Mountaintop removal mines run by Trinity Coal and its subsidiaries, allegedly dumped pollutants into tributaries of the Levisa Fork River in 2005 and 2007.

Trinity has been owned by Indian conglomerate Essar Group since 2010. The parent company is based in Mumbai but owns coal reserves around the world and has business interests in 25 countries.

The Associated Press reported the minerals division of Essar Group had been named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday.

According to documents filed at Pikeville federal court, Trinity's companies began mining operations on a 682-acre site in Pike County in December 2005 without a Clean Water Act permit.

And two years later, it began operations on a 768-acre site along the Magoffin and Floyd County line, also without the required permit. Surface mining operations at those two sites have led to the dumping of earth, rock and spoil into more than two miles of streams, the suit said.

It further stated that material remained in the streambeds, and the companies "do not have and have never had a valid CWA permit authorizing the discharge of fill material."

Companies named in the lawsuit along with Essar Minerals and Trinity were Frasure Creek Mining, Bear Fork Resources, Falcon Resources and Prater Branch Resources. All four listed the same Scott Depot address in Western Virginia.

Essar Minerals completed a $600 million purchase of Trinity in March 2010 to secure a supply of metallurgical coal for its international steel business. Trinity operated 13 mines and owned about 200 million tons of coal reserves at the time of the sale.

News reports said Frasure Creek was fined $310,000 by the state of Kentucky in 2010 for filing faulty water quality reports. Environmental groups intervened in court, arguing that Frasure Creek's fines for the violations were too low. The case is in mediation.