Photo: Qazi Ikram ul haqThe Center for Biological Diversity has welcomed the Obama administration’s proposal to end the use of nationwide permits to allow mountaintop removal coal mining. However, the Center said it was disappointed by the administration’s lack of leadership in enforcing existing law to prevent this destructive practice.
“Ending the use of streamlined permits is another baby step in the right direction, but for the mountain that gets blown up, and the community whose drinking water gets destroyed, it doesn’t make a difference what type of permit was issued or how closely it was scrutinised,” said Tierra Curry, biologist with the Center.
The proposal by the Army Corps of Engineers to suspend the use of nationwide Clean Water Act permits for surface coal mining in Appalachia will require that permits be issued on an individual basis. Earlier this spring the administration announced it would scrutinise individual mining permits in order to protect the environment, but then approved 42 of 48 new mountaintop removal permits.
Because roughly one-third of mountaintop removal projects are permitted under nationwide permits, this proposal doesn’t affect the majority of permits and doesn’t even suspend the issuance of nationwide permits until a final decision is issued.
“This decision is the administration putting yet another Band-Aid on the gaping wound that is mountaintop removal coal mining, without actually doing anything to prevent the injury,” said Curry.
Mountaintop removal is a form of coal mining in which companies dynamite the tops of mountains to collect the coal underneath. Since mountaintop removal began in 1970, more than 1,200 miles of streams have been buried, 1.5 million acres of hardwood forest have been lost, and more than 470 mountaintops permanently destroyed.
Multiple peaks are blown off and dumped onto highland watersheds, destroying entire mountain ranges. Mountain top removal endangers and destroys entire communities with massive sediment dams and non-stop explosions.
“Ending the use of streamlined permits is another baby step in the right direction, but for the mountain that gets blown up, and the community whose drinking water gets destroyed, it doesn’t make a difference what type of permit was issued or how closely it was scrutinised,” said Tierra Curry, biologist with the Center.
The proposal by the Army Corps of Engineers to suspend the use of nationwide Clean Water Act permits for surface coal mining in Appalachia will require that permits be issued on an individual basis. Earlier this spring the administration announced it would scrutinise individual mining permits in order to protect the environment, but then approved 42 of 48 new mountaintop removal permits.
Because roughly one-third of mountaintop removal projects are permitted under nationwide permits, this proposal doesn’t affect the majority of permits and doesn’t even suspend the issuance of nationwide permits until a final decision is issued.
“This decision is the administration putting yet another Band-Aid on the gaping wound that is mountaintop removal coal mining, without actually doing anything to prevent the injury,” said Curry.
Mountaintop removal is a form of coal mining in which companies dynamite the tops of mountains to collect the coal underneath. Since mountaintop removal began in 1970, more than 1,200 miles of streams have been buried, 1.5 million acres of hardwood forest have been lost, and more than 470 mountaintops permanently destroyed.
Multiple peaks are blown off and dumped onto highland watersheds, destroying entire mountain ranges. Mountain top removal endangers and destroys entire communities with massive sediment dams and non-stop explosions.
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