ELR Citation: 53 ELR 20160
No(s). 2:22-cv-00367 (S.D.W. Va. Oct 4, 2023) (Goodwin, J.)

A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for environmental groups in a CWA/SMCRA citizen suit concerning the discharge of pollutants from surface coal mines in West Virginia. The groups argued a coal mining company violated the CWA by discharging mining pollutants at Rush Creek Surface Mine No. 2 and KD Surface Mine No. 1 without an NPDES permit, violated the CWA by failing to satisfy reporting requirements under its NPDES permit at the Rush Creek Surface Mine, and violated SMCRA through the same conduct. The court found the company violated the CWA and SMCRA between November 26, 2021, and April 14, 2023, by discharging pollutants from Rush Creek Surface Mine No. 2 without a valid permit, and failed to satisfy the reporting requirements for Rush Creek Surface Mine from November 2021 through November 2022. But it did not find that the company was in continuing violation of either act, because it subsequently obtained a permit for all outfalls and monitoring stations and was submitting the reports required under that permit.