EPA recommends VETO of EXISTING Corps of Engineers Permit

EPA administrator recommends veto of existing Corps of Engineers Mountaintop Mining Permit

EPA Regional Administrator Shawn Garvin has recommended that his boss, Administrator Lisa Jackson, veto a Clean Water Act permit for the proposed Spruce Mine No. 1 in West Virginia.

If allowed to go forward as currently envisioned, the Spruce Mine would be “one of the largest mountaintop mining projects ever authorized in West Virginia. If it is fully constructed, it will disturb approximately 2,278 acres and bury approximately 7.48 miles of streams,” the recommendation, dated Sept. 24 but released today, said.

The region had asked for public comment in April on a proposed determination “to prohibit,

restrict or deny” authorization for Mingo Logan Coal Company to discharge mining waste in the Seng Camp Creek watershed.

“Region III took this step because it believed, despite the regulatory review intended to protect the

environment, that discharges authorized by [the permit] could destroy wildlife habitat and cause significant degradation of downstream aquatic ecosystems and therefore could have unacceptable adverse effects on wildlife,” the region’s recommendation document said.

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