HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - Three coal companies have agreed to temporarily limit operations at three mountaintop removal mines opposed by environmentalists.

Led by the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, environmentalists had sought a court order shutting down the mines. A settlement reached Wednesday allows limited mining at all three.

The agreements says subsidiaries of Massey Energy and Consol Energy can use one valley fill at two surface mines. Mine operator Tyler Morgan struck a similar deal for the third mine.

The three mines had received Clean Water Act permits from the Army Corps of Engineers, but environmentalists argued that more extensive environmental reviews of the operations were needed.