"The Corps is proposing to eliminate the use of its streamlined permit process -- in this case Nationwide Permit 21, or NWP 21 -- for the approval of surface coal mining in Appalachia.

But the new Federal Register notice includes at least one twist that has critics of the Corps (and of mountaintop removal) a little concerned...."

Ken Ward Jr. reports in his Coal Tatoo blog for the Charleston Gazette July 15, 2009. [2]