In summary judgment motions, lawyers argue that there are no disputed material facts, and ask judges to rule solely on legal interpretations. Since then, lawyers for all sides have file several hundred pages of briefs and exhibits. Haden has not indicated when, or if, he will rule. The most important issue raised in the summary judgment motion is how the buffer zone rule applies to valley fills, lawyers involved in the case say. Mountaintop removal blasts off hilltops to uncover coal seams.
Leftover earth is shoved into hollows, burying streams under waste piles called valley fills.
Under the 1977 federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act's buffer zone rule, no mining activity is generally allowed within 100 feet of streams. Coal companies can obtain a waiver of the buffer zone rule. To do so, they must show that mining within 100 feet of a stream doesn't degrade the stream. In their July 1998 lawsuit, environmentalists allege DEP issues buffer zone waivers for valley fills without showing that the streams won't be degraded. They also allege that waivers for valley fills are impossible, because dumping millions of tons of rock and earth into streams obviously degrades them.