In April, we won another legal victory.

The Associated Press reported: A trio of coal companies has agreed to temporarily limit operations at three mountaintop removal minesThe dealsettles the latest round in a long-running battle pitting the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, WV Highlands Conservancy and Coal River Mountain Watch, represented by the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment and Earthjustice, against the Army Corps of Engineers and coal mine operators.

OVEC won a court ruling in March 2007 that the corps violated federal law by issuing valley fill permits for mountaintop removal mines without conducting extensive environmental reviews.

OVEC contends three Clean Water Act permits the corps issued in March suffer from the same defects cited by U.S. District Judge Chuck Chambers in 2007 when he rescinded permits issued for four Massey Energy Co. mines. Chambers followed that decision up in June with a ruling that using settling ponds to remove sediment from streams at mountaintop removal coal mines violates the Clean Water Act.

Ken Ward Jr. of the Charleston Gazette reported: Coal operators agreed to limit waste dumping at three mountaintop removal mines to streams that had already been disturbed.

Coalition lawyers went to court last week, arguing that the new permits from the federal Army Corps of Engineers violated previous rulings by U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers.

Independence Coal, Fola Coal and Tyler Morgan LLC each agreed to limit operations to one existing fill at their respective operations, said citizen group lawyer Joe Lovett of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment

All three companies agreed that they could probably continue operations in the limited fill areas until an appeals court rules on a challenge to Chambers 2007 decisions. Company lawyers agreed to give the citizen groups 30-day notice if they plan to start additional fills, Lovett said.

In a second ruling on June 13, Chambers concluded that the Clean Water Act does not allow coal operators to build in-stream sediment ponds at the bottom of valley fills.

The 2007 rulings are being appealed by the Bush administration and the coal industry to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Richmond, Va.-based court has scheduled oral arguments for May 13 (Ed. Note: the arguments have been moved to September.)