Bush Strips More Protections From Mountain Top Mining Rules

[NNadir]

Bush Strips More Protections From Mountain Top Mining Rules

A proposed reversal in federal rules that protect mountain streams can soon lead to the streams' destruction. The proposal is the latest in a series of actions by the Bush Administration to weaken protections against the devastation caused by mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia.


The rule change follows the administration's gutting of an environmental impact statement (EIS) on mountaintop mining; the repeal of a 25-year-old prohibition against dumping waste in streams; and a proposal by the Office of Surface Mining to weaken oversight of state mining programs.


The Interior Department stream rule change, which could take affect as early as mid-summer, would eliminate a ban put in place by the Reagan Administration that prohibits mining activity within 100 feet of a stream. The ban was enacted to prevent the burial of streams in Appalachia from mountaintop strip mining, a practice whereby mountain peaks are leveled to extract coal. Countless tons of rock are simply dumped into the adjacent valleys and streams.




March 4, 2004

[Odallas]

1. Devastation

500,000 acres of mountain top have been removed in West Virginia. With the repeal of this regulation over 1,000,000 additional acres will be destroyed in the next five years.

[NNadir]

2. I hope this link works better

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