Boone County Mine Permit Temporarily Blocked

{Huntington, West Virginia}...During a hearing in Huntington Friday, U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers issued a temporary restraining order blocking a Clean Water Act permit for Loadout LLC's Nellis Surface Mine in Boone County. The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and other citizen groups argue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated a previous court order by not re-evaluating the entire Loadout permit and not responding to public comments on the mine's mitigation plan. Chambers ruled that mining activity that impacted streams needed to be halted until the court could hold a more detailed hearing on the matter. Loadout is a unit of Penn Virginia Resources.