Bush Clears the Path for More Mountaintop Removal

After 4 years, at least 60,000 letters and comments to the OSM and EPA, the Bush Administration has finally gotten the Stream Buffer Zone rule approved by the Office of Surface Mining and the EPA. The Stream Buffer Zone essentially takes away the ability to limit valley fills through the use of the buffer zone rule, to paraphrase Joe Lovett. Or, put even more simply, it removes one of the defenses that a citizen has when they don’t want a valley fill to destroy the stream by their house. Or even more simply, it sucks.

In the words of Maria Gunnoe, world renowned anti mountaintop removal activist and the main focus of the documentary Burning the Future, “Oh my god, What are we going to do?”

But in case you really don’t understand how bad this rule change is, lets hear it from the Bush administration (as quoted in the NY Times):

“This rule strengthens protections for streams,” said Peter L. Mali, a spokesman for the Interior Department office that wrote the regulation. “Federal law allows coal mine waste to be placed in streams, and the rule tightens restrictions as to when, where and how those discharges can occur.”

Holy Crap! If the Bush administration thinks its good for streams, you know it’s bad…In case there is any ambiguity, the “Coal Mine Waste” that Mali is speaking of is “mountains” that they are “blowing up” and then dumping into the streams.

Now what? Now after 4 years of organizing communities, sending in comments, hold rallies, making phone calls to stop this rule…which we always knew would be ignored…we give it to the attorneys, and to Obama. If you want to let Obama and Stephen Johnson at the EPA know what you think of this rule change, this comment form is still open! You can also tell Obama what you think at www.change.gov but you should really let Stephen Johnson know how impressed you are with his work at “protecting” our “environment.”

About

Dana works on the national council of the Student Environmental Action Coalition in Charleston, WV Visit www.seac.org. She likes to make papier mache stuff with five year olds. She likes mountains that haven't been blown all to hell. She likes communities that fight back when their mountains have been blown all to hell. She doesn't like coal, or blowing up mountains. She especially doesn't like (not so) Clean Coal (no such thing) and thinks Carbon Sequestration is a bad deal for communities and kids. And really, who else matters?

5 Responses to “Bush Clears the Path for More Mountaintop Removal”

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1 David Novack Dec 3rd, 2008 at 11:39 am

As Director of the film Burning the Future: Coal in America, I implore folks to watch Maria Gunnoe in the film and learn once and for all that “clean coal” does not exist. The Bush Administration’s change to the Stream Buffer Zone is a gift to industry and an attack on the residents of Appalachia. In fact, it is an attack on all American’s as it will indefinitely destroy a critical part of our shared fresh water supply. Please watch the trailer at http://www.burningthefuture.com
2 FYI Dec 3rd, 2008 at 12:25 pm

Johnson, Stephen L.

Office Phone - Extension Email
202-564-4700 johnson.stephen@epa.gov

USEPA Headquarters
Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W.
Mail Code: 1101A, Washington, DC 20460
3 Sue Dec 3rd, 2008 at 1:54 pm

It has taken four years of hearings, reviews for the Bush administration to get this rule change through, and unfortunately it may take nearly as long to undo it. This is an extraordinarily stupid move for a region where drought already has threatened the water supplies of urban and suburban areas that depend upon stream and river flow from the Appalachian mountains.