Coal Operator Moves to Recuse Judge for Prior Ties to Environmental Group

     In the latest of the series of mountaintop mining cases filed in West Virginia, Fola Coal Company has moved to recuse U.S. District Court Judge Robert C. “Chuck” Chambers based on his prior membership in the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, a plaintiff in the case.  See OVEC v. Corps of Engineers, No. 3:08-cv-00979, Motion to Disqualify (Oct. 10, 2008).  The case involves a challenge to the “fill” permit issued by the Corps of Engineers to Fola for its surface mining operations in Clay/Nicholas Counties. 

     Earlier in the same week, the West Virginia State Journal reported that Judge Chambers had not only been a member of the Highlands Conservancy, but had also made monetary contributions “as a member of the West Virginia Legislature” in the 1980’s and early 1990’s.  The Journal article reported that Chambers denied having maintained his membership in the Conservancy after becoming a judge.  Judge Chambers is the judge who authored two opinions in a parallel case that rescinded four Corps permits issued to mining entities and declared in-stream sediment pond to be unlawful.  To the best of our knowledge, Judge Chambers had never previously revealed to the parties his prior membership in the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy.

     This article was authored by Robert G. McLusky, Jackson Kelly PLLC. For more information on the author see here.