Obama gets 2 more weeks on mountaintop removal

The Obama administration has gotten a two-week reprieve from having to publicly take a more concrete stand on mountaintop removal coal mining.

Justice Department lawyers convinced the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to give them two more weeks — until April 28 — to file a response to a request that the full appeals court rehear a challenge to U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers’ mountaintop removal ruling. DOJ lawyers, representing the federal Army Corps of Engineers previously had until Tuesday, April 14, to file their response.  The 4th Circuit took the unusual step of requiring the government to respond to the hearing motion filed by environmental groups, something that may offer a slight hope for citizens that the full court would reconsider the case.

Environmental groups think it’s unlikely that the Obama administration would completely reverse the corps’ previous position, after joining the coal industry in appealing Chambers’ March 2007 decision. But they’re hoping that perhaps the DOJ at least provides the public with a little more detail about where Obama is headed on this issue, given EPA’s announced plan to more closely review Clean Water Act valley fill permits issued by the Corps.

One option would be for EPA and other agencies, through the DOJ, to announce that they’re reopening the federal government’s Environmental Impact Statement on mountaintop removal, which was supposed to lead to tougher regulation, but was hijacked by the Bush administration to help streamline the permitting process.

As reported first in Coal Tattoo yesterday,  EPA has sent objection letters to the Corps about three more mountaintop removal mines, one in Virginia and two in West Virginia.

But at the same time, Corps lawyers this week took a step that clung to their Bush administration position on how valley fill permits are issued. The Corps filed a brief opposing a motion by environmental groups asking Chambers to force the agency to provide more public notice and comment opportunity before it approves valley fills permits.

Citizen groups have complained repeatedly that the Corps does not provide the public with adequate notice — or complete information about mining proposals — before it approves Clean Water Act permits.  But the Obama administration is sticking with the Bush administration’s position that the  “Corps has fully complied with all regulations and procedures regarding notice and comment and public involvement.”