2010 – 2011
“Represented by Earthjustice and the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, seven conservation and social justice groups— the Sierra Club, Coal River Mountain Watch, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, and Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment—have intervened in a coal mining industry lawsuit to support EPA’s use of this guidance and its effort to follow the Clean Water Act, consider the latest science, and protect America’s waters from destruction.”
July 2011
The EPA released new guidelines on MTR -The new guidelines place limits on what and how much mining waste can be dumped into local streams and were designed to protect 95 percent of the aquatic life throughout central Appalachia.