NMA filed suit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia to block the authority of EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to deny Clean Water Act permits for Appalachian coal mining operations on the grounds that the conductivity levels in affected streams do not meet the levels specified in
EPA's regulatory guidance.
On Wednesday, the environmental groups filed a motion to intervene in that same federal court "to support the EPA's new Clean Water Act guidance and the agencies' joint permit review process."
"Represented by Earthjustice, the Sierra Club and six Appalachian conservation and social justice groups--Coal River Mountain Watch, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, and Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment--filed a motion to intervene on the basis
that the mining industry should not be able to prevent government agencies from doing their jobs: to follow the Clean Water Act, consider the key scientific information discussed in the guidance, and protect America's waters from destruction," the groups said in a joint statement.
NMA officials said Thursday that they will object to the groups' request to intervene.
Jennifer Chavez, one of the Earthjustice attorneys who filed the motion to intervene, said Thursday that a preliminary injunction hearing is set for November 5 before US District Judge Reggie Walton in a District of Columbia courtroom.
In June guidance, EPA said it is looking at conductivity as a measure of water quality. Using that same reasoning, EPA directed its regional offices also to recommend denial of Section 404 dredge and fill permits, which are typically issued for discharge of overburden from surface mines into the
waters of the US, if they are seen to violate water quality standards such as the conductivity levels.
The June guidance was the first intimation that EPA, in concert with the Corps of Engineers, gave the coal industry of its intention to enhance reviews of Section 404 permits already issued by the Corps.
The coal industry in Appalachia has complained that EPA's action combined with other regulatory actions, including what the industry says is a de facto moratorium on new surface mining permits in the region because of an "enhanced" interagency review process that has effectively stopped permitting of new coal surface operations in that region's states.
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