Federal Judge Rules Against EPA

{West Virginia}...U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ruled with the coal industry    in the first phase of a lawsuit challenging the Obama administration’s crackdown on mountaintop removal mining. Judge Walton ruled that the federal Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its authority when it began a much more intense review of individual Clean Water Act permits normally handled by the Army Corps of Engineers. Still to be decided in the case is the challenge to EPA’s new water quality guidelines for coal mining operations in Appalachia. Arguments on that portion of the case are set for late October. The National Mining Association applauded Judge Walton’s decision, saying the ruling affirms their view that Congress did not grant EPA sweeping powers under the Clean Water Act to arbitrarily delay permits or develop a new permitting process which usurps the role of the Corps as the 404 permitting authority. The Association says, “With this decision, coal communities can get back to the business of producing affordable energy for Americans and put more Americans back to work.” The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it wants to reassure families living in Appalachia that the ruling was a procedural decision that does not affect their Clean Water Act authority to protect them from public health and environmental impacts caused by poor coal mining practices, and, under the law, it will continue to meet its Clean Water Act responsibilities to keep Appalachian streams clean for drinking, fishing, and swimming.