Breaking news: EPA cracks down on mountaintop removal
The Obama administration today is announcing its plans to crack down on mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials have issued letters to two mining operations, one in West Virginia and one in Kentucky that threaten to block federal Army Corps of Engineers permits because of the significant impacts of the proposed operations.
In the West Virginia letter, directed at Massey Energy’s Highland Mining Company Reylas Surface Mine in Logan County, EPA explains:
“EPA has expressed its significant concern regarding the impact of the human environment through a lack of avoidance and minimization efforts undertaken for this project, the cumulative impacts on the watershed, forest and habitat destruction and fragmentation within a globally significant and biologically diverse forest system, and the impairment of downstream water quality.”
In the letter to Corps of Engineers District Col. Dana R. Hurst, EPA said the mining proposal — which would bury 2.5 miles of streams near the town of Ethel — “will result in significant impacts to the human environment” and that the permit can’t be issued unless the Corps first conducts a detailed Environmental Impact Statement.
My friend Dina Cappiello at The Associated Press is reporting this out of Washington:
The Environmental Protection Agency is putting on hold hundreds of mountaintop coal-mining permits until it can evaluate the projects’ impacts on streams and wetlands.
The decision was announced Tuesday by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson. It targets a controversial practice by coal mining companies that dump waste from mountaintop mining into streams and wetlands.
It could delay more than a hundred permits being sought by companies wanting to begin blasting mountaintops to access coal.
More to come, with EPA’s formal announcement expected any minute…
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[…] EPA halts hundreds of mountaintop mining permits By DINA CAPPIELLOWASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is putting on hold hundreds of mountaintop coal-mining permits until it can evaluate the projects’ impacts on streams and wetlands. […]
[…] Well, after a month of lobbying them, the EPA has said — no way. Read on, my friends. EPA halts hundreds of mountaintop mining permits By DINA CAPPIELLOWASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is putting on hold […]
Should we rename our event, A concert to celebrate the end of mountaintop removal. www.mtnaid.com
I am very pleased to hear the new president is a friend of our loving mountains, and doesnt want them destroyed. Also the beautiful streams, from which we get our down stream drinking waters , will be spared of the poisonous wastes. Coal can be tunnel mined profitably; its been proven in the past. Thanks, president Obama !
It appears the target isn’t MTR specifically, but more the way it is handled. WV relies on this industry to maintain it’s economy. What is being proven is how vital coal is to our state. WV is actually in good standing compared to many of our surrounding states as far as jobs/economy goes… and this has much to do with coal and the industry it supports.
The Coal industry should consider seriously their impact on the enviroment. In addition, we are WV residents need to respect the progress that this industry has provided. There will be a compromise.
To Shelby Burgess Deep mining will soon follow the demise of M T R using the clean water act. President Obama: The environmetal consequences of RUNOFF from some of these moutains can be horrendous . Most of these environmetal groups want to see the end of fossil fuel use PERIOD.
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