Page 2 - Surface Mining Act News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: Regulated parties who comply with their permit sometimes get an unwelcome surprise. They meet with their state agency, make full disclosure about their discharges or emissions, and then the state agency makes decisions about how to regulate the discharges or emissions, including what type of permit to issue. Sometimes the state agency gets it wrong, and then citizen groups sue. In that instance, one in which the regulated party relied on the state agency and did what it was told to do, does the regulated party win or lose? That depe...

Thursday, April 22, 2021 In  Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards et al. v. Red River Coal Co., Inc., 2021 WL 1182464 (4th Cir. Mar. 30, 2021), a unanimous Fourth Circuit panel recently affirmed a district court holding that an operator cannot be held liable under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (Surface Mining Act) for a discharge that is otherwise shielded from liability by the Clean Water Act (CWA).  The court’s opinion expressly relied on the Sixth Circuit’s decision in  Sierra Club v. ICG Hazard, LLC, 781 F.3d 281 (6th Cir. 2015), which reached the same...

In  Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards v. Red River Coal Co., ___ F.3d ___, No. 19-2194, 2021 WL 1182464 (4th Cir. 2021), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit held that Red River Coal Company's (Red River) compliance with its Clean Water Act permit shielded Red River from liability under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. Several citizens' groups brought suit against Red River for discharges of pollutants from the inactive North Fox Gap Surface Mine in Virginia. Those discharges were permitted by Red River's Clean Water Act permit. The citizens' groups alleged that ...