This article originally provided by The Herald-Dispatch

January 31, 2007

Environmental groups sue to block strip mine permit

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Three environmental groups are challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decision to issue a Clean Water Act permit for a 2,278-acre mountaintop removal mine in Logan County.

The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and Coal River Mountain Watch filed a petition Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Huntington seeking a temporary restraining order to block Arch Coal Inc. from operating the Spruce No. 1 mine near Blair.

The petition argues that the corps' Environmental Impact Statement study of the operation was inadequate. The petition also asks U.S. District Judge Chuck Chambers to make the Spruce No. 1 permit part of a lawsuit that the groups filed earlier seeking to force the corps to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement study on every mining permit before approving the permits.

Arch Coal has scaled back the Spruce No. 1 mine since it was initially approved in the late 1990s. The original permit covered 3,113 acres and allowed the company to dump waste rock and dirt into more than 10 miles of streams. The new permit allows the mine to dump waste rock and dirt into nearly 7 miles of streams, according to corps permit documents and DEP records.

The corps approved the new permit last week.

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Information from: The Charleston Gazette, http://www.wvgazette.com