Department of Interior to Eliminate Last Minute Bush Administration Mountaintop Mining Waste Ruling
Characterizing it as “legally defective”, Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar took dead aim at the last minute attempt by the Bush administration allowing mining operations to fill valley streams with waste rock from “mountaintop removal” methods if it proved “too expensive” to find an alternative.
Termed the “stream buffer zone,” the Bush administration ruling would reverse an earlier 1983 regulation that prohibited the dumping of mining waste from mountaintop removal operations within 100 feet of a stream, whether seasonal or perennial.
Having a blast…
The procedure of blasting away layers of rock on the top third of a mountain, ridge, or hill in order to reach coal seams that lay underneath produces tons of waste rock that is then dumped in adjacent valleys, permanently destroying stream valleys. In some cases the terraced rock fills are hundreds of feet tall, obliterating the surrounding landscape and ecosystem.
Over the past two decades, thousands of miles of streams in Appalachia have been impacted by waste rock produced from mountaintop mining. Just in the state of West Virginia, over 200 miles of streams have been permanently destroyed.
Economic or environmental ruin - a false choice?
Kentucky state representative Hubert Collins, one of several legislators from the state that urged Bush to ease the 1983 rule, called the Obama administration’s efforts to undo Bush’s actions as a potential disaster for the economy in Eastern Kentucky:
“The coal industry in the only thing keeping the economy going right now in Eastern Kentucky,” he said. “I don’t think people think about coal when they turn their lights on. It’s sad that people don’t have any feeling for our economy.”
What is perhaps sad is when people use fear of economic collapse as justification for unsustainable mining practices, though I do agree with Collins that people should think about coal when turning on their lights. Understanding the sources of the energy we use is the first step in building a sustainable energy economy.
In any case, as Sierra Club president Carl Pope points out, the Salazar ruling does not prohibit mountaintop mining, though that is clearly what the environment advocacy group would like to see: “we look forward to working with the Obama administration on comprehensive steps to end this destructive practice before it’s too late.”
Local environmental group Kentuckians for the Commonwealth reinforces Sierra Club’s sentiment. While welcoming Salazar’s move, they emphasize that the 1983 rule is meaningless unless it is enforced, noting that was often the case even prior to the Bush ruling. In a statement released on Monday, KFTC said, ”We hope that this announcement leads to the full and fair enforcement of the law. It’s not too much to ask that a law in place since 1983 be enforced.”
Countering Collins’ assertion that enforcing the ‘83 stream zone buffer would spell disaster for Kentuckians, KFTC member Todd Bailey, who lives with a mountaintop removal mine behind his home, offers a different point of view:
“It’s a great day for the fragile ecosystem of the Appalachians as well as the quality of life for the people who live here,” Bailey told reporters.
If the Justice Department grants Interior’s request to vacate the Bush ruling, a statement released by the Interior Department says the Office of Surface Mining will “issue guidance” to states on how to apply the 1983 rule. In addition OSM will solicit comments on a new rule that will “address ambiguities” in the current rule and ensure that the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act is coordinated with the Clean Water Act.
These “ambiguities” have led to a “history of the stream buffer zone rule [not being] enforced,” said Joan Mulhern of Earthjustice. “This gets us nowhere if the stream zone buffer is not enforced to prohibit mountaintop removal and valley fills.”
Interior Secretary Salazar said in a statement, “We must responsibly develop our coal supplies to help us achieve energy independence, but we cannot do so without appropriately assessing the impact such development might have on local communities and the natural habitat and the species it supports.”
The Environmental Protection Agency, under the leadership of Administrator Lisa Jackson, has signaled it plans on taking a stronger role in permitting new mountaintop removal mines. Under previous administrators, the EPA in most cases simply acquiesced to the Corps of Engineers in granting permits. Jackson says under her watch that the EPA will inspect permits and use “the best science” while following “the letter of the law.”
Personally speaking
My father spent much of his career working as an environmentalist and environmental resource planner for the federal government. He was involved in many aspects of environmental policy and regulation in his time with the government, working in various departments and bureaus, mostly under the direction of the Department of Interior.
His last stint before retirement in 1989 was in the Denver regional Office of Surface Mining. While I don’t think his office dealt particularly with the stream zone buffer ruling as it applied to Appalachian mountaintop removal, I know the turmoil he and his colleagues felt working under the pro-industry Interior Secretary of the time, James Watt. For Watt, there didn’t seem to be an environmental regulation that shouldn’t be ignored, making my father’s task of following the laws and regulations designed to protect both people and the environment all but impossible.
Perhaps now a rule on the books since 1983 meant to protect the environment and all who inhabit it will be reinstated and enforced.
Image Credit: nrdc_media, courtesy Flickr
