TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed that a permit allowing mountain-top mining practices at Arch Coal's Spruce No 1 mine be vetoed under the Clean Water Act, the agency said on Friday.

The West Virginia mine, one of the largest mountaintop removal operations ever proposed in Central Appalachia, was permitted in 2007 but was delayed by litigation, the EPA said.

The agency last year launched an extensive review into applications for permits allowing mountain-top mining, commonly used in Appalachia, in which the top of a mountain is removed by blasting, to expose underlying coal seams.

Excess rock and soil is often dumped in nearby valleys and streams and critics say the process pollutes rivers and water supplies.

“The Spruce No. 1 mine would bury over seven miles of headwater streams, directly impact 2 278 acres of forestland and degrade water quality in streams adjacent to the mine,” the EPA said in a statement on Friday.

“The damage from this project would be irreversible,” said EPA regional administrator for the mid-Atlantic Shawn Garvin.

Arch Coal, led by CEO and chairperson Steven Leer, said it was disappointed with the “unprecedented action” taken by the EPA, to initiate the veto process against the existing permit.

“The Spruce permit is the most scrutinised and fully considered permit in West Virginia’s history,” the company commented.

“The 13-year permitting process included the preparation of a full environmental impact statement, the only permit in the eastern coalfields to ever undergo such review.”

The company will consider all possible options and intends to “vigorously” defend the permit by all legal means, it said.

The EPA has used its Clean Water Act veto authority in just 12 circumstances since 1972 and never for a previously permitted project.

The proposed determination will be open for public comment for 60 days.

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