| The Bush administration's last minute changes to the environmental laws protecting West Virginia streams from mountaintop removal is being challenged in court.
Industry groups contend Bush's new rules will change very little.
Environmentalists disagree.
A coalition of groups - including three in West Virginia - filed
the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court.
The suit would block a change that will allow mining operations to breach a 100-foot buffer zone around streams.
The lawsuit contends Bush's change will mean more fill - rocks, dirt and other debris - burying streams in the region.
The National Mining Association contends the rule change just clarifies existing regulations.
One change for sure, the new rule makes it difficult for groups
looking to file lawsuits over surface mine operations.
Vivian Stockman of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition in
Huntington says that's why her group joined the lawsuit.
She says the Bush rule will give people no legal remedy for mine
operations that violate environmental standards.
The rule, approved by the federal Environmental Protection
Agency, will go into effect January 12th.
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