here is the SC press alert on the EPA's decision, best, paul
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 2, 2008
Contact:
Joan Mulhern/Kathleen Sutcliffe,
Earthjustice, (202) 667-4500
Oliver Bernstein, Sierra Club,
(512) 477-2152
Vivian Stockman, Ohio Valley Environmental
Coalition, (304) 360-1979
Vernon Haltom, Coal River Mountain
Watch, (304) 854-2182
Cindy Rank, West Virginia Highlands
Conservancy, (304) 924-5802
Agency Signs Off on Controversial
Rule to Allow Stream Destruction
Rule removes protections for
streams, allows more mountaintop removal mining
Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency today signed off on a controversial 11th
hour repeal of the stream buffer zone rule, an environmental law which
since 1983 has prohibited surface coal mining activities within 100 feet
of flowing streams.
The repeal of this important protection
clears the way for an even greater expansion of mountaintop removal mining
– the aptly named process of mining coal by blasting off the tops of mountains,
and bulldozing the crumbled peaks into adjoining valleys.
"The EPA's decision is a slap
in the face of Appalachian communities, which have already endured enough
injustice from mountaintop removal," said Vernon Haltom, co-director of
the West Virginia-based Coal River Mountain Watch. "My home and thousands
of others are now in greater jeopardy."
EPA's approval comes in spite
of a recent wave of criticism directed generally at the outgoing administration's
'midnight regulations' and specifically at the repeal of the stream buffer
zone rule.
"Once again, the Environmental
Protection Agency has failed to live up to its name. With less than two
months left in power, the Bush administration is determined to cement its
legacy as having the worst environmental record in history," said Joan
Mulhern, senior legislative counsel at Earthjustice. "This is a sad day
for all people who are thankful for the clear mountain streams and stately
summits of the Appalachians."
The change, which is being proposed
by Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining (OSM), had to
receive written approval from EPA before it could be finalized. That last
hurdle was cleared today. Opponents of the repeal of the stream buffer
rule argued that EPA could not legally approve the rule change because
doing so conflicts with EPA's duties under the Clean Water Act.
"The EPA's own scientists have
concluded that dumping mining waste into streams devastates downstream
water quality," said Ed Hopkins, director of Sierra Club's Environmental
Quality Program. "By signing off on a rule to eliminate a critical
safeguard for streams, the EPA has abdicated its responsibility and left
the local communities that depend on these waters at risk."
Last month, top decision makers
in the coal mining states of Kentucky and Tennessee urged EPA to block
the rule change. Kentucky Gov. Steven Beshear, Attorney General Jack Conway,
and Reps. Ben Chandler and John Yarmuth each wrote letters to EPA head
Stephen Johnson asking him not to sign off on the repeal of the stream
buffer zone rule. And Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen also weighed in
with EPA, voicing concerns on behalf of his state.
"The regions most affected by
this rule, in the Appalachian Coal Belt, are some of the poorest in the
nation," said Lane Boldman with the Sierra Club Cumberland (Kentucky)
Chapter. "And all they are asking for is some fundamental protection of
their waterways so that they can continue to fish and swim downstream."
In October, a landmark nationwide
poll on mountaintop removal mining found that two out of three likely voters
opposed the rule change. Upon hearing that "more than 1,200 miles of streams
in Appalachia already have been buried or destroyed by mountaintop removal
coal mining," fully 85 percent of voters said they were concerned about
the effects of this mining practice.
The practice of mountaintop removal
mining has long been opposed by many residents of Appalachia. The poll,
the first to test voters' views of this practice nationwide, showed that
voters in every region of the country are similarly against mountaintop
removal mining.
"We are surely thankful the Bush
administration will soon be gone. We are hopeful that once Obama is president,
he will ban mountaintop removal entirely, and Bush's last minutes sneaky
moves won't end up destroying even more of our streams, and by extension,
our mountains, our communities and our culture," said Vivian Stockman
project coordinator for the Huntington, W.Va.-based Ohio Valley Environmental
Coalition.
Since coal companies began the
practice of mountaintop removal mining in earnest, the topography of Appalachia
has been forever altered: More than 400 mountaintops have been stripped
of trees and flattened, 1,200 miles of mountain streams buried under rubble.
Already the lush forests which once cloaked 387,000 acres of the world's
most ancient mountain range have been replaced by apocalyptic lunar landscapes.
If industry is allowed to proceed at the current rate, an area the size
of Delaware will have been lost.
"With this rule change, the outgoing
Bush is poised to eliminate forever more of our headwater streams - the
very lifeblood of our mountains and the source of healthy water resources
that future generations will depend upon," said Cindy Rank, West Virginia
Highlands Conservancy's mining chair.
For a memo detailing the survey
findings, please visit:
http://www.earthjustice.org/library/references/memo-on-mtr-poll.pdf
For more information on the poll
methodology, please visit:
http://www.earthjustice.org/library/references/mtr-presentation.pdf
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On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 10:05 PM, Jim Sconyers
<jim_scon@yahoo.com> wrote:
Bummer!!
I had a Google alert keeping me informed - supposedly.
This is truly terrible news.
Jim Sconyers
jim_scon@yahoo.com603.969.6712
Remember: Mother Nature bats last.
Sierra Club
504 Jefferson Ave
Charles Town, WV 25414-1130
Phone: 304-725-4360
Cell: 304-279-6975
"There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha