<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for The Bush administration proposes to make illegal MTR mining legal]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by JMG http://www.grist.org/article/killing-you-legally/ Fri, 24 Aug 2007 04:04:03 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/killing-you-legally/1 The demons of 2000 return ...

I'm afraid this is another of the demons of 2000 returning to wreak vengeance:  West Virginia went for Darth Cheney and his sock-puppet George, motivated mainly by accusations that Gore would impoverish the state with limits on coal.

Even the theft of Florida would not have let the Supremes install Boy George had West Virginia voted its real interests rather than that of the coal companies.

This recent, excellent series on MTR has reminded me of just how brutal karma can be.

Save the world: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions 5% annually.

]]> The demons of 2000 return ...

I'm afraid this is another of the demons of 2000 returning to wreak vengeance:  West Virginia went for Darth Cheney and his sock-puppet George, motivated mainly by accusations that Gore would impoverish the state with limits on coal.

Even the theft of Florida would not have let the Supremes install Boy George had West Virginia voted its real interests rather than that of the coal companies.

This recent, excellent series on MTR has reminded me of just how brutal karma can be.

Save the world: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions 5% annually.

]]> Comment #2 by Solar John http://www.grist.org/article/killing-you-legally/ Fri, 24 Aug 2007 04:38:33 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/killing-you-legally/2 How to fight back:

It looks to me like this ruling makes it easier for coal companies to destroy or pollute streams.  Here's some additional info:

Excess Spoil, Coal Mine Waste, and Buffers for Waters of the United States--Proposed rule. [30 CFR Parts 780, 784, 816, and 817]

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edo ...

In the event you DO want to respond, here's how:

People have 60 days to submit comments on the proposed rule by mail or courier to the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Administrative Record, Room 252-SIB, 1951 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20240, or by Internet through the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Please identify the comments by including docket number 1029-AC04 in the subject line.

Solar John

]]> How to fight back:

It looks to me like this ruling makes it easier for coal companies to destroy or pollute streams.  Here's some additional info:

Excess Spoil, Coal Mine Waste, and Buffers for Waters of the United States--Proposed rule. [30 CFR Parts 780, 784, 816, and 817]

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edo ...

In the event you DO want to respond, here's how:

People have 60 days to submit comments on the proposed rule by mail or courier to the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Administrative Record, Room 252-SIB, 1951 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20240, or by Internet through the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Please identify the comments by including docket number 1029-AC04 in the subject line.

Solar John

]]> Comment #3 by Delay And Deny http://www.grist.org/article/killing-you-legally/ Fri, 24 Aug 2007 04:49:37 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/killing-you-legally/3 Where Do You Think Mountains Came From?


You act as if mountains were landscaped by designer architects.

They're the product of tumultuous crustal activity and volcanism as well as possibly subterranean gas build up.

Plowing a mountain on the earth is like pricking a pimple on one's face.

John Bailo
Sutext:


]]> Where Do You Think Mountains Came From?


You act as if mountains were landscaped by designer architects.

They're the product of tumultuous crustal activity and volcanism as well as possibly subterranean gas build up.

Plowing a mountain on the earth is like pricking a pimple on one's face.

John Bailo
Sutext:


]]> Comment #4 by Solar John http://www.grist.org/article/killing-you-legally/ Fri, 24 Aug 2007 04:58:44 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/killing-you-legally/4 From a Kentucky Newspaper:

In practical terms, the new rule wouldn't mean a lot more mountaintop mining because regulators haven't been enforcing the current rule on stream protection anyway, routinely granting exemptions from the buffer zone, said Joe Lovett, head of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment in West Virginia.
Strip mining has buried hundreds of miles of streambeds in Appalachia in the last 20 years.
Rather, one big problem environmentalists have with the proposed change is that it would end their chance of getting a court order for OSM to enforce the stream-protection rule to their liking, or of some future administration requiring tougher enforcement.
"If we don't have that law, we're up a buried creek," said Vivian Stockman of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, which has fought to limit mountaintop mining.
Surface mining leaves behind huge amounts of rock and dirt that have to be put somewhere. Ending or reducing exemptions from the stream buffer rule would limit -- perhaps even cripple -- mining by making more areas off-limits.
"They know that this is a threat to the coal industry," Lovett said, so the administration wants to change the rule before President Bush leaves office.

Solar John







]]> From a Kentucky Newspaper:

In practical terms, the new rule wouldn't mean a lot more mountaintop mining because regulators haven't been enforcing the current rule on stream protection anyway, routinely granting exemptions from the buffer zone, said Joe Lovett, head of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment in West Virginia.
Strip mining has buried hundreds of miles of streambeds in Appalachia in the last 20 years.
Rather, one big problem environmentalists have with the proposed change is that it would end their chance of getting a court order for OSM to enforce the stream-protection rule to their liking, or of some future administration requiring tougher enforcement.
"If we don't have that law, we're up a buried creek," said Vivian Stockman of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, which has fought to limit mountaintop mining.
Surface mining leaves behind huge amounts of rock and dirt that have to be put somewhere. Ending or reducing exemptions from the stream buffer rule would limit -- perhaps even cripple -- mining by making more areas off-limits.
"They know that this is a threat to the coal industry," Lovett said, so the administration wants to change the rule before President Bush leaves office.

Solar John







]]> Comment #5 by Solar John http://www.grist.org/article/killing-you-legally/ Fri, 24 Aug 2007 05:03:59 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/killing-you-legally/5 Pricking A Pimple?

Quote:  Plowing a mountain on the earth is like pricking a pimple on one's face.

Tell that to the victims of a sludge impoundment failure who lost their lives, or to the people whose drinking water has been ruined, or to the little boy who was killed in his bed when a rock from blasting crashed through his roof, etc. etc. etc.

Solar John

]]> Pricking A Pimple?

Quote:  Plowing a mountain on the earth is like pricking a pimple on one's face.

Tell that to the victims of a sludge impoundment failure who lost their lives, or to the people whose drinking water has been ruined, or to the little boy who was killed in his bed when a rock from blasting crashed through his roof, etc. etc. etc.

Solar John

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