The Sierra Club and partners Tennessee Clean Water Network and Statewide Organizing eMpowerment filed documentation recently in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, claiming that two National Coal operations and one of its mine waste disposal areas are violating legal limits on selenium, iron and manganese discharges into local waterways.

“The kinds of pollutants National Coal is releasing into Tennessee’s waters can cause health problems as well as serious environmental damage,” Sierra Club Tennessee chapter vice conservation chair Axel Ringe said.

“Repeat violators like National Coal need to know that wanton polluting of Tennessee’s waterways has serious consequences for local residents and won’t be allowed to continue unchecked.”

The groups said that the Clean Water Act governs legal limits of pollution allowed in mining and waste disposal and requires mining companies to test and disclose sampling results, and National’s records show consistent violations for selenium as well as iron and manganese at all of the sites.

The lawsuit follows several others for similar violations that have resulted in significant protections, according to the environmentalists.

Two of those actions were recently brought against Arch Coal and Patriot Coal.

National Coal did not make a public statement on the litigation before ILN press time.

National became a wholly owned subsidiary of Ranger Energy, which also holds Southern Coal, in December 2010.