ELR Citation: 44 ELR 20260
No(s). 10-Cl-18667 (Ky. Cir. Ct. Nov 24, 2014)

A Kentucky court rejected a proposed consent decree between the state's environmental agency and a coal mine concerning extensive CWA violations. The proposed consent decree is not fair, reasonable, or in the public interest. The agency failed to provide any public notice or comment period prior to approving the terms of the consent decree, supporting the view that the agency was more concerned about decree's impact on the mine than on the public or the environment. Nor is the decree likely to be successful in producing a change in behavior by the mine. The economic benefit of the violations outweighs the cost of compliance, the penalties are inadequate to deter future compliance, and despite the agency's lack of resources to effectively police compliance, the decree fails to provide for third-party or public involvement in monitoring compliance. The court also noted that it is "impossible to determine" the full extent of environmental damage, given the mine's "wholesale abdication" of its monitoring and reporting responsibilities and the agency's inability to fully investigate the environmental harms that likely occurred.