The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a coal company fighting to reinstate a water pollution permit for a West Virginia mountaintop mine, a decision federal lawmakers are taking issue with.

The justices say they will not disturb a federal appeals court ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency acted within its authority in 2011 when it retroactively vetoed a permit issued four years earlier by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Spruce Mine in Logan County.

St. Louis-based Arch Coal Inc. and its Mingo Logan Coal Co. subsidiary challenged the appellate ruling concerning the mountaintop removal coal mine. "Although our courts have determined that EPA's actions were permissible, my position on Spruce Mine has been clear - the EPA never should have retroactively vetoed the permit," said U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.

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