A Consol Coal Co. proposal to bury almost five miles of streams and six acres of wetlands in Greene County under more than 90 million cubic yards of coal waste rock is getting extra scrutiny from government regulators.

That closer review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is tied to the agency's announcement Tuesday that it has serious concerns about the environmental consequences and water quality impacts of so-called "mountaintop removal" mining in West Virginia and Kentucky.

Like mountaintop removal mining, Consol's application to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a Clean Water Act permit would allow two so-called "valley fills" to cover streams, wetlands and the valleys where they are located.

While mountaintop mining buries the streams under rock and soil "overburden" blasted from the tops of mountains, Pennsylvania's two dozen valley fills use waste rock collected when coal from longwall mines is cleaned and sorted.

"They're going to be looking at [permitting] issues more closely and with more scrutiny than they did," said Scott Hans, chief of the Corps' regulatory branch in the six-state Pittsburgh Region. "Where that goes we're not sure at this point in time. We got comments on the Consol application. The EPA asked for more information this week."

Tom Hoffman, a Consol spokesman, said the mining company hasn't received the EPA information request but would comply when it does. "We understand the EPA has a role in this process and we will be happy to provide whatever information they need," he said.

Mr. Hans said he expects the Corps and the EPA to continue to follow the processes set up in the Clean Water Act regulations, which makes it the Corps' responsibility to issue Clean Water Act permits for mining operations that impact streams and wetlands. The EPA is required to review the proposed permits and provide comments.

The agency announced yesterday it is prioritizing its review of surface mining projects and focusing on those with the potential to have the greatest adverse environmental impacts, but will also look at valley fills, which it said "can also have significant environmental impacts."

Consol's permit application, the largest of six valley fill applications under consideration by the Corps Pittsburgh District Office, would cover tributaries and adjacent wetlands of Owens Run and 706 acres in Richhill Township with more than 90 million cubic yards of coal waste rock. Owens Run is a tributary of Enlow Fork, Wheeling Creek and the Ohio River.

The proposed valley fills are adjacent to existing valley fills that have been used by the company since the Bailey Mine opened in 1984.

In addition to the Consol permit, the Corps is reviewing one valley fill application in Ohio and four in West Virginia where mountaintop removal mining and valley fills have buried more than 1,200 miles of streams.

In issuing its letters to the Corps' office in Huntington, W.Va., earlier this week, the EPA said the mountaintop removal surface mines would likely cause water quality problems in streams and "significant degradation" of streams buried by mining activities.