Despite Sec. Huffman's Testimony, EPA Follows Science

by: CA Berkeley WV

Fri Sep 11, 2009 at 13:11:04 PM EDT

I won't write much of a commentary here except YIPPEE! And it's about time. You may remember my frustration with the process at EPA in the past.

Go read the Orange.

This post co-written by Mary Anne Hitt, Deputy Director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign

Very big news out of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this morning - the agency has determined that all 79 mountaintop removal mining permits submitted to them for review by the Army Corps of Engineers would violate the Clean Water Act. After eight long years of rubber-stamp permits being issued during the Bush Administration, this is one of the most dramatic and encouraging actions yet by the Obama Administration, and marks a welcome return of the rule of law to the coalfields of Appalachia.

Mountaintop removal - a devastating form of coal mining that involves blowing up mountains and dumping the former mountaintops into neighboring valleys, burying streams - is governed by a patchwork of laws and federal agencies. Permits to bury streams with mining waste are initially issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, but EPA has ultimate oversight and may veto Corps-issued permits if they fail to comply with the Clean Water Act.