Congress Urged To Stop EPA's Veto Authority

• {West Virginia}...Senator Joe Manchin, Representative Nick J. Rahall and and the coal industry celebrated Thursday's  decision by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton to throw out the EPA's plan for more hands-on involvement in reviewing a backlog of mining permit applications in West Virginia and Kentucky. Walton has yet to rule on the bigger long-term issue in the case, and the EPA retains legal authority to veto or block key Clean Water Act permits that mining companies need for new mountaintop removal operations. Walton's ruling affects only 21 permit applications, eight in West Virginia and 13 in Kentucky. The West Virginia Coal Association on Friday urged Congress to act quickly to pass legislation, co-sponsored by Rahall and Representatives Shelley Moore Capito and David McKinley, both R-W.Va., that would take away the EPA's veto authority and otherwise strip the EPA of water permit oversight powers.