HUNTINGTON, W.Va.— A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to drastically curtail environmental review for energy-related projects in West Virginia would violate the Clean Water Act, putting drinking water, communities and animals at risk, conservation groups said in comments filed with the Corps.

The permit would grant permission to coal and other fossil fuel companies to discharge sediment and pollution in West Virginia waterways, and to build structures in, over or under rivers and other waterways for energy-related projects.

Appalachian Mountain Advocates submitted the comments Tuesday on behalf of Appalachian Voices, Coal River Mountain Watch, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Sierra Club.

“West Virginians are all too familiar with degraded water quality caused by the energy industry,” said Appalachian Voices environmental scientist Matt Hepler. “The Army Corps permit process exists to examine the effects of individual projects on water quality, and, when done properly, can compel companies to take necessary steps to protect our water resources. The administration's false claim of an energy emergency is being used as cover in an attempt to circumvent the permitting process, which risks causing enormous harm to drinking water, mountains, rivers, streams, farmland, parks and other vital resources in West Virginia. We urge the Army Corps to reconsider this misguided, dangerous permit.”

Through the proposed regional general permit and letter of permission procedure, the Army Corps wants to skip standard review for “energy and energy related projects” meeting certain requirements. This includes coal and fracked gas extraction, refining and transportation.

“This is another example of the Trump administration pulling every lever to fast-track dirty fossil fuel projects without any regard for people, the environment or the laws it’s supposed to be following,” said Hannah Connor, environmental health deputy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “There’s no energy emergency in this country, and the Army Corps has no emergency authority to justify abusing its requirements to follow the Clean Water Act. West Virginians will sacrifice their clean water and crayfish, mussels and other Appalachian critters will be buried in rubble if this permit takes effect.”

The federal Clean Water Act limits general permits to activities that are similar and cause minimal environmental harm. However, the proposed permit lumps vastly different activities together under a broad category of “energy related.” This sweeping approach attempts to treat pipelines, valley fills, dams and transmission corridors as if they were the same, undermining the law and risking widespread, irreversible harm.

“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.”