EPA has just posted on its Web site its “initial list” of mountaintop removal permits that it has concerns about … The list is here.It looks pretty long, and appears to show that EPA plans to block — at least for further review — dozens of coal-mining permits across Appalachia …

Remember that this list was due on Tuesday, and publication of it is part of the Obama administration’s plan to crack down on mountaintop removal and reduce the environmental impacts of the process.

My guess is we’ll be hearing more about this from the administration soon …

UPDATED, 11:35 A.M: EPA has also posted a Q and A sheet with more information about the initial list. It’s here. 

There is also detailed information about each of the mine permits on the EPA list, here, and a project list here. EPA has also added comment letters on a very long list of mining permits, here.

Environmental groups are certainly pleased with this move by EPA, though everyone is still waiting on some official statement from the agency about these actions. Joe Lovett, director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, told me this morning:

I’m glad that EPA is finally looking at the science of the damage that is being done by mountaintop removal and acting to rein it in.

Updated, 11:55 a.m.:

And here’s the test of EPA’s just-issued news release:

EPA Releases Preliminary Results for Surface Coal Mining Permit Reviews

WASHINGTON –The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has identified 79 proposed surface coal-mining projects in Appalachian states for further, detailed reviews of their pending permits.  The extended reviews will be carried out under an enhanced coordination process between EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers developed under an interagency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on surface coal mining facilitated by the Council on Environmental Quality and signed by the EPA, the Corps, and the Department of Interior. The Corps and EPA will work together during this review process to ensure compliance with the Clean Water Act and the protection of this nation’s public health and environment.

“The administration pledged earlier this year to improve review of mining projects that risked harming water quality. Release of this preliminary list is the first step in a process to assure that the environmental concerns raised by the 79 permit applications are addressed and that permits issued are protective of water quality and affected ecosystems,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “We look forward to working closely with the Army Corps of Engineers, with the involvement of the mining companies, to achieve a resolution of EPA’s concerns that avoids harmful environmental impacts and meets our energy and economic needs.”

In the next 15 days, EPA will be further evaluating the preliminary list of projects slated for further review and transmit a final list to the Corps.  After that, issues of concern regarding particular permit applications will be addressed during a 60-day review process triggered when the Corps informs EPA that a particular permit is ready for discussion.

“This administration made a commitment to be more collaborative, transparent, and efficient in how it executes its responsibilities.  The enhanced coordination procedures in the MOU provide a path forward and certainty regarding how the projects will move through the process,” said Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. “I am confident that this collaborative effort will strengthen our environmental reviews while allowing sustainable economic development to proceed.”

The enhanced coordination process, announced in June 2009, was created to strengthen the environmental review of pending mining applications and to address the backlog of permit decisions that occurred as a result of various challenges, including litigation. This process is one element of the Obama Administration’s commitment to improve the environmental review of permits for surface coal mining projects in Appalachia and look for ways to reduce adverse environmental impacts.  The process will also allow for greater public participation and transparency.  Since June, 29 projects have been removed from the list for various reasons, including circumstances where permit applicants have requested that their applications be withdrawn.

The 79 pending permit applications on which EPA focused are for proposed surface coal mining operations in 4 Appalachian states. EPA’s initial review concluded that all of the projects would likely cause water quality impacts requiring additional review under the Clean Water Act. The initial reviews were conducted in light of available project-specific information, the existing environmental condition of the watershed in which the project is proposed to be located, and the nature of environmental impacts predicted to result from construction and operation of the proposed mine.

The list of 79 permits is being made available today on EPA’s Web site at the address below along with additional information about the nature and outcome of the EPA review process. As noted, the list will be available for public review for the next two weeks and then a final list will be published and provided to the Corps of Engineers to begin the next phase of review.

More information on the list of 79 permits: Washington, D.C. – Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it has concerns about the environmental harm that would be caused by the issuance of dozens of mountaintop removal permits that the agency had been reviewing since June. EPA’s actions were welcomed by local and national groups working to end the practice of mountaintop removal. While noting it is only a first step, the groups commended EPA for its decision.

 

“EPA’s action today creates a welcome reprieve for the people who live below these enormous mining sites and the waste dumps they put into our waters,” said Judy Bonds, co-director of Coal River Mountain Watch. “We will continue our fight for a total, complete reprieve for our children and for our beloved mountains and streams.”

 

Of the 79 permits under review, EPA has determined that—for each and every permit at issue—the destruction of streams and harm to watersheds in the region raise questions about the legality of the permits under the Clean Water Act. Under a procedure adopted by the Obama administration in June, EPA’s action today is expected to trigger a 60-day joint review of the permits between EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers, if the Corps disagrees with EPA’s initial review. Assistant Secretary of the Army Jo-Ellen Darcy joined EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in making the announcement.

