A Mountain in the Stream
New York Times editorial
20 August 2010
It is now possible to imagine the beginning of the end of a ruinous
form of mining called “mountaintop removal.” Local opposition is
growing, and the Environmental Protection Agency is tightening rules
and threatening to veto one of the largest projects ever proposed.
Enormous harm has already been inflicted on Appalachia’s environment,
most acutely in West Virginia. Mountaintop mining involves blasting the
tops off mountains to expose subsurface coal seams. The coal is trucked
away, but the debris is dumped over the side into the valleys, forests
and streams below. As many as 2,000 miles of clear-running streams have
been poisoned or buried in this fashion.
The dumping is a clear violation of the Clean Water Act. Regulators
during the administration of President George W. Bush willfully looked
the other way. The Obama administration is trying to turn things
around. First it agreed to review about 80 existing permits. Then it
raised the bar for new permits — tightening stream protections and
promising a case-by-case analysis of new projects instead of the
blanket approvals granted before.
Most important, in June, the E.P.A. and the Army Corps of Engineers
announced that before granting any new permits they would insist on a
robust scientific analysis of a proposed mine’s downstream impact on
fish, salamanders and other aquatic life. If the agencies remain true
to their word, this new guidance — required under the Clean Water Act,
but ignored for years — could make mountaintop mining all but
impossible.
The administration’s resolve will soon be tested. As part of its review
of existing permits, the E.P.A. has said it is considering vetoing the
2,278-acre Spruce mine in Blair, W.Va. The project was approved in
2007, and limited construction has begun, but the agency said it would
irrevocably damage streams and wildlife. It promised a final decision
later this year.
Some local residents say a veto would doom West Virginia’s economy;
others think it would save the state from environmental ruin. The
E.P.A. should veto.
For their part, instead of preaching financial ruin, the coal companies
need to develop ways to mine this coal without blasting the tops off
mountains and fouling the waters below. If they can’t or won’t, the
practice must be shut down.