The goal is to stop wasting WVDEP staff’s time on permits that change drastically after they are re-examined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said WVDEP Secretary Randy Huffman.

The state should come up with its own guidelines and stop complaining about the EPA, Huffman said. “If the EPA isn’t going to give us answers, we need to get our own,” Huffman told The Charleston Gazette. “We need to get our own posture on this, and the end result is going to be a reduction in the size and scope of these operations.”

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