 

“We applaud this action by the Obama Administration to return the rule of law to the Appalachian coalfields,” said Mary Anne Hitt, Deputy Director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. “The next step in the administration’s review process should confirm that these permits cannot be issued. The ultimate solution to protecting communities, mountains and streams is to now revise Bush administration rules to make clear that mining and other industrial waste cannot be used to fill streams.”

 

“While many mountains, streams and communities continue to be impacted or annihilated by mountaintop removal because of years of lawless mining, EPA’s announcement today provides people with some hope that from this day forward, real science and laws will be applied before any more permits are issued,” said Janet Keating, executive director of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. “The public needs to know that this announcement does not apply to existing mountaintop removal permits. We ask that our politicians don’t cry that ‘the sky is falling,’ but instead let the scientific experts at EPA do the job that taxpayers expect of them – to protect our water, air and land for us and for future generations.”

 

“We are pleased, but not surprised, that these 79 mines failed to pass muster under the Clean Water Act at this stage in the review. We have been saying for years that these types of mines are too destructive to proceed,” said Joe Lovett, executive director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment. “It is satisfying to know that there are finally leaders at EPA and in other federal environmental agencies who are willing to acknowledge that reality.”

 

“For this stage in the permitting review process, EPA is doing the right thing, and we commend Administrator Jackson for her leadership,” said Joan Mulhern, senior legislative counsel for Earthjustice. “These mines, if permitted, would destroy many miles of streams in a region already devastated by mountaintop removal. We are confident that if EPA and the Corps do the ‘enhanced’ review as promised, they will determine that all of the mines with valley fills will cause unacceptable harm and violate the law. The next step should not only be to conduct the review and deny permits for mines that destroy waters, but the administration must also reinstate the clean water rules that prevented industries from dumping their waste into streams.”

 

In contrast to the result of an earlier review of other similar permits, where EPA allowed some mines like Peg Fork that have destructive valley fills to proceed even though they would cause unlawful destruction of waterways, EPA’s action today shows that it is now looking closely at the law and science in its permit review process and also providing some welcome public transparency. Earlier this year, the EPA conducted a review of 48 applications pending before the Army Corps of Engineers for Clean Water Act permits to fill streams. At the end of its review, the EPA identified the Peg Fork mine and five other mines as projects of high concern, and instructed the Army Corps not to issue those permits. Unfortunately, the EPA raised no objections to 42 of those 48 mines, and eventually allowed the issuance of the Peg Fork mine permit with minimal additional conditions. Despite that decision, those permits still fail to satisfy the requirements for permits issued under the Clean Water Act. Many of these permits would still have unacceptable adverse impacts on local waterways and therefore violate the Clean Water Act.

 

Mining operations have already destroyed at least 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams, permanently burying them beneath piles of toxic waste and debris. Entire communities have been permanently displaced by mines and an area the size of Delaware has been flattened.

 

More information on pending permits and the effects they would have on Appalachia can be found at http://action.sierraclub.org/WhatsAtStake

 

More information on mountaintop removal mining is available at:

http://www.earthjustice.org/mtr

 

Updated, 3 p.m., with this statement from Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.:

As the Environmental Protection Agency today announced that they would effectively block nearly 80 mining permits across the mining region, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., expressed her concerns about the potential economic impact of the administration’s decision.

“With a new announcement from the EPA comes more delays and continued uncertainty for West Virginia miners,” said Capito.  “As I’ve said before, it’s certainly appropriate to have legitimate oversight and review of all proposed permits, but today’s announcement amounts to the latest in a series of decisions that create still more ambiguity for mines across our state and region.  Our nation depends on West Virginia coal as a domestic resource to power our economy and we can’t afford never-ending delay on the many outstanding permits. ”

Over the course of the summer, Capito met with officials at the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers where she highlighted the stakes of the continued evolution of the permit review process. 

“In my discussions with officials at the EPA, I’ve regularly stressed that their decisions stand to directly impact jobs in our state and today’s news of further delays is a troubling development.  Simply put, the decisions of bureaucrats in Washington have a real personal impact on West Virginia families.”

Twenty three of the 79 permits mentioned in today’s announcement are located in West Virginia.  The EPA, which will have final approval on all permits, gave no binding deadline for completing their enhanced review process.    

“This can’t be an endless process,” added Capito.  “Yet it’s beginning to seem like it might be, and that’s unfair to mining families and mining communities throughout the Mountain State.” 

This entry was posted on Friday, September 11, 2009 at 11:32 am and is filed under Mountaintop Removal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.