Tuesday, November 02, 2010
EPA Seeks Consolidation Of Mining Lawsuits
WEST VIRGINIA & KENTUCKY....
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lawyers are seeking to combine a series of lawsuits by state regulators and coal industry groups that oppose the Obama administration's crackdown on mountaintop removal coal mining. Justice Department lawyers have asked U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver in Charleston to transfer West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin's suit against federal regulators to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and told him they would also be seeking to transfer two cases filed in federal court in Kentucky to D.C. The lawyers say
all the complaints challenge the same agency actions, they raise common questions of law and fact, they assert identical claims, they seek identical relief and judicial efficiency will be served by resolution of all claims in a single court. The suits all allege the EPA bypassed required procedures by starting the tougher permit reviews and imposing the water quality guidance without first completing public review and comment on the actions.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lawyers are seeking to combine a series of lawsuits by state regulators and coal industry groups that oppose the Obama administration's crackdown on mountaintop removal coal mining. Justice Department lawyers have asked U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver in Charleston to transfer West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin's suit against federal regulators to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and told him they would also be seeking to transfer two cases filed in federal court in Kentucky to D.C. The lawyers say
all the complaints challenge the same agency actions, they raise common questions of law and fact, they assert identical claims, they seek identical relief and judicial efficiency will be served by resolution of all claims in a single court. The suits all allege the EPA bypassed required procedures by starting the tougher permit reviews and imposing the water quality guidance without first completing public review and comment on the actions.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 1:18 PM 
