ST. LOUIS – Illinois rejected an application for a permit for a strip coal mine that opponents claimed would have threatened a tiny village's water supply and various animals in a nearby wildlife area.

Chicago-based Capital Resources Development Co. proposed building the 600-acre surface mine in an Illinois River floodplain near the 150-resident village of Banner and the Rice Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area.

The Sierra Club and other opponents said that would jeopardize drinking water supplies in the area, along with nesting osprey, a bald eagle roost and habitat for the short-eared owl, which is on the state's endangered list. Critics also warned the mine could compromise the structural integrity of the village's wastewater-treatment plant.