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Huntington, West Virginia: A Clean Water Act permit granted to Alpha Natural Resources, a company based out of Virginia, is being challenged by environmentalists.[1]
Alpha Natural Resources has hopes to employ approximately 100 people for six years of mining, creating a 235-acre site with paved roads, as well as utilities for temporary housing in cases of emergencies such as extreme flooding.[2]
The mining would take place in the Highland Reylas Surface Mine near Ethel in Logan County. The mining, however, is feared to bury about 2.5 miles of streams, as well as send harmful levels of various pollution run-off into streams beyond the reaches of valley fills.[2]
"It's an enormous change in the chemistry of streams compared to what we see before mining," said Emily Bernhardt to Southern District of West Virginia Judge Robert Chambers. Bernhardt is a Duke University aquatic ecologist and has based her conclusions on many scientific studies about mountaintop removal's impacts on the region's important headwater streams.
Bernhardt is also testifying as an expert witness for citizen groups in the case, saying that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ignored mountaintop removal science when it had approved the Clean Water Act permit for Alpha Natural Resources for the 635-acre Highland Reylas Surface Mine.[2]
Environmentalists want U.S. District Judge Robert Chambers to block the permit, as well as further require more environmental review before the permit is approved again.[1]
However, Alpha Natural Resources's lawyers have complained that citizen groups are wrongly suing over the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit as a round-about way to challenge decisions that are made by the state regarding the Alpha Natural Resources's surface mining and water discharge permits.[2]
Judge Robert Chambers has not fully weighed in on these issues as of yet.[2]
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