| 
Southern West Virginia Mountain Top...Photo by Vivian Stockman - Sierra Club (Click Picture for Hi Res view) According to an article today in the Louisville Courier Journal by the Associated Press the Sierra Club is attempting to join a Federal Lawsuit against Massey Energy... HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- The Sierra Club said yesterday it hopes to join a federal government lawsuit that accuses Massey Energy of thousands of Clean Water Act violations.
"Massey has both a legal and moral obligation to protect streams and drinking water supplies in the communities where it operates," said Ed Hopkins, director of the Sierra Club's Environmental Quality Program.
The organization seeks court approval to join three environmental groups already involved in the case.
Naturally Massey is stating that the claim of thousands of violations is exaggerated as they explained according to the article that they are trying to settle the case. The article can be read by clicking here. The Sierra Club has good reasons to join the suit as they have stated in an story on their web site as follows... Washington D.C. -- Last Friday, the Bush Administration handed a seemingly huge payoff to the coal industry, which has been hammered all summer on Wall Street by a recognition that the tide of public and regulatory opinion in state after state is turning against the dirty fuel: the Administration proposed new regulations which explicitly authorized coal companies to continue mountaintop removal mining, even though federal judges have found the practice illegal.
The Sierra Club is wanting to do all they can to insure that the Bush administration does not get the opportunity to settle the EPA lawsuit against Massey. The Sierra Club article by Carl Pope can be read here. The New York Times broke the story of the Bushies scam regulation in an article that can be read here. The story reads in part... WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 — The Bush administration is set to issue a regulation on Friday that would enshrine 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.
We the people of West Virginia must protect our mountains, our valleys, and our streams from this despicable attempt by the Bush administration to protect Massey Energy and other coal companies. Lets get back to almost heaven West Virginia not almost level West Virginia. |
