Below:

• Bush Wants To Change Buffer Zone Rule: Nationwide Push for Comments

• Tonight on PBS' Bill Moyers Journal: Mountaintop Removal

• How 'bout them links?

 Bush Wants To Change Buffer Zone Rule: Nationwide Push for Comments
The Bush administration’s latest attempt to legalize illegal mountaintop removal practices has stirred up cries of outrage across the nation.  

It’s strange to say, but we almost have to thank the administration for its latest dastardly move. Bush is helping to build our base--more people than ever now know about mountaintop removal!  Groups small and large are working together to get in comments on the rule change.  Newspapers coast-to-coast are running mad-as-hell letters to the editor and scathing editorials. Bloggers are  asking people to take action. More and more people realize we have to force Congress to ban mountaintop removal.

If you want an easy way to keep up with the news and opinion, please be sure to check our updated-daily news-link page often. Just for fun, below are some of the stories generated by the proposed rule change.

What is up? The Bush administration’s Office of Surface Mining (OSM) wants to quit requiring coal operators to prove that their mountaintop removal operations will not damage streams, fish and wildlife.  They want to gut the stream buffer zone rule, which says land within 100 feet of a stream cannot be disturbed by mining unless a company can prove it will not affect the water’s quality and quantity.

This rule was at the heart of major West Virginia litigation challenging mountaintop removal in the late 1990s.  If the changes the Bush administration proposes are finalized, then the illegal becomes legal.  State and federal “regulatory” agencies have basically overlooked the rule and allowed valley fills in perennial and intermittent streams.  Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment and other lawyers for citizen groups continue to interpret the rule as banning those fills, and federal judges have agreed with us.

The proposed rule change would say the buffer zone rule does not apply to burying streams with the rubble from former mountaintops. That is, the rule doesn’t apply to valley fills and even coal sludge dams and impoundments.

Take Action! ~Speak Out!
Important—in all communication please note the docket number: RIN 1029-AC04.

By 4:30 p.m. EST September 24: Please call, write or-email the Office of Surface Mining.  
Tell them:
--Pull the proposed buffer zone rule change and enforce the law now on the books.
--If you won't pull the proposed rule change and enforce the law on the books, then you must grant a 90-day extension to the comment period AND give us a public hearing in the southern West Virginia coalfields.

Call or e-mail:
Dennis G. Rice
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
Telephone: 202-208-2829; e-mail: drice@osmre.gov

For written comments, write to:
OSMRE
Administrative Record
Room 252 SIB
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20240

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 Tonight on PBS' Bill Moyers Journal: Mountaintop Removal
Tonight (or in the wee hours tomorrow morning) Bill Moyers Journal is re-airing--a segment titled "Is God Green?" The segment has been updated since its 2006 airing and includes information on a Mingo County Sludge Safety Project victory. Also featured is Coal River Mountain Watch and Pennies of Promise volunteer Ed Wiley who is in New York City all through September, raising awareness about the coal operations--including a coal sludge dam--near Marsh Fork Elementary. Watch the Today show each morning and you may catch a glimpse of Ed and his sign.

Check your local listings to determine airtime in your area. West Virginia Public TV will air the show on Saturday, September 8 at 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. Go figure.

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 How 'bout them links?
Ok, these should keep you busy at work for a while. There are some real nugget editorials in here. Some of these were repeated in other papers.

http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/200708219
http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=28553&printview=1
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/8/23/19919/1351
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/08/23/coal_miners_nation/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sally-kohn/blood-coal-not-clean-co_b_61696.html
http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/158079.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/23/us/23coal.html?ex=1188532800&en=b2b66778ce8bfb36&ei=5070&emc=eta1
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/08/bush-administra.html
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2007/2007-08-22-091.asp
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30C17FD3F590C748EDDA10894DF404482
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/8/25/04329/9087
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/08/the-top-of-old-.html
http://thegarance.com/archives/653
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-mining31aug31,0,4561429.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/23/europe/coal.php
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/08/23/PM200708232.html
http://pine-magazine.com/content.php?id=917
http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0823-09.htm
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/24/1321257
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007708240396
http://media.www.kykernel.com/media/storage/paper305/news/2007/08/24/CampusNews/New-Rules.May.Change.Mining.Landscape-2936203.shtml
http://www.sierraclub.org/compass/2007/08/criminal.asp
http://www.riseupwestvirginia.blogspot.com/
(in the above, you may have to scroll down for the blog on the buffer zone)
http://www.dailyyonder.com/speak-your-piece-mountaintops-cut-first-then-mountaineers-voices
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070824/OPINION/708240468/1030
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/nation_world/story.asp?ID=206246&cookie=allowed
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WV_SURFACE_MINING_WVOL-?SITE=WVHUN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007708250406
http://highlandscam.blogspot.com/2007/08/can-we-save-mountains.html
http://brownfemipower.com/?p=1826
http://www.thedailygreen.com/2007/08/24/king-coals-head-is-stuck-where-the-sun-dont-shine/5823/
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/editorials/ci_6728880
http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/opinions.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2007-08-26-0003.html
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/08/27/PM200708277.html
http://www.environmental-action.org/enviroaction.asp?id=2435&id4=ES
http://leoweekly.com/?q=node/5347 <http://leoweekly.com/?q=node/5347>
http://www.heraldandtribune.com/jht/default.asp?SectionID=DETAIL&ID=57206
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-harrop_30edi.ART.State.Edition1.424d653.html
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/8/31/91158/9320
http://www.cagle.com/working/070827/sorenson.jpg
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/03/opinion/l03coal.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://www.kansascity.com/273/story/258297.html
http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/257602.html
http://www.ecologicalhope.org/uncategorized/bush-carte-blanche-to-blow-away-the-applachian-mountains/ 

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