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Deal reached in mountaintop mining dispute; notice remains in question
HUNTINGTON -- Attorneys have reached an agreement concerning a dispute which stopped mining at one of the state's largest surface mines.
Documents filed in U.S. District Court dismissed a temporary restraining order and canceled a related hearing scheduled for this week.
The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition had sued 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 dismissal of the restraining order means that mining may resume.
Still unresolved though is an amended complaint filed Wednesday by OVEC that seeks payment of attorneys fees and a declaration that the Corps violated its duty to provide adequate public notice as required by the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
