Judge temporarily blocks Massey subsidiary's mine work in W.Va.

Judge temporarily blocks Massey subsidiary's mine work in W.Va.

New York (Platts)--29Mar2006

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Friday ordering Massey
Energy subsidiary Alex Energy to cease earth work, timbering, clearing or
valley fill at the Republic No. 2 mine in Fayette County, West Virginia.

This is the latest round in ongoing litigation from the Ohio Valley
Environmental Coalition and other environmental groups against the US Army
Corps of Engineers, Huntington District, and various West Virginia coal
companies over mountaintop surface mining, which targets the Corps' Nationwide
21 permit process.

The court order, issued by US District Judge Robert Chambers, is good until an
April 4 hearing, a clerk at the US District Court for the Southern District of
West Virginia told Platts Tuesday.

The Republic Energy mine is operated by Massey subsidiary Elk Run Coal,
according to the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and produced 585,767
short tons last year. Elk Run Coal and another Massey subsidiary, Aracoma
Coal, are listed as intervener-defendants in the court filings. The individual
roles of the subsidiary companies are unclear in the court documents.

OVEC and the other plaintiffs "contend that the intervener defendants and the
Corps are proceeding with earth work approved under the contested permits at
issue in this action and thereby [are] engaging in destructive activities
resulting in permanent environmental damage," Chambers said in his order. The
plaintiffs' motion for the TRO on the Republic work "is warranted because the
plaintiffs will suffer irreparable harm if the activities are not enjoined.
These activities constitute significant and lasting environmental damage. The
harm to the intervener is slight in that the duration of this TRO is limited
to March 29, 2006."

The plaintiffs and Alex Energy agreed on Tuesday to an extension of the TRO
until the April 4 preliminary injunction hearing.

Massey and Corps officials did not return phone calls seeking comment by press
time.

In the same order, Chambers denied as moot the plaintiffs' motion for a TRO to
cease activities at two other Massey surface mines in West Virginia -- Black
Castle in Boone County and Camp Branch in Logan County -- because the "level
of activities conducted and to be undertaken in the immediate future are such
that plaintiffs do not at this time seek relief in advance of a preliminary
injunction hearing. Should the level of activities differ from that described
by the interveners' counsel, plaintiffs may reapply for a TRO."

In a related Friday court filing, the plaintiffs said they do not oppose the
motion of the West Virginia Coal Association to intervene in the case.

For more information, take a trial to Platts Coal Trader at
http://www.coaltrader.platts.com.

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