Massey may continue valley fill work at Republic mine in
W.Va.
Washington (Platts)--5Apr2006
Massey Energy got a reprieve Tuesday from a temporary restraining order
preventing valley fill work at its Republic No. 2 mine in Fayette County, West
Virginia.
A scheduled hearing on whether to continue the temporary restraining order was
canceled, and instead the plaintiffs and Massey agreed on a plan under which
the coal company could continue valley fill work at Republic pending a full
trial in about 60 days, Margaret Janes, senior policy analyst at the
Appalachian Center for the Economy & the Environment, told Platts Tuesday.
The trial will be held by US District Judge Robert Chambers in the US District
Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, the same court that issued
the TRO last week.
The trial "will address whether the permits [for valley fill work at the
Republic mine and two other Massey mines, Black Castle in Boone County and
Camp Branch in Logan County] are legal or not," Janes said.
Chambers had earlier denied as moot the plaintiffs' motion for a TRO to cease
activities at Black Castle and Camp Branch.
The case is the latest round in ongoing litigation from the Ohio Valley
Environmental Coalition and other environmental groups against the Army Corps
of Engineers, Huntington District, and various West Virginia coal companies
over mountaintop surface mining, which targets the Corps' Nationwide 21 permit
process (PCT 3/13).
As for Republic, pending the trial, Janes said, "both parties came to an
agreement [Tuesday] about what the company would and would not [do]. They have
to limit their progress to areas that were previously disturbed," and can only
continue work at an area designated Valley Fill 1.
"The urgency of this injunction is over, and we will go to a full trial to
decide the merits of the case," Janes said.
Massey officials did not return calls.
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