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BUSINESS
Mountaintop mining expansion hearing set
HUNTINGTON -- U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers will hold a motion hearing Wednesday concerning an injunction that stopped mining at one of the state's largest surface mines.
The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday at the federal courthouse in Huntington.
Chambers entered a temporary hearing this past Monday, saying he needed additional time to consider arguments before deciding if the project should be blocked permanently.
The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition is suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over its decision to grant a federal Clean Water permit for the expansion of Magnum Coal Co.'s Hobet 21 mine along the Boone-Lincoln county line. The company is calling the new workings Hobet 22.
The corps held a 30-day public comment period on the permit in 2006, but details of the company's final plans for mitigating for the loss of about 4.2 miles of streams were not available until this March. The federal Clean Water Act requires mitigation for the loss of water resources.
Chambers issued a preliminary order that prevents the mine from going forward.
