EPA plans to appeal Spruce coal mine ruling

The Obama administration has taken the first step toward appealing a federal court ruling that shot down its attempt to stop a huge mountaintop coal mine in West Virginia.

The Justice Department on Friday notified the District Court for the District of Columbia that it would appeal its March decision. The court ruled that EPA had not justified its decision to invalidate a 2007 Army Corps of Engineers fill dirt disposal permit granted to Arch Coal's Spruce No. 1 mine.