West Virginia Top Court Blocks Order for Replacement Water
CHARLESTON (AP) — West Virginia’s highest court has blocked a judge’s order requiring a mining company provide replacement drinking water to residents who said its wastewater impoundment contaminated their wells.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Allen Loughry writes that the judge lacked the authority to make such an order in 2016 under the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. The state Department of Environmental Protection had investigated, concluding Eastern Associated Coal’s impoundment wasn’t the cause.
Wyoming County residents filed their initial complaint with the state in 2011.
Loughry writes that their lawsuit was based on the theory the DEP failed to do its duty.
He says that would be upheld “only if the DEP had failed to issue a notice of violation in the face of unmistakable evidence.”
Related News
From Archive
- Fatal trench collapse halts sewer construction in Massachusetts; two workers hospitalized
- Alaska LNG pipeline could require 7,000 workers at peak construction, developers say
- Ohio trench collapse kills one worker, injures two during pipe installation
- Elon Musk's Boring Co. fined for dumping drilling waste into Vegas sewer system
- $1.4 billion Midwest pipeline expansion to move more Canadian oil to U.S. Gulf
- Glenfarne Alaska LNG targets late-2026 construction start for 807-mile pipeline project
- Fatal trench collapse halts sewer construction in Massachusetts; two workers hospitalized
- Massive water line failure leaves majority of Waterbury without service
- Infrastructure failure releases 100,000 gallons of wastewater in Houston; repairs ongoing
- Pennsylvania American Water launches interactive map to identify, replace lead water service lines
Comments