Federal Judge Upholds EPA’s Veto of W.Va. Mine Permit

A federal judge has upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection's retroactive veto of a permit for a mountaintop removal coal mine in West Virginia.

The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, D.C., says EPA's action was reasonable and supported by the record.

In 2011, the EPA revoked a water pollution permit that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued four years earlier to Arch Coal for the Spruce No. 1 mine in Logan County. The EPA concluded that mining practices at the mine would cause irreparable environmental damage and threaten the health of communities nearby.

Jackson had ruled earlier that the EPA overstepped its authority. A federal appeals court overturned that ruling and sent the case back to Jackson.