Monday, March 26th, 2007

Corps of Engineers violated Clean Water Act by allowing West Virginia stream and river destruction

March 26, 2007

Huntington, WV — A federal court late last Friday ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the law by issuing permits that permanently buried vital headwater streams near five mountaintop removal mines in West Virginia. The Corps failed to demonstrate that mountaintop removal mining valley fills can comply with the Clean Water Act without strict limits on the destruction of streams and rivers.

In September 2005, Earthjustice and the Appalachian Center for the Economy & the Environment, on behalf of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and Coal River Mountain Watch challenged five West Virginia mountaintop removal permits. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia today found those permits violate the Clean Water Act. The judge ordered the Corps of Engineers to go back and comply with the law.

Click here to read the entire press release and to hear selected audio highlights from the press conference.

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