Obama and Mountaintop Removal Mining: The Roller Coaster Ride

Excerpted from Facing South, the Institute for Southern Studies online magazine

During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama spoke critically of mountaintop removal. But since taking office this year, the Obama administration has sent mixed signals about its stance on mountaintop removal, troubling activists working to stop the destruction.

On the one hand, the Environmental Protection Agency announced in March that it was asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take a closer look at mountaintop removals "potential harmful impacts on water quality" through its permitting process.

But then in April, the Department of Justice filed a brief with the 4th U.S. Circuit court of Appeals opposing further review of a lower court ruling (Ed. Note: The lower court ruling that had been in OVECs favor) that would have more strictly regulated mountaintop removal.

Adding to the uncertainty, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar held a press conference recently to announce his agency plans to reverse Bush administrations changes to a rule that allowed mountaintop removal operations to dump waste in streams. But at the same press conference, he reassured the coal industry that the President didnt want to hamper production (Ed. Note: And, he could not assure us that the rule would be enforced.)

"Basically, were totally confused," said Judy Bonds of Coal River Mountain Watch, a grassroots group fighting mountaintop removal in West Virginia. While the federal government dithers, coal companies appear to be stepping up operations, she added.

With the Obama administration vacillating on the issue, lawmakers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia are trying to build momentum by introducing legislation to prohibit electric utilities from burning mountaintop removal coal. The legislation is running into stiff resistance from coal companies and electric utilities, which wield considerable power over legislatures.