"The Obama administration has moved another step closer to blocking the largest mountaintop removal permit in West Virginia history, with a veto recommendation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's regional administrator.

EPA Region 3 administrator Shawn Garvin urged his agency's national office to throw out approval of a Clean Water Act permit for Arch Coal's Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County.

In an 84-page report with four appendices, Garvin outlined the EPA's concerns that the nearly 2,300-acre mine would bury seven miles of headwater streams and pollute waterways downstream from the mine site."

Ken Ward Jr. reports for the Charleston Gazette October 15, 2010. [2]