Thursday, February 26, 2009

Mountain-Top Mining to Start Again

On Friday the 13th, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, decided to allow destructive mountaintop-removal coal mining to proceed without considering the environmental impacts. The court ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can issue permits for mountaintop-removal mining without environmental review.

So, mining by dynamite and destruction returns to the Appalachian Mountains. Are we ready for the next environmental disaster as described in
Energy at Any Price : Clean Coal?



Unfortunately, the Bush administration repealed a rule that had created buffers around streams where mountaintop-removal waste could not be dumped. Now, coal companies will now be able to flush mining waste wherever they want without violating the Clean Water Act.

Want more information about the dangers of coal? Take a look at these posts:

Truth in advertising : Clean Coal

Restore and Strengthen Stream Barriers


I do not have one action for you to take. The news is too recent. As soon as I can plan a strategy or connect up with others that have one, I will be back to report.


2 comments:

lisa winter said...

thank you for helping get the word out about this issue. i think it was a poor decision and more of us should be up in arms about the environmental destruction being caused by it.

Anonymous said...

What about legal proceedings by the EPA? Since the EPAs power has been expanding since January, it is really hard to see why they would sit idly by when a court rules that mountaintop mining can proceed without any environmental review. Surely there must be something they could do.

And how about the rest of the executive branch? Didn't Obama promise to "bankrupt" the coal industry? Why then is there more "clean coal" mining going on?