Posted on 08/18/2004 6:45:09 AM PDT by yoe
BECKLEY, W.Va. -- The coal industry chafes at the name -- "mountaintop removal" -- but it aptly describes the novel mining method that became popular in this part of Appalachia in the late 1980s. Miners target a green peak, scrape it bare of trees and topsoil, and then blast away layer after layer of rock until the mountaintop is gone.
In just over a decade, coal miners used the technique to flatten hundreds of peaks across a region spanning West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and Tennessee. Thousands of tons of rocky debris were dumped into valleys, permanently burying more than 700 miles of mountain streams. By 1999, concerns over the damage to waterways triggered a backlash of lawsuits and court rulings that slowed the industry's growth to a trickle.
Today, mountaintop removal is booming again, and the practice of dumping mining debris into streambeds is explicitly protected, thanks to a small wording change to federal environmental regulations. U.S. officials simply reclassified the debris from objectionable "waste" to legally acceptable "fill."
The "fill rule," as the May 2002 rule change is now known, is a case study of how the Bush administration has attempted to reshape environmental policy in the face of fierce opposition from environmentalists, citizens groups and political opponents. Rather than proposing broad changes or drafting new legislation, administration officials often have taken existing regulations and made subtle tweaks that carry large consequences.................
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
This coal rich area, Grand Staircase-Escalante, is now protected following the establishment in September 1996, by presidential decree, “stroke of the pen” Bill Clinton the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (administered by the BLM rather than the NPS), which covers 1.7 million mostly roadless acres and millions of tons of coal.
Please read the whole article.
Did Joby here interview the mountain range to get its opinion on the mining? Is the Appalachian range unhappy? Do we need to feel the rock and dirt's pain?
Hey, here's a novel concept. Ask, "What do the people want?" Maybe the PEOPLE like having jobs and not being on the government dole.
It was precisely this rule that Bush campaign used as a campaign issue against Gore in 2000. It is issues like this that make the DemocRATS uncompetitive in most western states.
Well, since it's just dirt and rocks, isn't it actually MORE ACCURATE to characterize it as fill rather than "waste"? However, liberals and enviroweenies are not ones to ever let facts or reason stand in their way.
Nothing biased about this article.(sarcasm off). Truth is here in Kentucky to strip mine you need a permit and also you have to put back the contours of the land back to what they previously were. There is a great industry in reclaiming the strip mines. Twenty years ago a drive down I-75 in southern Kentucky would provide you an ugly view. Today it is quite a nice drive. This article is another example of Tree huggers going off on anything to do with coal mining.
Gee, if this keeps up W. Virginia will soon resemble North Dakota
Here's a good rule of thumb: If the "environmentalists" are for it, oppose it; if they're against it, support it.
Quote: Twenty years ago a drive down I-75 in southern Kentucky would provide you an ugly view. Today it is quite a nice drive.
I live in eastern Ohio and I remember all the highwalls the coal companies let. Many are still left. It was really an eysore and unsafe. Back in the late '70's some guys from a neighboring HS were fourwheeling in a truck and went over a 120-150 ft wall killing 2 and injuring the third.
The coal companies are going back in and remining some of these old sites and are reclaiming the land back.
I'm against the EPA overall but some things came out good from their "misguided" efforts such as reclaiming.
I know what you mean. A local guy has done very well also.
Like I've said before I'm againsy the EPA overall because they go overboard but they have really passed some good measures. I remember the large creek that went by my uncles farm. Back in the '60's/'70's it was bright orange and just about had the consistency of syrup from mining operations. It is now clear as can be.
And don't think we aren't grateful :)
As a WV FReeper:
Montani Semper Liberi
Don't forget the "popskull".
(My mother's from WeeVee so I can say these things...)
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