An area of Hale Gap, Virginia, being strip mined with mountaintop removal.
(Michael Temchine for The New York Times)
By John M. Broder Published: August 23, 2007
WASHINGTON: The Bush administration is set to issue a regulation on Friday that would extend the coal mining practice of mountaintop removal. The technique involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the rubble into valleys and streams.
It has been used in Appalachian coal country for 20 years under a cloud of legal and regulatory confusion.
The new rule would allow the practice to continue and expand, providing only that mine operators minimize the debris and cause the least environmental harm, although those terms are not clearly defined and to some extent merely restate existing law.
The Office of Surface Mining in the Interior Department drafted the rule, which will be subject to a 60-day comment period and could be revised, although officials indicated that it was not likely to be changed substantially.
The regulation is the culmination of six and a half years of work by the administration to make it easier for mining companies to dig more coal to meet growing energy demands and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
A spokesman for the National Mining Association, Luke Popovich, said that unless mine owners were allowed to dump mine waste in streams and valleys it would be impossible to operate in mountainous regions like West Virginia that hold some of the richest low-sulfur coal seams.
All mining generates huge volumes of waste, known as excess spoil or overburden, and it has to go somewhere. For years, it has been trucked away and dumped in remote hollows of Appalachia.
Environmental activists say the rule change will lead to the accelerated pillaging of vast tracts and the obliteration of hundreds of miles of streams in central Appalachia.
more08/23/2007
Bush Mountaintop Coal Mining Rule Is Bad Policy, Kerry Says
WASHINGTON D.C. - Sen. John Kerry issued the following statement today, following reports that the Bush Administration intends to expand rules that allow mountaintop mining.
"I am dismayed that the Bush Administration is taking steps to ensure
more mountaintops are destroyed, more rivers and streams are polluted, and the health and way of life of Appalachian communities are even more threatened," Kerry said. "This awful practice along the banks of our nation's rivers and streams does irreparable damage to our environment and is not sustainable. By expanding the scope of mountaintop removal, the Bush Administration is obliterating hundreds of miles of streams and rivers, as well as countless Appalachian communities."
In the past, federal regulations have banned mining within 100 feet of
streams. The Administration plan would enshrine the practice, which
involves using explosions to blast off the top of a mountain. The rubble
ends up choking valleys and streams below.