The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday gave hope to two West Virginia mountaintop coal mines, saying it supports a permit for one facility owned by Patriot Coal Corp. (PCX) and wants to continue discussions with Arch Coal Inc. (ACI) about another permit for the largest mountaintop mining operation in Appalachia.

The EPA said it decided to support a permit for a mine in Lincoln County, West Virginia, after discussions with Patriot's Hobet Mining LLC "resulted in additional significant protections against environmental impacts." The EPA separately said that a court has agreed to extend a deadline for discussions with Arch's Mingo Logan Mining Company about an already-issued permit, which the EPA halted late in 2009.

The announcement continues the Obama administration's up-and-down stance on mountaintop coal mining, which involves blasting off mountaintops to get at the coal underneath. It comes just months after the EPA took a tough stance with Arch by halting the company's permit for a Logan County mine, called Spruce No. 1. It was the first time in 37 years that the agency had used its power to hold up a previously-issued mountaintop mining permit.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers grants permits necessary for mountaintop mining, but the Obama administration's EPA has recently been using its power to block or influence those permits.

-By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6654; Siobhan.Hughes@dowjones.com
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