Coal Company Argues EPA Failed To Meet Legal Bar For CWA Mine Veto

摘要

The Mingo Logan Coal Company is arguing that EPA failed to meet an Administrative Procedure Act (APA) bar for justifying its veto of disposal sites underlying a final Clean Water Act (CWA) mining permit, urging an appellate court to overturn the veto due to the agency's failure to consider a host of criteria such as costs in its decision. EPA's decision to block the disposal sites - which make up most of the substance of the permit for the West Virginia mine and therefore render it nearly unusable - "has all the hallmarks of arbitrary and capricious action" under the APA that warrants scrapping the veto, the company argues in a June 12 opening brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Mingo Logan Coal Company v. EPA. See page 2 for details. (Doc. ID: 182251) Mingo is appealing U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Amy Berman Jackson's Sept. 30 decision that found the agency has the authority under the CWA to "veto" mining disposal sites already authorized in Army Corps of Engineers permits. The judge also rejected the mining industry's argument that the agency can only veto such permits in situations where it finds "substantial new information" to support the decision.