leftchick
05-19-2009, 06:25 AM
The Obama administration has cleared more than three-dozen new mountaintop removal permits for issuance by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, drawing quick criticism from environmental groups who had hoped the new president would halt the controversial practice.
By Ken Ward Jr.
http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200905150759
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Obama administration has cleared more than three-dozen new mountaintop removal permits for issuance by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, drawing quick criticism from environmental groups who had hoped the new president would halt the controversial practice.
In a surprise announcement Friday, Rep. Nick J. Rahall said 42 of the 48 permits already examined by the U.S. Environmental Protection had been approved by EPA for issuance by the corps.
"It is unfortunate that, when EPA once again began reviewing proposed coal mining permits earlier this year, alarmists claimed that a moratorium on permit issuance was being proposed," Rahall said in a telephone news conference. "That was not that case then, and it is not the case now."
The West Virginia Democrat is chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, which oversees the federal strip mining law, and represents a district that includes most of the state's southern coal counties.
Rahall said officials from the EPA told him their review so far has objected to only six of the 48 Clean Water Act permits the Corps of Engineers had proposed to issue.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson had announced in March that her staff was taking a closer look at those permits because of concerns that mountaintop removal was burying streams and damaging downstream water quality. Carl Pope, director of the Sierra Club environmental group, said Friday's announcement by Rahall raises questions about whether Jackson and EPA are up to the task.
"Because it appears that EPA is unwilling to intervene, it is now imperative that the White House Council on Environmental Quality take immediate action to stop the bulldozers," Pope said in a prepared statement. "The Obama administration should take swift action to fix the flawed 'fill rule' that enables this type of devastating mining and should act decisively to save the mountains, rivers and communities of Appalachia."
The exact implications of Rahall's announcement were not clear, though, and some of the numbers he mentioned did not match earlier information made public about the numbers of permits objected to by the EPA.
By Ken Ward Jr.
http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200905150759
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Obama administration has cleared more than three-dozen new mountaintop removal permits for issuance by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, drawing quick criticism from environmental groups who had hoped the new president would halt the controversial practice.
In a surprise announcement Friday, Rep. Nick J. Rahall said 42 of the 48 permits already examined by the U.S. Environmental Protection had been approved by EPA for issuance by the corps.
"It is unfortunate that, when EPA once again began reviewing proposed coal mining permits earlier this year, alarmists claimed that a moratorium on permit issuance was being proposed," Rahall said in a telephone news conference. "That was not that case then, and it is not the case now."
The West Virginia Democrat is chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, which oversees the federal strip mining law, and represents a district that includes most of the state's southern coal counties.
Rahall said officials from the EPA told him their review so far has objected to only six of the 48 Clean Water Act permits the Corps of Engineers had proposed to issue.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson had announced in March that her staff was taking a closer look at those permits because of concerns that mountaintop removal was burying streams and damaging downstream water quality. Carl Pope, director of the Sierra Club environmental group, said Friday's announcement by Rahall raises questions about whether Jackson and EPA are up to the task.
"Because it appears that EPA is unwilling to intervene, it is now imperative that the White House Council on Environmental Quality take immediate action to stop the bulldozers," Pope said in a prepared statement. "The Obama administration should take swift action to fix the flawed 'fill rule' that enables this type of devastating mining and should act decisively to save the mountains, rivers and communities of Appalachia."
The exact implications of Rahall's announcement were not clear, though, and some of the numbers he mentioned did not match earlier information made public about the numbers of permits objected to by the EPA.