Judge Goodwin. Coal is NOT clean nor is it carbon neutral.
Thank you Judge Goodwin! It’s about time that we take a time out on Mountain top removal permitting processes. The residents in the areas that are affected by MTR have voiced their opinions to deaf ears for years. We have the deck stacked against us though. Especially in Mingo county where one of our delegates is an officer in one of the biggest trucking companies in Mingo. There is no such thing as clean coal and there are better ways to mine with more employment than blasting our mountains away.
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