My buddy David Fahrenthold at The Washington Post this morning gave readers his take on the recent happening in coal country, with a piece headlined, “EPA crackdown on mountaintop coal mining criticized as contradictory.”
Here’s what we in the business call “the nut graph” –
… To many people in Appalachia, the orders coming out of Washington, especially one this month, have appeared contradictory and mysterious, signing off on some mines and blocking others. Environmentalists are unhappy because they fear federal officials are losing their nerve to take on the powerful coal industry. The coal industry is unhappy because it thinks the administration is on the brink of giving in to the green crowd.
To each side, it looks like the EPA hasn’t made up its mind. Which would make now the time to yell as loudly as possible.
The story quotes WVDEP Secretary Randy Huffman explaining his thought that EPA’s appearance of indecision on mountaintop removal is creating some of the bitter conflict here in the coalfields:
They didn’t have a well-thought-out plan whenever they did this. And that’s really been the basis of the uproar. [Confusion over the EPA's intentions] creates fear, and that brings out the worst in people.
Maybe so. But the part of the story that floored me was where the assistant EPA administrator for water, Peter Silva, took on directly and forcefully this idea that the industry and its coalfield political friends are just looking for the Obama administration to “clarify” what the permit requirements are going to be. Said Silva:
The notion of ‘clarity’ invoked by some West Virginia officials and industry representatives has too often meant letting coal companies do as they please, with little or no consideration for the harmful impacts on Americans living in coal country.
Wow. That’s and unusually straight-forward response from a federal agency. And don’t forget, this is a guy whose nomination to the EPA slot was briefly blocked by Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va. Sen. Byrd apparently lifted his hold on Silva’s nomination after he met with Silva.
There was apparently more to Silva’s prepared statement that wasn’t included in the Post story … here’s the rest of it:
Under this Administrator, the EPA believes clarity comes from following emerging science and the law and sending a simple message that we are willing to work with companies to figure out how to mine coal while reducing the environmental and health impacts. EPA’s recent decision on West Virginia’s Hobet mine is an example where EPA’s collaboration with the company cut stream impacts by half, reduced water contamination, increased the amount of coal extracted, and protected both public health and hundreds of jobs.”
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Everyone who deals with the Section 404 program would love to have some “clarity”, not just the coal industry in West Virginia. The program is mostly Corps/EPA policy decisions that have resulted from various Federal court decisions since 1977.
The 404 “program” attempts to minimize avoidable stream impacts and compensate for impacts that unavoidable. The controversy in the coal industry turns on what the Corps will call “avoidable” impacts and that will be a mine-by-mine decision.
The coal industry wants predictability but that is not how the 404 program operates.
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I’m a bit dubious about clarity as well. Compromise rarely works out in a predictable way for either party but it comes down to a deal both sides can live with. I don’t think the all or nothing solution solves anything (although it is certainly clear) and taking a middle of the road or case by case basis towards Section 404 permit regulation tends to anger both sides or at best leaves both sides less than fully satisfied. Having a “one size fits all” approach is not proving to be wholly effective but when 3 federal agencies and 5 state agencies (all with different requirements and standards) are doing their best to grapple with the issue there needs to be some consistency. Unfortuantely, this consistency across many boundaries is bound to create problems for individual companies seeking projects that would pass muster in one state but be thrown out in another.
There may only be 20 to 30 yrs of surface mining left in WV, according to an International Coal Group executive.
The quotes below are from a Beckley Register Herald article (January 27, 2010 10:43 pm
ICG executive addresses coal forum)
The article describes the recent coal forum at Mountain State University:
“An MSU student asked what the coal industry was doing to ensure jobs for the future and Kitts said West Virginia needs to look into the future and ask what happens when coal mining is finished.
“In terms of surface mining, it could be 20 to 30 years,” he said. “Going forward, coal will be mined out.” (end Beckley Register Herald quote)
Eugene Kitts is an executive of ICG; the title of his presentation was “Appalachian Coal Mining Under Attack.”
Dianne,
Do you have a link for that story?
Others might want to read the whole thing.
Ken.
here’s the article Dianne references: http://www.register-herald.com/local/local_story_027224455.html
The opposite of clarity would be obfuscation and this is what the coal industry does and its how they get away with breaking the law. The Clean Water Act does not lack clarity, and it doesn’t allow for the destruction of US waterways. I hope this is what Mr. Silva is talking about, and that clarity will not become just another buzzword and an excuse to make this issue seem more complicated than it is.
[...] time, it’s worth remembering the comments of top EPA water official Peter Silva, who said this of those industry [...]
[...] Regardless, is it any wonder that that EPA officials sometimes say things like this: [...]