MT promises?

Obama admin will scrutinize mountaintop mining, but not stop it 7

Mining siteThe Obama administration on Thursday announced new steps to reduce the environmental damage from mountaintop-removal (MTR) mining, a controversial and highly destructive practice used to extract coal from Appalachia.  Activists from the region and the environmental community say that’s a nice first step, but they’re disappointed that the admin isn’t planning to rein the practice in further and ultimately put a stop to it.

The government will end fast-tracked reviews for MTR operation permits, require tougher environmental review before permits are issued, and reassert federal oversight for state regulators that grant permits. The administration said it will also tighten the loopholes that currently allow companies to dump coal waste near streams, restoring a 100-foot buffer zone rule that the Bush administration removed shortly before leaving office.

“The Obama administration has serious concerns about the impacts of mountaintop removal on natural resources and the health and welfare of the communities of Appalachia,” said Nancy Sutley, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, in a call with reporters. The plans announced on Thursday will “ensure future mining projects are more responsible,” she said.

But Sutley said the administration has not decided whether to move toward ending MTR outright. Mountaintop removal is “a practice we believe has serious environmental impacts,” she said. “However, it is a practice allowed by law ... Until that changes, we have to use the tools that we have.”

EPA Senior Policy Counsel Bob Sussman also emphasized that the administration will be acting within current law. “Our job under the Clean Water Act ... is to make sure that these projects do not result in significant degradation of water quality.”

That’s it?

Activists working to end MTR say that’s not good enough.

“While we’re certainly happy to hear government agencies say they’re going to enforce the law ... those regulations have been so severely weakened by the Bush administration that it’s doing no good for the communities in Appalachia and for the water quality of the southeastern United States,” said Stephanie Pistello, a legislative associate for the Alliance for Appalachia and Appalachian Voices.

Pistello pointed out that the administration recently okayed 42 of 48 MTR permits. “Enforcing the law has already allowed for 42 permits to be approved since March of this year,” she continued. “That should raise red flags ... Clearly the law is not sufficient for the protection of the people and environment of Appalachia.”

Rainforest Action Network agrees: “Rigorous enforcement of existing laws is of course needed and would be a welcome change, but does not in itself represent the true change that we need to transition immediately away from the destructive practice of mountaintop removal.”

Anti-MTR groups want to see the Obama administration restore language preventing the dumping of mine waste into waterways, reversing a change to the law that the Bush administration made shortly after taking office. The Bush administration in 2002 altered Clean Water Act rules to make it legal to fill valleys with waste from blast sites, which led to significantly increased use of MTR.

“[T]he only way to end the devastation in Appalachia is to quickly reverse the Bush administration’s rule making it legal to fill streams with mining waste,” said Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope in a statement. “The true test of these new policies and of President Obama’s legacy on this issue will be whether they change the terrible situation on the ground in Appalachia.”

Read more:

Kate Sheppard is Grist’s political reporter.

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  1. tmullins Posted 2:59 am
    12 Jun 2009

    Folks,We are the change we voted for in November, now it's time to ramp up the pressure on everyone from the county courthouse to the White House !  http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=138 Change is coming from the bottom up in Appalachia.

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  2. Erik Hoffner's avatar

    Erik Hoffner Posted 6:29 am
    12 Jun 2009

    This is unacceptable. A pity. But TMullins is correct. Citizens, the grassroots, will continue leading on this topic. - Erik, Orion Grassroots Network

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  3. randino Posted 10:11 am
    12 Jun 2009

    If anyone derives any hope from the Obama administration on these cosmetic "reforms" then I want them to contact me immediately.  I have one hell of a lake to sell them.  It is just north of town.Randy Cunningham  Cleveland, OH

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  4. Tyler Durden Posted 10:16 pm
    12 Jun 2009

    While it is quite correct that change must originate from the grassroots of society, that does not excuse elected leaders from doing the right thing.  This milquetoast decision is disgraceful, but it's exactly what one should expect from a corporate Democrat like Obama who is from a coal state and has always supported that evil industry.I have no sympathy for people who support Democrats, which is merely the liberal voice of corporate America, then complain when they do evil things like this.  Quit crying and start supporting people and parties who deserve it, like Dennis Kucinich and the Green Party.

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  5. gullyfourmyle's avatar

    gullyfourmyle Posted 10:58 am
    18 Jun 2009

    Decapitating mountains has an effect that no one is talking about yet. When the top of a mountain is removed it changes local wind patterns. That in turn changes other wind patterns. It is the butterfly effect. Decaptitating the number of mountains that have already been done and those yet to come will further change the planet's wind patterns and thus weather. The USA will pay heavily for storm related damage caused by decapitating mountains. A cost analysis should be done. Most likely, the damge will be so excessive that it would be cheaper to drag the coal out with horses and carts like they used to do.No doubt changes like these have contributed to increasingly violent weather all around the world as well. Here in Ontario, we now get tornados regularly. That never  happened when I was growing up. The rain we get is much heavier than ever before and last year we had the most violent hail storm we've ever had. No hurricanes lately but they will surely come.The US is not alone in decapitating mountains. Japan has decapitated a lot of mountains so they can have more golf courses. It's hard to imagine how anyone could be so short sited.I'm sure that if someone proposed decapitating a mountain here, there would be a local war fought with artillery.Of course the other side of the coin is that when we erect tall buildings with flat sides, they also change local wind patterns and create localized climates completely different from the surrounding areas.Decapitating mountains so coal can be extracted faster is essentially a race to see just how fast we can destroy the earth's atmosphere.The hard part to believe is that people who live in the area are actively destroying the countryside they grew up in.If intelligence was measured in yard goods, the coal industry couldn't get enough burlap together between them to put a bikini on an ant. 

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