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Mr. MTR (Griles) Grilled Again
VANITY FAIR TO GRILES; GRILES NOT FAIR TO US
Check out the September issue of Vanity Fair magazine. J. Steven Griles, second-in-command at the Department of Interior (DOI), takes yet another grilling in "Sale of the Wild, an article by Michael Shnayerson.
The article quotes West Virginia's Jack Spadaro and Friends of the Earth's Kristen Sykes, among others. "Griles more than anyone is the person who is responsible fro the relaxation of enforcement efforts that allowed mountaintop removal to proliferate in the 1980s and 1990s," Spadaro says in the article.
Forget about Gale Norton, who is the so-called head of DOI. According to the story, Griles, a former lobbyist for the National Mining Association with ties to a mountaintop removal (MTR) company, is the one who really runs the DOI. Griles oversees the DOI's Office of Surface Mining (OSM). The article refers to Jeffery Jarrett, head of the OSM, as a "Griles crony from the Reagan years" and mentions both agencies' involvement in making the draft Environmental Impact Statement on MTR into a vehicle for streamlining the MTR-permitting process. Just another reason the draft Environmental Impact Statement should be redone-right after Griles is booted out the DOI's backdoor.
OVEC got an advance copy of the article last week, but the September issue should be available soon.
Is there an abandoned coal sludge impoundment near you? I know you are going to be shocked, but certain government agencies don't know how many abandoned coal sludge impoundments are out there, or where they are. Apparently, they have a pretty good list of active, in-use impoundments, but they aren't so sure about impoundments on abandoned mine lands. If you think you know of such an abandoned impoundment, let us know (just reply to this e-mail). We'll send this information along to folks working to identify these disasters-in-waiting. Let us know if you want us to use your name of if you want to remain anonymous.
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