Bush To Ease "Mountaintop Mining" Rule

Environmental Groups Furious At "Gift" To Coal Mining Industry In Waning Days Of Bush Administration

(CBS/AP)  Angry environmentalists launched an online campaign Wednesday urging President-elect Barack Obama to undo a federal rule that clarifies when coal companies can dump mining waste in streams, calling it a long-awaited "parting gift" from the Bush administration.

North Carolina-based Appalachian Voices and other groups blasted Tuesday's Environmental Protection Agency decision to endorse the mining rule as the death of freshwater streams and the likely start of a new surge in mountaintop removal surface mining across Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Although the regulation would apply nationwide, mountaintop removal operations are of special interest in Appalachia, where surface mines now outnumber those underground.

An EPA study estimated 400,000 acres of forest were wiped out and nearly 724 miles of streams buried between 1985 and 2001 by mountaintop mining, in which forests are clear cut and holes are drilled to blast apart rock. Massive machines, some with buckets big enough to hold 24 compact cars, scoop coal from the exposed seams.

The rock and dirt left behind is dumped into adjacent valleys, changing the natural shape of the earth, lowering the height of the mountain and covering streams.

The rule, proposed by the federal Office of Surface Mining and expected to take effect next month, would govern how mining companies can encroach into a buffer zone designed to protect streams. The Bush administration finalized the rule Wednesday and it will be published in the Federal Register later this month.

West Virginia attorney Joe Lovett, who has filed several lawsuits over mountaintop removal mining, said the rule essentially handicaps Obama, taking away a tool his administration could use to rein in the practice.

"For the industry, this is a parting gift," Lovett said.

But the National Mining Association says environmentalists are misrepresenting the rule as a free pass for Big Coal. It argues operators will have to conduct even more rigorous, time-consuming analyses of their disposal plans before mining begins.

"The rule does not make it easier to conduct mining activities within the stream buffer zone," said NMA spokeswoman Carol Raulston.

Dumping excess rock and soil has always been allowed, she said, as long as operators comply with federal water quality laws.

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Read the Office of Surface Mining's comparison of the old and proposed new rules governing mountaintop mining and waste disposal.

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"Enforcing a law and removing a law are two different things," countered Naoma resident Vernon Haltom, co-director of Coal River Mountain Watch, an environmental group trying to stop a mountaintop mine and preserve the site for a wind farm.

"To me," he said, "it's the difference between having traffic cops that are sleeping on the job and having no speed limit."

Lawmakers and the governors of Kentucky and Tennessee had urged the EPA to block the regulation.

At issue is how to interpret regulatory language that says surface mining operations can't disturb land within 100 feet of a perennial or intermittent stream.

Kentucky Coal Association President Bill Caylor said that if mining operations had to stay back 100 feet from every ephemeral stream - one that grows when it rains and dries up when it doesn't - there would be no place to put leftover rock and dirt.

"The environmentalists are misleading the public into believing that this regulation will allow us to dump waste into rivers and dam up rivers," Caylor said. "I don't know how to respond to that. It's just not true."

But Appalachian Voices, which maintains the ilovemountains.org Web site, estimates 470 mountains have already been destroyed.

EPA's action this week is "absolutely egregious," said Appalachian Voices program director Matt Wasson. "It's just an exclamation point on what we've been seeing for the last eight years.

"It's about making it easier for a few coal companies to engage in mountaintop removal."

Wasson's group launched a campaign Wednesday urging Obama to stop mountaintop mining during his first 100 days. Comments posted through ilovemountains will go directly to the Obama Transition Team Web site.

[a_nother2002]

NO! Bad Bush! Bad! Some one hit him with a rolled up newspaper. Nothing worse then making a mess in your own home! Go sit in your basket Bush! Very very naughty!

[a_nother2002]

NO! Bad Bush! Bad! Some one hit him with a rolled up newspaper. Nothing worse then making a mess in your own home! Go sit in your basket Bush! Very very naughty!

[a_nother2002]

NO! Bad Bush! Bad! Some one hit him with a rolled up newspaper. Nothing worse then making a mess in your own home! Go sit in your basket Bush! Very very naughty!

[mtminds]

I don''t care how many bibles he has, he''s already said he doesn''t read. There is nothing that suggests that GW Bush is anything near a Christian. EVERYTHING he has done is filled with vile putrid lies, deceit and hate.

[mtminds]

Where are all the Mountains and wild country?

Mr. Peabody''s coal train done hauled it away.

[imnho]

Ihave the feeling that Bush does not and never did care abouth the well being of most of the American citzens. From day one he has been trying to give to his rich friends as much money land and property as he can take from the public. He knows that he is srewint the country. He just does not care. He started an unecessary warand id doing his best to rape the land before he leaves the white house.

[tincup356]

If Obama wants to right what has been done wrong....he has to start with re-investigating 911 and go after who really did it.Further more he needs to reverse the things bush did to take away and violate our rights.Then Bush and the communication companies that went along with his illegal eavesdropping,should be prosecuted and left open to civil litigation to people they have violated rights of.The people of this country have been bullied and pushed too far, and it is time our rights are returned and respected.If Obama continues with Bushes illegal activities,he will be no better of a person than bush.

[tincup356]

Its bad enough that the republicans have lied to us all the way to disaster, now the democrats will lie to us for the next 8 years.When will people wake up and see,Both parties are nothing but liars.Together they have formed a conspiracy to rob America and betray the people that elected them to office, All for the sake of greed.Ladies and gentlemen, Washington has committed treason on us.

[kansas1946]

The state motto for West Virginia BEFORE the Bush years:

"Wild And Wonderful West Virginia"

State motto AFTER the Bush years:

"Flat and Featureless West Virginia...Now We Look Like Kansas"


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Posted by raflin0010 at 01:29 PM : Dec 04, 2008
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Hey, raflin, watch it. Although there are some areas of Kansas that are "flat and featurless" you might be surprised that a lot of area are not. One thing we don''t have is coal, thank God! :o)

[kansas1946]

(CBS/AP) Angry environmentalists launched an online campaign Wednesday urging President-elect Barack Obama to undo a federal rule that clarifies when coal companies can dump mining waste in streams, calling it a long-awaited "parting gift" from the Bush administration.
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Save your breath (and emails.) Bush is evil and nothing you say will change his mind. Just get busy on Obama and congress to reverse any of Bush''s evil last minute legacy droppings.