Permit? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Permit.

What happens when you've encouraged mining companies to evade existing law?  What happens when you greatly reduce fines, tolerate huge slurry spills, and become inured to such spectacles as a judge vacationing in Monaco on an indicted coal executive's dime?  What happens when you make it easy for companies to expand mountaintop removal operations, and acknowledge beforehand that public comments will be ignored?  What happens when mine safety officials walk out in the midst of a congressional hearing?

What happens is that companies get the message.  This administration doesn't care about the mountains, the environment in general, or the rule of law.  And companies then take the next logical step.

In Pike County, Kentucky, Clintwood Elkhorn Mining Company conducted mountaintop removal operations in an area near Fish Trap Lake, destroying the mountaintop and dumping the waste not only into nearby streams, but into Fish Trap Lake itself -- a lake which provides recreation, tourist revenue, and the water supply for the town of Pikeville.

They did all of this without bothering to pick up the required federal Clean Water Act permit.

Local Sierra Club and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth members discovered the damage, which was later confirmed by the Army Corps of Engineers.  On questioning the damage, they learned that Clintwood Elkhorn had apparently operated with the same kind of logic immediately understood by any three-year old -- act first, then fess up later.

The Corps told us that Clintwood Elkhorn went ahead and mined and then contacted the Corps to tell them what they had done, reported Sierra Club official Oliver Bernstein.

The Sierra Club and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth have sent Clintwood Elkhorn a notice of their intent to sue, but suing someone after the fact won't put the mountaintop back.  

There are dozens of MTR permits moving quickly through the well-greased pipeline, and in an atmosphere of lawlessness, where coal spot prices are soaring and those charged with enforcing the law are looking the other way, there may be many more Clintwood Elkhorns out there ready to tear down the mountain now, worry about permits later.  It's not know if the EPA or Office of Surface Mines intends to take any action in this case.

Clintwood Elkhorn is owned by TECO Energy, whose PAC and officers have contributed to the campaigns of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, KY-2 Representative Ron Lewis, KY-5 Representative Hal Rogers, and KY-1 Representative Ed Whitfield.  Maybe they thought that was plenty to provide political cover for a practice that's consistently been coddled by conservatives.

Update [2008-6-11 18:0:57 by Devilstower]:Sierra Club now has more info on their site.

After the site visits, Sierra Club officials contacted the local Sassafras office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to obtain information, and a Corps official confirmed that the mining had taken place without the required permit. The Corps official noted that the company had "self-reported" the violation back in March, but to date neither the Corps nor state agencies have taken any enforcement action.