The dispute centers on Republic Energy, LLC’s plan to conduct surface coal mining in Raleigh County, West Virginia. The operation involves removing overburden from mountain seams and disposing of the excess material in nearby valleys, a process that creates "valley fills" which bury mountain streams.
The Army Corps issued a Section 404 permit to Republic in 2023, authorizing the discharge of fill material into 20,356 linear feet of streams, including three perennial waterways, and 1.79 acres of wetlands. The permit was issued despite objections from environmental groups and a detailed letter from the Environmental Protection Agency.
In a memorandum opinion issued April 21, 2026, Judge Robert C. Chambers of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia granted summary judgment to plaintiffs Coal River Mountain Watch, Appalachian Voices, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, and Sierra Club.
The court held that the EPA’s comments regarding water quality removed the conclusive effect of the state’s Section 401 certification, meaning the Corps was required to independently address the agency’s concerns. The Corps had incorrectly treated the state certification as binding despite the EPA’s explicit warnings about secondary and cumulative impacts.
Judge Chambers found the Corps’s decision arbitrary because it failed to adequately explain how the Turkeyfoot Mine would avoid the water quality violations seen in similar past projects. The Corps relied on unidentified "new studies" and specific construction methods, but the court noted these techniques had previously failed to prevent elevated conductivity and biological impairment at other mines.
The opinion also criticized the Corps for ignoring a scientific consensus that valley fills increase downstream conductivity, which harms aquatic life. The court rejected the Corps’s argument that it could rely on the state’s Aquatic Ecosystem Protection Plan, noting the Corps declined to make the plan a special condition of the federal permit.
Additionally, the court found the Corps set an irrational performance standard for mitigated streams. The Corps accepted projected West Virginia Stream Condition Index scores that were below pre-mining baselines, a standard the court deemed inconsistent with the goal of maintaining unimpaired aquatic communities.
The court held the Section 404 permit unlawful and set it aside. Counts 2 and 3 of the plaintiffs’ complaint, relating to regulatory and NEPA claims, were dismissed as moot.