Arch Coal sues EPA over veto of permit for largest surface mine in West Virginia

Arch Coal sues EPA over veto of W.Va. mine permit

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A subsidiary of mining giant Arch Coal Inc. sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday over the planned veto of a water quality permit for West Virginia’s largest surface mine.

St. Louis-based Arch argues in the federal lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., that the EPA doesn’t have the authority to revoke a Clean Water Act permit once it has been issued. The permit for the Spruce No. 1 mine was issued to Arch’s Mingo Logan Coal three years ago.

The EPA announced the veto plan March 26, arguing that the mountaintop removal operation would cause irreversible damage to the environment. The mining plan would cover 2,278 acres, and would bury 7 miles of headwater streams and degrade water quality, according to the EPA.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued the permit in 2007 after a lengthy process that included an EPA review. But EPA now wants to exercise its authority to review the permit further.

The agency has taken up scrutinizing Appalachian surface mine permits under the Obama administration. Environmentalists have pushed for the change in hopes the administration will eliminate mountaintop removal coal mining.

Coal companies consider the practice highly efficient. Opponents argue it devastates the ecosystem.

Arch’s suit contends EPA can’t take away a permit once it’s issued, calling it “unlawful, arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion.” Likewise, Arch argues the corps has determined it has no grounds for suspending the permit under its regulations.

“The EPA has left us with no other choice,” Arch spokeswoman Kim Link said. “We plan to vigorously defend the validly issued Spruce permit by all legal means, starting with the complaint filed today in U.S. District Court.”

The EPA had no immediate comment.

The permit also is the subject of litigation by environmentalists challenging the corps’ authority to issue clean water permits for large mountaintop removal mines.

Arch filed the new lawsuit a day after the EPA issued a new policy aimed at curbing mountaintop removal mining. While the company said there’s no connection — EPA doesn’t plan to apply the policy retroactively — the agency cited the Spruce mine as a prime example of what it wants to prevent.

Administrator Lisa Jackson praised St. Louis-based Patriot Coal for eliminating valley fills on the new portion of another large West Virginia surface mine. But she said Arch had not agreed to such changes during negotiations.

“They have not been willing to do that,” she told reporters Thursday during a conference call. “That may well be because they can’t do it economically.”