Bush's Worst Midnight Regulation Yet

[marmar]

via AlterNet's PEEK:



Bush's Worst Midnight Regulation Yet

Posted by Tara Lohan at 6:00 PM on December 3, 2008.

This latest assault is on clean water and it may be Bush's worst one yet.



There are great running lists of all Bush's midnight regulations as he secures his infamous place as the "worst president ever" in our country's annals. Apparently not satisfied with nearly eight years of environmental rollbacks, deregulation, and blatant disregard for air, water, and climate, his latest midnight regulation may be one of the worst environmental assaults yet.

The Washington Post confirmed today that a ruling was approved to make it easier for coal companies to dump the rock and dirt waste that is blown off the tops of mountains in "mountaintop removal" (or MTR) coal mining into streams and valleys:

* The rule is one of the most contentious of all the regulations emerging from the White House in President Bush's last weeks in office ...

* A coalition of environmental groups said the rule would accelerate "the destruction of mountains, forests and streams throughout Appalachia."

* Edward C. Hopkins, a policy analyst at the Sierra Club, said: "The E.P.A.'s own scientists have concluded that dumping mining waste into streams devastates downstream water quality. By signing off on this rule, the agency has abdicated its responsibility."

MTR has been devastating to the ecosystems and communities of Appalachia and this latest ruling further threatens surface and groundwater water.

But the people of Appalachia are not going to take this one lying down and neither should the rest of us. We've got a new president coming in who once vowed, "We have to find more environmentally sound ways of mining coal than simply blowing the tops off mountains." So let's hold him accountable. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/109863/bush%27s_worst_midnight_regulation_yet/

[pleah]

1. K&R

:(

[NOW tense]

2. I love the Clean Coal Ad I got when reading this

Oh the irony. On a side note: What drives this idiot?

[BrklynLiberal]

3. And this is gong on while prez shit-for-brains is trying to clean up his "legacy"

There are no words that can convey the disgust and abhorrence I feel for that POS!

[barbtries]

6. i can just imagine him

dashing around saying, "you think i'm the worst?! i'll show you worst!" because he apparently has never cared about the country's best interests.

[tex-wyo-dem]

4. K&R

One of my problems is that I've become so numb to the outrages that this POS pResident has committed that nothing surprises me anymore.

If you can help, donate to any number of environmental groups attempting to fight this shit...here's a link to Sierra Club (click on "Take Action" and then "See all current take actions" then "Protect Appalachia's Streams and Mountains from Destruction"):

http://www.sierraclub.org/

You can donate and send a letter to your representative.

[snappyturtle]

5. K&R

[Kaleko]

7. K & R

[xxqqqzme]

8. The result of dumping in stream beds....

'...The Buffalo Creek Flood was an incident that occurred on February 26, 1972, when the Pittston Coal Company's coal slurry impoundment dam #3, located on a hillside in Logan County, West Virginia, USA, burst four days after having been declared 'satisfactory' by a federal mine inspector.<1>

The resulting flood unleashed approximately 132 million gallons (500,000,000 L) of black waste water, cresting over 30ft high, upon the residents of 16 coal mining hamlets in Buffalo Creek Hollow. Out of a population of 5,000 people, 125 were killed, 1,121 were injured, and over 4,000 were left homeless. 507 houses were destroyed, in addition to forty-four mobile homes and 30 businesses...'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Creek_Flood

We moved to West Virginia in August, 1972, and the state was still reeling from this disaster. Mining being the only industry in West Virginia, we knew many people, in Webster County, who lost family in the Buffalo Creek Flood.

While an impoundment dam is different from dumping rock, mud & tree tangles in stream beds, the potential of history repeating itself is staggering.