Read more in Coal Tattoo.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Maps submitted to state regulators should govern the boundaries of West Virginia's strip mines, a citizen group lawyer told the state Supreme Court Wednesday.

Joe Lovett, a lawyer for Coal River Mountain Watch, said state and federal mining laws make it clear that the permit map governs whether Massey Energy can build a new coal silo near a Raleigh County elementary school.

"The whole point of the map is to define where the permit area is," Lovett told justices. "It's undisputed in the record that if the permit map submitted with the application is used, that this silo is outside of this boundary."

Lovett joined lawyers for Massey Energy and the state Department of Environmental Protection at the Supreme Court on Wednesday for the latest round in a nearly four-year fight over Massey subsidiary Goals Coal's proposal for a new silo near Marsh Fork Elementary at Sundial.

Citizen groups have opposed the silo, and objected to Massey's operation of a huge coal-slurry impoundment up the hollow from the Marsh Fork school. DEP officials initially approved the silo, but then revoked the silo permit in July 2005, after The Charleston Gazette revealed it was built outside the permit boundary shown in the original mine maps in the agency's files.

Under federal and state law, no surface mining activities are allowed within 300 feet of certain public buildings, including schools. But mining activities are exempt from that buffer requirement if operators held a permit when the federal strip mine law was passed.

Massey challenged the permit revocation, arguing that a pipe stuck in the ground at the mine site - rather than the company's maps - marked the real permit boundary.

Since then, the case has been before the Surface Mine Board twice. Most recently, Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom ruled that the permit map was not the sole guide to the permit boundary. Coal River Mountain Watch is now appealing that decision, and DEP has sided with Massey on the legal issue involved.

During Wednesday's argument, DEP lawyer A.M. "Fenway" Pollack told justices that Lovett's reading would "torture" state mining law into an "absurd result."

And Bob McLusky, Massey's lawyer, argued that the real problem is maps at the time the permit in question was issued - 1982 - were not accurate enough to really show the permit boundary.

Justice Menis Ketchum grilled Lovett, saying that in property surveys markers on the ground govern. But Lovett pointed out that this case involves strip mining laws, which are different from those governing property cases.

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.

Read more in Coal Tattoo.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Maps submitted to state regulators should govern the boundaries of West Virginia's strip mines, a citizen group lawyer told the state Supreme Court Wednesday.

Joe Lovett, a lawyer for Coal River Mountain Watch, said state and federal mining laws make it clear that the permit map governs whether Massey Energy can build a new coal silo near a Raleigh County elementary school.

"The whole point of the map is to define where the permit area is," Lovett told justices. "It's undisputed in the record that if the permit map submitted with the application is used, that this silo is outside of this boundary."

Lovett joined lawyers for Massey Energy and the state Department of Environmental Protection at the Supreme Court on Wednesday for the latest round in a nearly four-year fight over Massey subsidiary Goals Coal's proposal for a new silo near Marsh Fork Elementary at Sundial.

Citizen groups have opposed the silo, and objected to Massey's operation of a huge coal-slurry impoundment up the hollow from the Marsh Fork school. DEP officials initially approved the silo, but then revoked the silo permit in July 2005, after The Charleston Gazette revealed it was built outside the permit boundary shown in the original mine maps in the agency's files.

Under federal and state law, no surface mining activities are allowed within 300 feet of certain public buildings, including schools. But mining activities are exempt from that buffer requirement if operators held a permit when the federal strip mine law was passed.

Massey challenged the permit revocation, arguing that a pipe stuck in the ground at the mine site - rather than the company's maps - marked the real permit boundary.

Since then, the case has been before the Surface Mine Board twice. Most recently, Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom ruled that the permit map was not the sole guide to the permit boundary. Coal River Mountain Watch is now appealing that decision, and DEP has sided with Massey on the legal issue involved.

During Wednesday's argument, DEP lawyer A.M. "Fenway" Pollack told justices that Lovett's reading would "torture" state mining law into an "absurd result."

And Bob McLusky, Massey's lawyer, argued that the real problem is maps at the time the permit in question was issued - 1982 - were not accurate enough to really show the permit boundary.

Justice Menis Ketchum grilled Lovett, saying that in property surveys markers on the ground govern. But Lovett pointed out that this case involves strip mining laws, which are different from those governing property cases.

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.