Brief Supports Mingo Logan Coal Company

{Charleston, West Virginia}...West Virginia filed a "friend of the court" brief Wednesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals supporting Mingo Logan Coal Co. in its ongoing legal battle against the federal Environmental Protection Agency's attempt to revoke Mingo Logan's Clean Water Act Section 404 permit to mine the Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued the permit in 2007. Nearly three years later, the EPA vetoed the permit. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection had already certified that Mingo Logan's operations complied with state water quality standards and applicable mining regulations. In March 2012, a federal trial court in Washington, D.C. reversed the EPA's veto and criticized the EPA's actions, saying it lacked the statutory authority to revoke the Spruce permit. The EPA appealed the decision. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin says he will not back down until the federal EPA finally acknowledges-once and for all-that it's overstepping its bounds.