Major News: EPA May Do Its Job!

	Does EPAs review signal the beginning of the end of coal company greed and destruction, which people across the coalfields, including OVEC board member and Keeper of the Mountains founder Larry Gibson work tirelessly to expose?

On Sept. 11 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it has concerns about the environmental harm that would be caused by the issuance of dozens of mountaintop removal permits that the agency had been reviewing since June.

EPAs actions were welcomed by local and national groups working to end the practice of mountaintop removal. While noting it is only a first step, the groups commended EPA for its decision.

"While many mountains, streams and communities continue to be impacted or annihilated by mountaintop removal because of years of lawless mining, EPAs announcement today provides people with some hope that from this day forward, real science and laws will be applied before any more permits are issued," said OVECs executive director Janet Keating.

"The public needs to know that this announcement does not apply to existing mountaintop removal permits. We ask that our politicians dont cry that the sky is falling, but instead let the scientific experts at EPA do the job that taxpayers expect of them to protect our water, air and land for us and for future generations," she said. Others agreed.

"EPAs action today creates a welcome reprieve for the people who live below these enormous mining sites and the waste dumps they put into our waters," said Judy Bonds, co-director of Coal River Mountain Watch. "We will continue our fight for a total, complete reprieve for our children and for our beloved mountains and streams."

Of the 79 permits under review, EPA has determined that for each and every permit at issue the destruction of streams and harm to watersheds in the region raise questions about the legality of the permits under the Clean Water Act.

Under a procedure adopted by the Obama administration in June, EPAs action is expected to trigger a 60-day joint review of the permits between EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers, if the Corps disagrees with EPAs initial review. Assistant Secretary of the Army Jo-Ellen Darcy joined EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in making the announcement.

	We can only hope that the EPA will view mountaintop removal mining in a different light than the Army Corps of Engineers, which sees this type of wholesale destruction and devastation as something minor.

"We are pleased, but not surprised, that these 79 mines failed to pass muster under the Clean Water Act at this stage in the review. We have been saying for years that these types of mines are too destructive to proceed," said Joe Lovett, executive director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment. "It is satisfying to know that there are finally leaders at EPA and in other federal environmental agencies who are willing to acknowledge that reality."

"For this stage in the permitting review process, EPA is doing the right thing, and we commend Administrator Jackson for her leadership," said Joan Mulhern, senior legislative counsel for Earthjustice. "These mines, if permitted, would destroy many miles of streams in a region already devastated by mountaintop removal. We are confident that if EPA and the Corps do the enhanced review as promised, they will determine that all of the mines with valley fills will cause unacceptable harm and violate the law. The next step should not only be to conduct the review and deny permits for mines that destroy waters, but the administration must also reinstate the clean water rules that prevented industries from dumping their waste into streams."

In contrast to the result of an earlier review of other similar permits, where EPA allowed some mines like Peg Fork, which have destructive valley fills, to proceed even though they would cause unlawful destruction of waterways, EPAs action today shows that it is now looking closely at the law and science in its permit review process and also providing some welcome public transparency.

Earlier this year, the EPA conducted a review of 48 applications pending before the Army Corps of Engineers for Clean Water Act permits to fill streams. At the end of its review, the EPA identified the Peg Fork MTR mine in Mingo County and five other mines as projects of high concern, and instructed the Army Corps not to issue those permits.

Unfortunately, the EPA raised no objections to 42 of those 48 mines, and eventually allowed the issuance of the Peg Fork mine permit with minimal additional conditions.

Despite that decision, those permits still fail to satisfy the requirements for permits issued under the Clean Water Act.

Many of these permits would still have unacceptable adverse impacts on local waterways and therefore violate the Clean Water Act. (See "Corps Approves Controversial Permit" on page 9.)