"Bush's 'parting gift to the coal industry'" and Sen. Kerry's statement

[ProSense]

An area of Hale Gap, Virginia, being strip mined with mountaintop removal.
(Michael Temchine for The New York Times)

Bush's 'parting gift to the coal industry'

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.

more

08/23/2007

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.

[benld74]

1. WHy is Kerry the ONLY Dem to state the obvious?

[ProSense]

2. What's the obvious? n/t

[politicasista]

3. K&R

:kick:

[Dr.Phool]

4. How did that song go?

"Almost level, West Virginia".

[malaise]

5. This is the most brazen administration in history

Their crony Murray is being exposed as I type and six bodies remain in the mine. WTF is wrong with these people?

[ProSense]

6. Coal, Republicans and WV

Mountaintop Removal

By: John Cole August 23, 2007 at 11:35 am

This ruling touches close to home:

<...>

I am aware of the need to balance energy demands with environmental concerns, but this ruling doesn’t even attempt to do so- it simply paves the way for unrestrained mountaintop removal. The consequences of this are going to be disastrous in my state, both environmentally, and possibly politically for the GOP. While there is a powerful coal lobby, the jobs simply are not there to bring out the vote the way it once used to- so much so that groups like ‘Friends of Coal’ have had to pop up over the past few years to help prop up the political standing of the coal mining industry.

I will leave it to others to explain in further detail the environmental issues related to filling in and polluting miles of streams and rivers, but you can almost guarantee there will be additionally flash-flood disasters as well as many other environmental problems that will most certainly arise. With the growing environmental lobby, the expansion of green technologies in WV, and the reliance on tourism as a main source of state income (note to Washington- exploded mountains ain’t pretty), this “parting gift” to the Coal industry from the Bush administration may be the beginning of the end of a resurgent Republican party in WV and more than likely will be the beginning of a whole new series of environmental disasters.

[LiberalAndProud]

7. Evil mountains? Flatten 'em.