By JOSHUA MURPHY

Staff Writer

CHARLESTON — Hundreds stood outside the Charleston Civic Center Tuesday evening, while hundreds of other concerned citizens crowded in The Little Theater for the United States Army Corps of Engineers' public hearing on proposed mining permit changes.

The changes involve modifying or suspending Nationwide Permit 21 of the Clean Water Act, which specifically deals with coal mining valley fills.

The Corps allowed the public to voice their opinions on the matter. Though much of the public attending was unable to gain access to the hearing, they attempted to make their voices heard by chants, signs, and in their sheer numbers left out on Civic Center Drive.

The Charleston Metro Police, who were on hand to keep tensions civil, had to step in a few times to protect a few citizens deemed "tree huggers" by the pre-dominantly pro-coal crowd.

Other chants broke out throughout the night, the most prevalent of the chants included "let us work".

The Corps of Engineers stressed a change in Nationwide Permit 21 would not be an end to mining in West Virginia and all comments will be taken into account before making a decision on the matter.

Nationwide Permit 21 allows a coal company to create a valley fill so long as it would "cause only minimal adverse environmental effects when performed separately and will have only minimal cumulative adverse effect on the environment".

A total of three public hearing's on Permit 21 were held last night. The other two were in Pikeville, Ky., and Knoxville, Tenn. Three others are scheduled for Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania later this week.