EPA stops valley fill permit for Pike County mine

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has exercised its authority and blocked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from issuing a valley fill permit to Central Appalachian Mining (CAM) LLC in Pike County. The unusual action came as the Corps was preparing to issue the permit as soon as it got some paperwork back from CAM with a $100 permit fee.

Will the indiscriminate dumping of mining wastes into valley and streams be brought under control by the Obama administration?

In a letter to the Corps, EPA said it was taking over the permitting process for this particular valley fill permit because it believed the valley fill would cause an "unacceptable adverse impact" on water quality. CAM wanted the permit to allow it to bury 3.5 miles of stream and valley. The Corps maintains a position that valley fills do not cause significant environmental harm.

This permit for CAM was one of the two specific pending permits that the EPA expressed concern about a couple of weeks ago when it announced that it was going to start applying water quality laws to the issuance of valley fills permits, and base decisions on science.  It said it would use its oversight authority over the Corps regarding water issues and review the permits.

But apparently the Corps got tired of waiting for the EPA to conduct it review, Charleston Gazette reporter Ken Ward reported today. On Monday the Corps went ahead and sent the permit to CAM for the company to sign and return with a fee.

You can read the EPA's first letter to the Corps here and this week's letter taking over the permit process here.

The EPA did not say it was denying the permit. Agency officials have been careful in their language saying they want to make sure the mining activity does not harm water quality. In fact, this week's letter states:

EPA feels that additional measures may be available to reduce the impact of this proposal, and that all alternatives should be exhausted to ensure that this proposal does not result in an unacceptable adverse impact, either individually or cumulatively, on the aquatic environment.