CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Manchin administration approved a new Hobet Mining permit that does not include limits on the mine's discharge of selenium, a pollutant that a top expert says is already pushing the Mud River watershed "to the brink of a major toxic event."
Environmental groups alleged Thursday that the permit, approved in May 2007, violates a federally approved plan aimed at cleaning up selenium problems in the Guyandotte River and tributaries including the Mud.
In a letter, lawyers Derek Teaney and Joe Lovett of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment urged state Environmental Protection Secretary Randy Huffman to add selenium limits to the Hobet permit.
Teaney and Lovett are already in federal court trying to block the Hobet 22 operation. Their clients, including the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and the Sierra Club, are concerned the new Hobet mine will make the selenium problem in the area worse.
Controversy over the mine, located along the Boone-Lincoln County line south of Charleston, is growing.
U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers has temporarily blocked the federal Army Corps of Engineers permit for the operation. Chambers scheduled a hearing for next week to consider extending his 10-day temporary order.
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