Isra-Mart srl:Gutsy EPA takes on coal power with decision to block mountaintop mine

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The Obama administration yesterday vetoed a permit for one of the largest mountaintop coal mines in the US, delighting environmentalists and providing an indirect boost to the renewable energy industry.

In a landmark decision the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revoked a permit granted to the proposed Spruce 1 mountaintop coal mine in West Virginia currently being developed by Arch Coal Inc, on the grounds that it breaches the Clean Water Act.

"The proposed Spruce No 1 Mine would use destructive and unsustainable mining practices that jeopardise the health of Appalachian communities and clean water on which they depend," EPA assistant administrator for water Peter S Silva said in a statement. "Coal and coal mining are part of our nation's energy future and EPA has worked with companies to design mining operations that adequately protect our nation's waters. We have a responsibility under the law to protect water quality and safeguard the people who rely on clean water."

The decision represents a major blow to the coal industry and its practice of mining coal by removing entire mountaintops to access coal seams, effectively closing one of the country's largest planned mines.

Mountaintop removal has been fiercely opposed for years by environmental groups, which claim it results in huge levels of environmental damage and pollutes waterways.

Jon Devine, senior attorney in the Water Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, praised the EPA for refusing to bow to industry pressure.

"In the face of the political and industry forces pressuring EPA to ignore the damage this mine would cause, it took guts for the agency to follow the science and the law," he said, adding that the agency should now apply "the same scientific rigour to all other pending mountaintop removal proposals".

However, politicians from West Virginia responded angrily to the move, insisting it would damage the region's economy, while Arch Coal vowed to fight the decision in court, arguing that the project would create 250 jobs and drive $250m (£158m) in investment.

"Today's EPA decision is not just fundamentally wrong, it is an unprecedented act by the federal government that will cost our state and our nation even more jobs during the worst recession in this country's history," said Democrat senator Joe Manchin in a statement.

His comments were echoed by his colleague Jay Rockefeller, who wrote to president Obama to express "outrage" at the EPA ruling. "This action not only affects this specific permit, but needlessly throws other permits into a sea of uncertainty at a time of great economic distress," he said in the letter.