Bush administration eases restrictions on mountaintop-removal mining
The Bush administration has given a big thumbs-up to mountaintop-removal mining, the practice of blasting the peaks off of mountains and dumping the rubble into watersheds and valleys. A proposed rule issued today will exempt mining waste from an inconsistently interpreted 1983 rule that disallows mining activity within 100 feet of streams; considering that hundreds of miles of Appalachian streams have been obliterated by MTR mining in the last 20 years, it was basically a technicality anyway. Once officially free to dump mountaintops wherever the hell they please, coal-mining companies can continue to destroy ecosystems and communities in the name of reducing dependence on foreign oil. A 60-day comment period starts today; while officials have indicated that significant changes are unlikely regardless of public input, tell them what you think anyway. Then check out dispatches sent to Grist from writer Gabriel Pacyniak and photographer Katherine Chandler, who are traveling in West Virginia to report on MTR mining.
source: The New York Times, John M. Broder, 23 Aug 2007
source: Environment News Service, 22 Aug 2007
straight to the rule: Excess Spoil, Coal Mine Waste, and Buffers for Waters of the United States, [PDF]
see also, in Gristmill: Reports on MTR mining from West Virginia
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salmon Posted 4:35 am
24 Aug 2007
i can't beleive that things like this are still going on. is it the fact that by the time the earth is unihabitable, these people running our government will not be around? do they see it that way and thus still propel us down an unhealthy, unclean, unnatural and eco-unfriendly way of life?
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