Coal River Mountain Watch v. Putnam

A lawsuit filed in the federal district court for the Southern District of West Virginia alleged that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ issuance of a Clean Water Act Section 404 permit for a surface coal mine (the Turkeyfoot Surface Mine) violated the Clean Water Act and that the Corps failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. The Corps issued the permit in August 2023. The plaintiffs’ claims included that the Corps conclusion, as part of its public interest review under the Clean Water Act, that greenhouse gas emissions would be minimal because the project’s coal would be used in the coking process to manufacture steel and not to generate electricity was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not in accordance with law. The plaintiffs also cited this conclusion as a basis for their claims that the Corps failed to take a hard look at the project’s impacts and that the Corps’ conclusion that the project would not have a significant impact was not supported.