Galax, Virginia (Platts)--11Sep2009/636 pm EDT/2236 GMT

The US Environmental Protection Agency on Friday said it has identified 79 proposed surface coal-mining projects in Appalachia that it believes could affect water quality and said it will carry out a "further and detailed" review of their pending permits.

The agency's announcement comes after the Obama administration in June promised to improve the review of mining projects that risked harming water quality and unveiled a memorandum of understanding signed by EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of the Interior aimed at strengthening the environmental review of pending mining applications and addressing a backlog of permit decisions.

Under Friday's action, EPA said it will work with the Corps to ensure the 79 projects comply with the Clean Water Act.

"The administration pledged earlier this year to improve review of mining projects that risked harming water quality," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a statement. "Release of this preliminary list is the first step in a process to assure that the environmental concerns raised by the 79 permit applications are addressed and that permits issued are protective of water quality and affected ecosystems."

EPA said within the next 15 days it will further review the preliminary list of projects targeted for additional review and transmit a final list to the Corps. After that, issues of concern identified in particular permit applications will be addressed during a 60-day review process that will begin when the Corps informs EPA that a particular permit is ready for discussion, the agency said.

The agency added that the 79 pending permit applications on which it focused are for proposed surface coal mining operations in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia. In its initial review, EPA said it concluded that all of the projects would likely cause water quality impacts requiring additional review under the Clean Water Act. The initial reviews were conducted in light of available project-specific information, the existing environmental condition of the watershed in which the project is proposed to be located, and the nature of environmental impacts predicted to result from construction and operation of the proposed mine.

The National Mining Association, in a statement issued immediately following the EPA announcement, called the agency's decision "arbitrary" and said it "jeopardizes the livelihoods of tens of thousands of American workers and their communities."

Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, in a statement said "[c]alling previously approved permits into question needlessly threatens not only the economic stability of many West Virginia communities, but also our nation's energy security."

But Matt Wasson, director of programs for environmental group Appalachian Voices, welcomed EPA's announcement, which he said will halt progress on 79 of the 86 permits that were under EPA review. "We're thrilled," he said. "This is as good as an initial outcome that we could have hoped" for. --Steve Hooks, steve_hooks@platts.com