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New rules to ease mountaintop-mine dumping

 
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GTG
Was lost but now am found




Joined: 30 Dec 2002
Posts: 2387
Location: Peoria, Arizona, originally from Rocket City, USA

PostPosted: 12/3/2008, 12:27 pm    Post subject: New rules to ease mountaintop-mine dumping Reply to topic Reply with quote

From today's Arizona Republic -
New rules to ease mountaintop-mine dumping
Change aims to resolve rubble disposal; environmentalists blast decision
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/12/03/20081203MountaintopMining1203.html
Quote:
New rules to ease mountaintop-mine dumping
Change aims to resolve rubble disposal; environmentalists blast decision
by Juliet Eilperin - Dec. 3, 2008 12:00 AM
Washington Post
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration finalized rules Tuesday that will make it easier for mountaintop-mining companies to dump their waste near rivers and streams, overhauling a 25-year prohibition that has sparked legal and regulatory battles for years.

The regulation got signoffs from the Office of Management and Budget and the Environmental Protection Agency this week and will go into effect 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register. The change is intended to resolve a nearly five-year fight over how companies can dispose of the vast amounts of rubble and sludge created when they blow the tops off mountains to get to the coal buried below, although the incoming Obama administration could revisit the issue.

"This rule strengthens what can and can't be done in streams," said Office of Surface Mining spokesman Peter Mali, whose agency crafted the measure.
A senior administration official, who asked not to be identified because the rule has not yet been published, said new safeguards will reduce the amount of waste deposited in Appalachian mountain waterways and is "going to impose costs on the coal industry."

However, coal officials, who had lobbied for the change, said it would not burden the industry and would help protect Appalachia's 14,000 mining jobs.

"We had sought clarification on the rule because there had been various court decisions that put a halt to surface mining. This put jobs at risk and mining activities at risk," said Carol Raulston, spokeswoman for the National Mining Association.

Mountaintop mining - which yields 130 million tons of coal a year and accounts for 10 percent of the nation's coal production - is both cheaper and safer than underground mining. But this method of reaching valuable low-sulfur coal seams below ground generates large amounts of rubble and sludge that is usually trucked away to be dumped in the region's steep valleys.

Under a 1983 law, mining operators were barred from dumping these massive piles of debris, called "valley fills," within 100 feet of any intermittent or permanent stream if the material would harm a stream's water quality or reduces its flow. But federal and state courts have issued conflicting interpretations of the law and widespread dumping continued.

Environmentalists decried the decision, noting that a July EPA study documented that waste from coal mining operations in West Virginia have been found to be "strongly related to downstream biological impairment," including a drop in the diversity of aquatic life.


So everybody moaned when the outgoing administration from eight years ago trashed offices and pulled the W's off all the computer keyboards. Looks like the current administration has their own way of creating problems on their exit too. Rolling Eyes

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azhiker96





Joined: 05 Jan 2003
Posts: 1419

PostPosted: 12/3/2008, 5:44 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

I read an article about these "midnight regualtions". It's when a lame duck president gets busy approving new regulations between the election and inauguration of the new president. Supposedly started with Carter and every president since then has followed suit. Clinton passed the most. I guess it represents things they wanted to do as president but didn't want to take the heat for doing it. Then the new president has to take the heat for trying to change things back. Your tax dollars at work.
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PageRob





Joined: 03 Mar 2005
Posts: 859
Location: Page, Az.

PostPosted: 12/3/2008, 6:50 pm    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

Changed some endangered species regulations too so that now in some cases federal wildlife biologists aren't required to provide input in certain decisions. Seems like trying to build a building without an architect. What would a wildlife biologist know about endangered wildlife anyway... Rolling Eyes Crazy
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Suz





Joined: 27 Nov 2005
Posts: 3186

PostPosted: 12/4/2008, 5:34 am    Post subject: Reply to topic Reply with quote

Come on Obama.......................let's fix this mess!
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