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Sunday, October 19, 2008
Environment - "Federal Officials Seek to Relax Rules for Dumping Mine Waste"
Be sure to view the photo accompanying this AP story today on mountaintop mining in the New York Times. The story begins:
The Interior Department has advanced a proposal that would ease restrictions on dumping mountaintop mining waste near rivers and streams, modifying protections that have been in place, though often circumvented, for a quarter-century.The ILB has had a long list of earlier entries on this topic.The department’s Office of Surface Mining issued a final environmental analysis Friday on the proposed rule change, which has been under consideration for four years. It has been a priority of the surface mining industry.
It sets the stage for a final regulation, one of the last major environmental initiatives of the Bush administration, after 30 days of additional public comment and interagency review.
The proposed rule would rewrite a regulation enacted in 1983 that bars mining companies from dumping huge waste piles, known as “valley fills,” within 100 feet of any intermittent or perennial stream if the disposal affects water quality or quantity.
The revisions would require mining companies to minimize the debris they dump as much as possible, but would also let them skirt the 100-foot protective buffer requirement if compliance is determined to be impossible.
“The new rule will allow coal companies to dump massive waste piles directly into streams, permanently burying them,” warned Joan Mulhern of Earthjustice, an environmental group that has fought the practice.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 19, 2008 09:18 AM
Posted to Environment