Court Ruling Could Open Floodgates for More Mountaintop Mining
- Rob Perks
- Director, Center for Advocacy Campaigns, Washington, D.C.
- Blog | About
- Posted February 27, 2009 in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Earlier this month -- on Friday the 13th -- a federal appeals court in Richmond, VA dealt a devastating blow to the environment by overturning a 2007 lower court decision curtailing mountaintop removal, the world's most destructive coal mining technique. I blogged this bad news.
Clearly, the coal industry has reason to cheer their court victory. The implications for Appalachia could be devastating. In fact, an analysis by the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment reveals that mining permits pending at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could result in the burial of more than 218 miles of streams in Southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. The damage would be done by more than 100 permits, covering more than 63,000 acres -- nearly 100 square miles -- and including 441 valley fills. Just what Appalachia needs, more mountains converted to moonscapes like the mining operation below.
This legal setback doesn't have to be the end of the story. Congress has the power to put a stop to mountaintop removal by passing legislation -- the Clean Water Protection Act -- that would prevent companies from continuing to dump mining waste into valley streams. Soon this bill will be introduced in the new Congress and nearly 100 members of the House of Representatives are ready to co-sponsor it.
You can help. First, click here to find out if your representative is one of the co-sponsors. If your representative isn't on the list, please take a moment to send an email urging them stand against mountaintop removal coal mining by supporting the Clean Water Protection Act.
Another sure-fire way to curtail mountaintop mining is to persuade the Obama administration to reverse the Bush EPA's regulatory change last year that makes it even easier for coal companies to bury valley streams under tons of rock, rubble and other mining debris. NRDC and our allies hope to sit down soon with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to discuss how her agency can address this problem.
Although the courts remain a problem, mountaintop removal is a loser in the court of public opinion. With your help, we can finally bring an end to this travesty.
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Comments
Red Desert — Mar 3 2009 12:18 AM
Rob Perks:
There is an article in the LA Times today (March 2) about a large gold mine in SE Alaska that proposes to dispose of tailings in a lake. The article says the plan went forward after regulatory changes made by the Bush administration in 2004. Do you know anything about this? Are these the same rules, written for the Appalachian coal mining industry in response to the Hayden rulings, which defines mining spoil as fill?
Apparently, the 9th Circuit found the Alaska proposal in violation of the Clean Water Act. That ruling was appealed and it is going to the Supreme Court this spring.
I always said there is no way that mountaintop removal mining could happen out West. The courts, especially the 9th, wouldn't allow it. Nor, for that matter, would westerners.
What about precedent given the difference between 4th and 9th Circuit decisions? Has this been noted by anyone? Does the 9th’s ruling overturn or place in question the Bush regulatory changes?
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-alaska-gold-mining2-2009mar02,0,186322.story