Federal judge rules against EPA coal permit regulations

[JURIST] A federal judge on Thursday ruled [judgment, PDF] against the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [official website] regarding its process for granting permits used by coal companies for mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia. The EPA unveiled stricter guidelines in 2009 to issue permits to companies who sought to dump fill material from the removal mining into streams. The National Mining Association (NMA) and several other plaintiffs, including the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) [official websites], filed suit…