CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Legal Newsline) - Lawyers for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency urged a federal judge last week to turn down a request from the National Mining Association for a preliminary injunction.
The National Mining Association, in its filing last month, wants a court order barring the Obama administration from using a policy designed to limit surface mining.
The association sued the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers over the issue in July.
The newest lawsuit seeks to overturn the policy, which the EPA unveiled in April.
The mining association says the agencies are illegally preventing mines from obtaining water quality permits to dispose of excess material by burying streams and are circumventing the normal rulemaking process in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act.
The new EPA policy tightened water quality standards in hopes of eliminating valley fills in West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and Tennessee.
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EPA wants judge to deny surface mining injunction
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