In a big blow to Massey Energy, the US Army Corps of Engineerswill suspend four of Massey’s mountaintop removal permits!

The complaints allege that the corps failed to conduct thorough environmental impact reviews before approving the valley fill permits at those operations.

The problem is that for each mountain Massey has destroyed, they are sitting on a mountain of money to throw into politics, regulatory agencies, appointments, and litigation. So they will undoubtedly throw everything at this decision. The permits aren’t denied forever, just suspended for an undisclosed amount of time.

Vivian Stockman from OHVEC has a mixed reaction.

“We are very glad to see that destructive mining practices at these mines will stop at least for now, but it is unfortunate to see that a flawed process that the Corps has used to approve these mines has shown to be so ineffective. By allowing mining at the wrong sites and violating the law, jobs could be lost and economies could be hurt by the blatant disregard of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.”