Major Mountaintop Removal Study in Science Magazine

political conjecture (4.00 / 2)

I think Huffman bowed out of the MTR permit process because Manchin wants the EPA to totally take the fall in all of this. This study makes it certain that either (a) MTR will for all intents and purposes be phased out in Appalachia or (b) the idea of science-based standards for Obama admin regulations falls by the wayside.

Manchin/Huffman will gladly let the Feds take up the unenviable spot between that rock and a hard place.

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by: Clem Guttata @ Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 21:40:25 PM UTC

stunning (4.00 / 1)

Listen to the press conference of the scientist team.

They are calling for an immediate halt to mountain top removal mining permits because of public health hazards.

They say there is no scientific basis that reclamation or mitigation can return/protect land in a way that does not harm humans.

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by: Clem Guttata @ Fri Jan 08, 2010 at 00:27:58 AM UTC

Science is pretty hard to argue against. Clem probably nailed Huffman's angle. (4.00 / 2)

I'm now thinking that the WVDEP should probably change its name to the West Virginia Division of Experimental Politics.

Hey has anyone heard when the sludge injection study from WVU will be made available to the public? I may have overlooked it, but I couldn't even find any reason for the delay on their website.  It was due on Dec. 31, 2009.

I suspect that we'll be waiting a long time for it, because there's one law that WVU engineers can't get around no matter how much coal operators donate to the school.

The second law of thermodynamics dictates that entropy will always occur. Which basically means that the toxic sludge they inject into mines will always escape containment.

If it's ever published, that report will almost undoubtedly reveal that the WV DEP should never have allowed sludge injection.  By the way, the law of entropy also applies to standard above ground slurry impoundments, meaning that they are also dangerous toxic dump sites from which all coal operators will eventually attempt to abandon.

Since the bureaucrats at the WV Department of Environmental Protection now suddenly find that they'll have a lot of time on their hands, they should start prompting county commissioners all across WV fill out EPA  Superfund applications for requiring the cleanup of each those toxic dumps.

Submitting Superfund applications would almost instantly produce shovel-ready jobs as green as the color of money.

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by: One Citizen @ Fri Jan 08, 2010 at 01:26:11 AM UTC

DEP understaffed for a purpose (4.00 / 2)

to turn a blind eye to polluters in coal and oil and gas, waste treatment plants, slurry injection, power plant emissions, chemical plant explosions, you name it our DEP has failed miserably causing much in the way of long term health effects of the negative kind on the citizens it's sworn to protect

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by: JBdem4usa @ Fri Jan 08, 2010 at 04:36:55 AM UTC

Claims posted in the comments section under the Gazette article (4.00 / 1)

by proponents of surface mining reveal that they don't care one whit about the death and destruction that mountaintop removal does to coalfield families. Large construction projects like highways, airports, schools, etc., are strictly regulated by the EPA, so it's unlikely that they'll ever be branded as toxic by any scientific study

Check out the article and comments section by clicking here.

There is no doubt that coal operators dump billions of gallons of toxic waste in the form of coal slurry all across Appalachia. Then, incredibly, after they poison community water sources, we end up paying to get "city" water piped to these rural homes and businesses with our taxes, thanks to the handpuppet politicians who let them get by with polluting in the first place!

Once the study by WVU regarding the effects of coal sludge injection comes out, if WV county commissioners don't scramble for Superfund aid to clean up the toxic dump sites all across WV, they should not only be impeached, but jailed for criminal negligence.

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by: One Citizen @ Fri Jan 08, 2010 at 14:45:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

opportunity (4.00 / 1)

Many locals and "greens" have wished the EPA would take primacy over the state DEP. Now, if the EPA can work together with the operators (w/o the governor's passive interference through his DEP) successfully (i view the recent Patriot/EPA compromise as a step in the right direction) then maybe the political ploy at play here will fail, and the law prevail.  

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by: twilight campfighter @ Sun Jan 10, 2010 at 02:00:25 AM UTC

wondered same thing (0.00 / 0)

Huffman "bowing out" is in many ways a face saving way of avoiding being taken over--it's like someone saying they're taking a leave of absence just before being fired.

Such an arrangement has the potential of letting the EPA be de facto in charge with the WV DEP retaining funding they'd lose if the WV DEP formally lost authority.

I'm not sure if Manchin/Huffman thought it all the way through like that, though. I think this is a political ploy on their part to get attention, thinking someone (who?) will beg them to stay involved. If so, they may well be surprised when the bluff is called and the are not invited back to the table.

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by: Clem Guttata @ Sun Jan 10, 2010 at 23:10:02 PM UTC

[ Parent ]