Citing Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14156, which declares a “National Energy Emergency”, the Army Corps of Engineers is seeking to sidestep the Clean Water Act and drastically curtail environmental review for energy related projects in West Virginia.

Under the Corps plan, coal and other fossil fuel companies would be allowed to freely discharge sediment and pollutions into the Mountain State’s waterways and to build structures in, over, and under streams and rivers for energy projects.

On Tuesday of this week, a coalition of organizations, including the Sierra Club, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, Appalachian Voices, Coal River Mountain Watch, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, and the Center for Biological Diversity.

“The Corps should withdraw this sweeping permit and restore case-by-case review to protect West Virginia’s waterways and the people who rely on them,” said Andrew Young, Vice President for Federal Affairs at the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy. “Healthy rivers are the state’s lifeblood – for anglers, communities, and a flourishing outdoor-recreation and tourism-based economy. Inventing an “energy emergency” to justify a one-size-fits-all permit puts these lifelines at risk and must be rejected.”