New York Times: Friends in White House Come to Coal’s Aid

by Christopher Drew and Richard A. Oppel, Jr.
August 9, 2004

… "They (Bush administration) generally want to do whatever the (coal) industry wants," said Representative Frank Pallone Jr., a New Jersey Democrat… "You don’t even have to change the law. You can change the regulations and don’t do enforcement."

…The administration has also tried to make surface mining more economical by making it easier for coal companies to blast off the tops of mountains and dispose of rubble in valleys and streams.

Environmentalists say such "mountaintop removal" has destroyed some of Appalachia’s beauty and polluted water supplies. They contend that Bush appointees have shifted the government’s focus to expediting approvals of new mining permits from limiting the size of the mines.

…Over the last six years, coal companies have donated $9 million to federal political candidates and party organizations, and 90 percent has gone to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

…Over the last two and a half years, the administration has changed one environmental regulation and announced plans to weaken another. And when officials released a new draft of the impact statement in May 2003, environmentalists were outraged.

... The report found that 1,200 miles of streams had been buried or damaged over the past two decades.

... Instead, it called for more coordination among state and federal agencies to simplify the permitting process and minimize environmental harm.

As a result, permits for mountaintop mines started flowing again last year, with 14 approved in West Virginia, up from just 3 in 2002.

But just last month a court dealt a blow to the Bush administration’s efforts, in a response to another suit by Mr. Lovett and other environmentalists.

Judge Joseph R. Goodwin of United States District Court in West Virginia barred the Bush administration from using one of the main methods for expediting permit approvals that it had endorsed in the environmental review.

The judge ordered the government to revoke the permits for 11 mines and to conduct more extensive environmental reviews before issuing any new permits.