On Friday, we reported on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seeking further delays in making a decision on whether it will veto the largest mountaintop removal mining permit in West Virginia history.
And in Sunday’s paper, we detailed yet another EPA effort to delay decisions on mountaintop removal — this one a move by the agency to hold off announcing more detailed standards for when permits will and won’t be issued, and when EPA will require operators to reduce the impacts of their proposed mining.
That story is here. Folks who are interested in hearing more might tune in today at noon when EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson addresses the National Press Club, to hear if she talks about it or gets any questions from the media about mountaintop removal.
From a purely political standpoint, these delays by EPA certainly seem to play right into the coal industry’s hands — by not making decisions, EPA allows industry lobbyists and their politician friends to continue to argue that the Obama administration is just delaying and delaying and not giving the industry any guidelines to follow.
At the same time, it’s worth remembering the comments of top EPA water official Peter Silva, who said this of those industry complaints:
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.
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The waters of Spruce Fork may be forever damaged if Spruce #1 MTR is permitted. An underground mine at nearby Seng Camp is already in operation. These two mines will pollute Spruce Fork so badly that recovery may take decades of time to recover, long after the two mines are gone
I certainly hope Blair doesnt become another Prenter, with poisoned water to consume.
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