WVEC Action AlertAugust 30, 2007Below: Oppose Effort by the Bush Administration to Blow Up Mountains and Destroy Streams in Appalachia Updated: Buffer Zone Hearings Set; Commented Period Extended to Nov. 23 The Office of Surface Mining (and, supposedly, Reclamation and Enforcement) is sending out e-mails to folks who have already commented on the proposed buffer zone rule change: Subject: Excess spoil and buffer zone rule-hearings and comment dates After reviewing the requests that we received, OSM has decided to extend the deadline for receipt of comments on the proposed rule until November 23, 2007. We also will be holding public hearings to accept testimony on the proposed rule at four locations on October 24, 2007. All hearings are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and end at 9 p.m. The hearings will be held at the following locations: · Holiday Inn Charleston (Charleston House), 600 Kanawha Boulevard East, Charleston, West Virginia. · Hazard Community & Technical College, Hazard Campus, Jolly Center, Room 208, One Community College Drive, Hazard, Kentucky. · Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Goins Auditorium, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, Knoxville, Tennessee. · Ramada Inn Washington, 1170 West Chestnut Street, Washington, Pennsylvania. If you wish to submit written comments, our home page (www.osmre.gov/) contains two hyperlinks that will take you directly to the comment site for either the proposed rule or the draft environmental impact statement. After clicking on the appropriate hyperlink, you can click on the yellow icon beside "Add comments" to enter your comments. (end excerpt from OSM e-mail) So, OSM has three years to work on the environmental impact statement, and we have a couple months to comment and a couple of weeks to organize for the hearing. Gee, thanks, OSM. Plus, the OSM is circulating a Frequently Asked Question sheet about the rule change in response to comments it has already received. Their FAQ sheet--well garbage is the polite term for it. Please submit those comments, hold the Oct. 24 date and also hold Nov. 5 open for a possible trip... More details coming. For notes and background on commenting, see this earlier Action Alert. To read the proposed rule, click here. Oppose Effort by the Bush Administration to Blow Up Mountains and Destroy Streams in Appalachia Prepared by: The Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment (appalachian-center.org), Earthjustice (earthjustice.org) and Public Justice (publicjustice.net) Send written comments by November 23, 2007 to:
Introduction: On August 24, 2007, the Bush administration proposed repealing another longstanding environmental protection law in order to allow the coal mining industry to engage in “mountaintop removal” mining. In mountaintop removal mining, coal companies actually blow up entire mountaintops and dump millions of tons of waste into nearby streams, burying them forever. This parting gift from the administration to its coal industry friends will allow coal companies to continue their assault on the forests, streams and communities of Appalachia. The Bush administration has already relaxed Clean Water Act safeguards that protected Appalachian mountain streams from mountaintop removal mines. Now, the administration is targeting a Reagan-era rule known as the "buffer zone rule" that prohibits coal-mining activities from disturbing areas within 100 feet of streams. If the new Bush rule goes forward, coal companies will be allowed to dump massive amounts of waste directly into streams, destroying them completely. Already, nearly 2000 miles of mountain streams in Appalachia have been buried by mountaintop removal waste, wiping out these streams and causing flooding and destruction in the surrounding communities. The Bush administration’s failure to enforce the buffer zone law led to an additional 535 miles of stream impacts nationwide during between 2001 and 2005. Thus, the repeal of the buffer zone rule allows more than 1,000 miles of streams to be destroyed each decade into the future. Permanently destroying thousands of miles of mountain streams is more than irresponsible; it is insane. The Bush administration prepared a draft environmental impact study (DEIS) on the elimination of buffer zone protections. The DEIS is required by federal law to analyze to alternatives to repealing the buffer zone rule rule. Remarkably, the administration failed to even consider leaving in place and enforcing the existing rule in its alternatives analysis. You can view the proposal here by searching for Document ID "OSM-2007-0007-0001"Talking points for comments to the agency:
Sample comments to the agency: RE: Excess Spoil, Coal Mine Waste, and Buffers for Waters of the United States: Docket Number RIN 1029–AC04 I am opposed to any attempt to weaken or eliminate the stream buffer zone rule that has protected streams from coal mining activities for nearly 25 years. The buffer zone rule is an important protection for coal mining regions that prohibits coal-mining activities from disrupting areas within 100 feet of streams unless those activities in no way impact water quality or quantity. The changes to this rule proposed by the Bush administration would eliminate these important protections for streams and allow Mountaintop Removal coal mining companies to further bury, destroy and degrade waters in the Appalachian region with their waste. The Bush administration should withdraw this attempt to weaken stream protections and, instead, leave the existing stream buffer zone rule in place. According to the administration’s own studies on mountaintop removal coal mining, the immediate and long-term environmental impacts of this form of coal mining are severe and