Parkersburg News and Sentinel - Ruling on EPA Attracts Praise

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Reaction was on both sides of the fence to a federal court ruling that said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its authority under the Clean Water Act.

An environmental group didn't like it, but state and federal officials were elated.

"This is indeed a great day for West Virginia and West Virginia's mining industry," Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said. "As we stated over a year ago, the EPA and the Obama administration have been exceeding the authority granted to them by Congress to regulate water quality in the Appalachian Basin."

Judge Reggie Walton in Washington, D.C., said the agency, which earlier this year retroactively rescinded a West Virginia mining permit, illegally acted under the permitting process.

West Virginia was among states and organizations suing the federal agency claiming it delayed the issuances of permits and wrongfully vetoed approved permits.

The ruling will allow Section 404 permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers delayed by the EPA's two-year-old Enhanced Coordination Process to again be normally processed, Tomblin said.

The EPA this year rescinded the permit for Arch Coal Inc.'s Spruce Mine No. 1 in Logan County that was issued in 2007. The EPA claimed new research on mountaintop-removal mining found potential harm to streams and watersheds around the mining area.

About 250 jobs were at stake.

"The (West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection) is pleased the judge agreed with our determination that the EPA had overstepped its boundaries," Cabinet Secretary Randy Huffman said. "This puts the Corps of Engineers back into the area of regulatory stability. Now we can focus on the process outlined in the law and rules rather than on these unlawfully promulgated processes."

Last year under then-Gov. Joe Manchin, West Virginia, the the National Mining Association and other groups sued the EPA and the Corps of Engineers saying the Enhanced Coordination Process violated the Clean Water Act and the Administrative Procedures Act.

The ruling was on part of the state's claims against EPA. Remaining to be decided is the challenge to the EPA's Final Guidance that also attempts to set water-quality standards independent of a legislative decision, which won't be heard until spring, Huffman said.

Cindy Rank, a spokesman for the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, rued the lack of federal oversight "from the destruction of the coal industry."

"We will never be able to effect change from within our individual states without federal input and the voices of everyone across the country that care about our nation's waters to call and voice their support for strong EPA action on mountaintop removal mining," she said in a statement.

The EPA assured residents it would be there to prevent pollution.

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to reassure families living in Appalachia that the district court ruling was a procedural decision that does not affect our Clean Water Act authority to protect them from public health and environmental impacts caused by poor coal mining practices," the statement said. "We will work under the law to meet our Clean Water Act responsibilities to keep Appalachian streams clean for drinking fishing, and swimming and to assure environmentally responsible coal mining proceeds."

Statements also were issued by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Rep. Nick Joe Rahall, Rep. Dave McKinley and Rep. Shelley Moore Capito.

"I'm excited to hear that the federal court has ruled in favor of West Virginia - and against the EPA for overstepping their boundaries - on this partial summary judgment," Manchin said.

The EPA is ideologically motivated, McKinley said.

"The court ruled correctly today and the EPA should be ashamed that they acted illegally and jeopardized jobs in our country without merit," McKinley said.

Capito said the EPA was advancing an anti-coal agenda.

"It's about time the courts ruled 'enough is enough' by reestablishing the Army Corps of Engineers' role as the primary permitting authority," she said.

Rockefeller said the ruling confirms the EPA went too far.

"Under the law, no federal agency can change the rules of the game of its own accord without going through the full public process," Rockefeller said.

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