When is not good enough supposed to be good enough? Ban Mountain Top Coal Mining Once and For All!
Joseph Raglione
September 15, 2009
Gentle readers of this American Chronicle, the following is an excerpt gleaned from the Environmental News Service: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2009/2009-09-11-091.asp
Visit their site for the full story.
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"This year there have been many protests and demonstrations against the practice of mountaintop removal coal mining, which involves blasting with explosives to remove up to 1,000 vertical feet of mountain to expose underlying Coal seams. Excess rock and soil are dumped into the valleys below, covering streams.
To date, mountaintop removal mining has destroyed approximately 500 mountains, more than one million acres of hardwood forest, and more than 1,200 miles of Appalachian streams.
Vernon Haltom, co-director of Coal River Mountain Watch in Raleigh County, West Virginia, where many of the protests have taken place, was excited about the (EPA's permit review) announcement. "We who live with the nightmare of mountaintop removal are glad that the EPA is beginning to do its job to protect our communities," he said. "Our life-giving water resources are priceless, and it's refreshing to see the EPA finally prioritizing them over coal companies' short-term profits."
The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity issued a statement of support today for the EPA's decision. "Daily in Appalachia, nearly four million pounds of explosives are used to blast one of the oldest mountain ranges on earth, endangering the lives and property of residents and destroying streams and forests that provide habitat for an incredible diversity of fish and wildlife," said Tierra Curry, conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity.
"Holding back these permits is a good step toward ending this destruction, but the Obama administration needs to ban mountaintop-removal coal mining and fund the development of an alternative green economy in Appalachia," Curry said.
In March, the EPA issued a statement saying the agency would "use the best science and follow the letter of the law" in reviewing mountaintop removal permits, but Curry points out that in May the EPA approved 42 new permits, more than were approved during the entire Bush administration,
The list of 79 permits under review is being made available today on EPA's website along with additional information about the nature and outcome of the EPA review process. The list will be available for public review for the next two weeks and then a final list will be published and provided to the Corps of Engineers to begin the next phase of review.
(Here is an important question for the Democratic Party of the United States. Why were more mountain-top Coal mining permits issued this year than during the Republican Years? Why is that, President Barack Obama?)
Visit their site for the full story.
>
"This year there have been many protests and demonstrations against the practice of mountaintop removal coal mining, which involves blasting with explosives to remove up to 1,000 vertical feet of mountain to expose underlying Coal seams. Excess rock and soil are dumped into the valleys below, covering streams.
To date, mountaintop removal mining has destroyed approximately 500 mountains, more than one million acres of hardwood forest, and more than 1,200 miles of Appalachian streams.
Vernon Haltom, co-director of Coal River Mountain Watch in Raleigh County, West Virginia, where many of the protests have taken place, was excited about the (EPA's permit review) announcement. "We who live with the nightmare of mountaintop removal are glad that the EPA is beginning to do its job to protect our communities," he said. "Our life-giving water resources are priceless, and it's refreshing to see the EPA finally prioritizing them over coal companies' short-term profits."
The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity issued a statement of support today for the EPA's decision. "Daily in Appalachia, nearly four million pounds of explosives are used to blast one of the oldest mountain ranges on earth, endangering the lives and property of residents and destroying streams and forests that provide habitat for an incredible diversity of fish and wildlife," said Tierra Curry, conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity.
"Holding back these permits is a good step toward ending this destruction, but the Obama administration needs to ban mountaintop-removal coal mining and fund the development of an alternative green economy in Appalachia," Curry said.
In March, the EPA issued a statement saying the agency would "use the best science and follow the letter of the law" in reviewing mountaintop removal permits, but Curry points out that in May the EPA approved 42 new permits, more than were approved during the entire Bush administration,
The list of 79 permits under review is being made available today on EPA's website along with additional information about the nature and outcome of the EPA review process. The list will be available for public review for the next two weeks and then a final list will be published and provided to the Corps of Engineers to begin the next phase of review.
(Here is an important question for the Democratic Party of the United States. Why were more mountain-top Coal mining permits issued this year than during the Republican Years? Why is that, President Barack Obama?)
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