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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUS House votes to allow dumping of coal mining waste into streams
The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill that would allow coal mining companies to return to an old practice of dumping mining waste into streams.
House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, called it part of an effort to stop what Republicans call the war on coal and a pro-growth jobs bill. Triangle Republican members of Congress Renee Ellmers, Howard Coble and George Holding voted for it, as did Rep. Mike McIntyre, a Democrat. And Democratic Reps. David Price and G.K. Butterfield voted against it. The vote was 229-192.
The rule allowing the waste to go into streams was put into effect at the end of the administration of President George W. Bush. The U.S. District Court in Washington in February declared the regulation invalid. The House bill would put the rule into law, assuming it got Senate approval and a presidential signature.
Deborah Murray, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, which challenged the rule in court, said in a statement: We hope the Senate does not take up this damaging legislation, which would set a troubling precedent. If this legislation were to become law, it would mean more mining waste and pollution in our nations streams, especially the beautiful and ecologically diverse waterways of Appalachia.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/03/25/3732451/us-house-votes-to-allow-dumping.html#storylink=cpy
Who voted for the bill? ---> https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/113-2014/h141
newfie11
(8,159 posts)I hope the senate doesn't pass this.
These people would sell their soul if a lobbyist offered them money!!
think
(11,641 posts)appleannie1
(5,070 posts)again. The fish have returned and with them, the eagles. There are eagles hatching out 3 eggs in the Hays section of Pittsburgh and another pair is nesting along the Allegheny River north of Etna. If the Senate passes that travesty and the President signs it, fifty years of hard work will go to hell in a handbag.