Tagged: EPA

A federal judge says the Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its powers by setting up water-quality criteria for coal mining operations in Appalachia.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton in Washington ruled Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by a coal mining industry coalition against the EPA and Administrator Lisa Jackson. Walton said the EPA infringed on the authority given to state regulators by federal clean water and surface mining acts.

Over the past two years, the EPA has filed specific objections to 36 surface mining permits previously approved by the state of Kentucky to mining companies that wanted to dump waste into streams in Eastern Kentucky. This week, there were public hearings on the EPA's objection to the permits in both Frankfort and Pikeville, and the EPA is accepting written comments until June 21.

U.S. Senator Rand Paul is joining the chorus of conservative voices criticizing the Environmental Protection Agency during this week's hearings on Kentucky mining permits. 

Many state officials are planning to speak out at today's meeting in Frankfort and Thursday's meeting in Pikeville. The Frankfort meeting is set to take place in a few hours and rallies for and against expanded mining are already underway.

As the Environmental Protection Agency begins its public forums on coal mining permits in Kentucky, U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell is rallying for coal to be a bigger part of the nation's energy portfolio. 

McConnell has consistently criticized the EPA for its regulatory stances, saying they are harmful to Kentucky’s mining and agriculture industries. And he doubled down on that stance in remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday. 

Louisville Metro Councilman David James, D-6, will host a neighborhood forum for residents to discuss the latest information surrounding health concerns involving the Black Leaf plant site.

Soil testing in the yards of fifty homes bordering the former Black Leaf Chemical site in Louisville’s Park Hill neighborhood recently revealed carcinogenic chemicals in all of them.