"Gov. Steve Beshear's administration and coal industry representatives have sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over coal mining permits.

The Kentucky Coal Association, in a complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Pikeville, said the EPA's blocking of state-issued permits over water pollution standards put forth in an April memo amount to the executive branch taking legislative action and an improper deviation from the Clean Water Act of 1977."

Dori Hjalmarson reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader October 19, 2010. [2]