irreversible. Lapses in the enforcement of the buffer zone rule have allowed almost 2000 miles of streams to be buried or degraded by mining waste. The Bush administration released a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on August 24 to go along with the proposed rule change. That study was supposed to examine the environmental effects of alternatives to repealing the buffer zone rule, which prohibits valley fills and sludge ponds from burying and destroying streams. Yet, incredibly, the EIS did not even study the option of enforcing the buffer zone rule as currently written. This fact alone proves the administration never considered enforcing the law, but only wants to repeal it, regardless of the facts about the harm that will result. The proposed rule changes would repeal stream safeguards that have been in effect for over two decades. The result, using the administration’s own figures, will be that more than 1000 miles of streams will be destroyed every decade into the future, sapping the lifeblood of an entire region. The administration should not go forward with any rulemaking that would weaken existing laws like the buffer zone rule that protect our vital natural resources from Mountaintop Removal coal mining. Instead, it should rely on sound science and enforce the rules as they are currently written, as this is the best way to safeguard streams from the destructive effects of Mountaintop Removal mining. Background information: The Buffer Zone Rule: A 1983 rule which prohibits coal mining activities from disturbing areas within a 100-foot “buffer” of an intermittent or perennial stream. The buffer zone rule states that coal mining activities cannot disturb these sensitive areas unless water quality and quantity will not be adversely impacted. Bush’s ‘No Buffer’ Rule: The Bush proposal essentially repeals this important regulation and would allow coal companies to permanently bury Appalachian streams beneath hundreds of millions of tons of mining waste. This proposal takes the “buffer” right out of the “buffer zone” rule and allows coal companies to dump waste directly into streams. Mountaintop Removal Mining: Mountaintop removal mining takes place in states in the Appalachian region, including West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. In this destructive process, entire peaks, hillsides and mountaintops are literally blown off in order to reach the coal seams that lie underneath. The resulting millions of tons of waste rock, dirt, and vegetation are then dumped into the neighboring valleys and streams. These valley fills bury streams and aquatic habitat under piles of rubble hundreds of feet high, destroying the entire surrounding ecosystem and disrupting nearby communities. Surface mining has destroyed more than one million acres of Appalachian forests, the most productive and diverse temperate hardwood forests in the world. Rather than enforce the law against this kind of destruction, the Bush administration is repealing protections like the buffer zone rule. This Sounds Familiar: The Bush administration is relentlessly pursuing anti-environmental policies to allow coal companies to continue to bury hundreds of miles of streams in Appalachia under enormous piles of rubble created by Mountaintop Removal coal mining. In May 2002, the Bush administration eliminated a 25-year-old Clean Water Act regulation that prohibited the Army Corps of Engineers from allowing industrial wastes to bury and destroy U.S. waters. Then, one year later, the administration released a draft Environmental Impact Statement detailing the harm caused by this practice, including:
Despite these findings, the administration recommended easing the permitting process to allow even more destruction. The most significant weakening of existing standards they are pursuing is the evisceration of the Buffer Zone rule. Speak Out against the Bush Rule:Send written comments by November 23, 2007 to:
Please urge your legislators to support the inclusion of environmental education in the No Child Left Behind reauthorization bill as proposed in the No Child Left Inside Act of 2007! Congressman John Sarbanes of Maryland and Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island recently introduced legislation that strengthens and expands environmental education in America's classrooms and reconnects children with nature. These bills, each titled the No Child Left Inside Act of 2007, were introduced in the House (H.R.3036) and the Senate (S.1981). Please encourage your senators and representative to support the No Child Left Inside Act of 2007 and help get its provisions included in the House and Senate bills that reauthorize the No Child Left Behind law. With the nation facing complicated environmental issues that will challenge us for years to come, it is critical that schools provide students with a solid grounding in environmental education. But because of the No Child Left Behind law (NCLB), many schools are scaling back or eliminating environmental education programs. Congress has the opportunity to change this as it reauthorizes NCLB. Learn more about environmental environment and NCLB at www.eeNCLB.org . The No Child Left Inside Act of 2007 amends the NCLB law in the following ways:
Help us guarantee that no student is left inside when it comes to learning about their environment:
By making a few changes to NCLB, we can dramatically improve our schools' ability to prepare children for real-world challenges and careers - and ensure an environmentally sustainable future. Please go to www.eeNCLB.org to send a letter to your legislators. The site will select your legislators by your zip code. Thanks. Note: 'No Child Left Inside" is used with permission from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. |