U.S. EPA announced the veto today of a federal permit for one of the largest mountaintop-removal projects ever proposed in Appalachia, a clear signal of the Obama administration's opposition to the controversial coal-mining practice. The agency's decision to halt development of 2,278-acre Spruce No. 1 mine in Logan County, W.Va., drew the threat of a lawsuit from the mine's owner and expressions of outrage from the mining industry, which decried the permit revocation as a job killer that would stifle Appalachia's economic recovery.