Tuesday March 24, 2009
EPA halts hundreds of mountaintop mining permits
by The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency put hundreds of mountaintop coal-mining permits on hold Tuesday, saying it wants to evaluate the projects' impact on streams and wetlands.
The decision, announced by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, targets a controversial practice that allows coal mining companies to dump waste from mountaintop mining into streams and wetlands.
It could delay 150-250 permits being sought by companies wanting to begin blasting mountaintops to access coal.
Those permits are issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, an agency that has been criticized by environmental groups and has been sued for failing to thoroughly evaluate the environmental impact of mountaintop removal.
It's about f'in time! Apparently the EPA is going back to doing their job after 8 yrs of corporate pandering. Next step: Shut down those in operation who have already ruined hundreds of miles of Appalachian rivers and creeks.
I'll bet the republicrats at the WV capital, including the dip shit governor and the corporate lackeys at the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection (Permitting) are shitting themselves.
Now, if we could just get a sign that the Obama administration has NOT fallen for the corpo-fascist "clean coal" bullshit.
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4 comments:
I've been celebrating all day! Damn, I love Obama.
(Only had one fight with someone about it today. It's hard to fight with someone chortling with glee.)
WVFur, I watched as MTremoval polluted a river I loved. I raised hell for years. Every time they flushed their crap downstream and filled the river with sludge we raised hell with DEP only to get canned response or at best, told that "they've been warned not to do THAT again." Next month, same thing. We did serious scientific analysis that we forwarded to DEP. They did not care and only defended their corporate puppet masters with patronizing responses. Didn't make a damn bit of difference who was governor or who was in chage of DEP.
I tried to organize the local citizenry. Few cared.
So it goes in WV.
I knew it would take federal intervention. I hope it's not too late.
I've not been as active in MTR protests as I would like - it's this pesky work/poverty situation. But I've been to a few protests and I watched some folks at Marshall try to grow saplings in the "reclaimed soil".
When I was traveling the state a lot, I sported a "stop mountaintop removal mining" bumpersticker. The first and last bumpersticker I've ever put on a car. Those four words provoked more damage to my car and more heated discussions in parking lots than Blow Me Up Elmo on sale at the Walmart on Friday after Thanksgiving.
The part that corks me to no end (besides leveling mountains, poisoning water, killing critters) is the attempt to defend it because it provides jobs.
Sheesh and begorrah, people can be stupid.
Connie, gonna take up making meth and hire all the high school kids to sell it
The sooner WV get beyond it's perceived dependency on coal the better off we will be. As long as coal is bossing everyone around, we will remain a third world backwoods locale that people will look down upon. . . which is fine by me.
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