Call the White House and say thanks! They need your support! 1 (202)-456-1111 The coal thugs will be angry.
Amazing news for people whose homes were facing mountaintop removal mining — and a big win for those following the Coal River Wind Project.
As you may know, the 4rth Circuit Court made a horrible decision back in February and opened up hundreds of permits and over 200 miles of streams for destruction from mountaintop removal. Well, after a month of citizens lobbying them, the EPA has told the Army Corps to back off our streams — for now. Read on, my friends.
EPA halts hundreds of mountaintop mining permits
By DINA CAPPIELLOWASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is putting on hold hundreds of mountaintop coal-mining permits until it can evaluate the projects’ impacts on streams and wetlands.
The decision was announced Tuesday by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson. It targets a controversial practice by coal mining companies that dump waste from mountaintop mining into streams and wetlands.
It could delay more than a hundred permits being sought by companies wanting to begin blasting mountaintops to access coal.
The EPA also denied two permits the Army Corps of Engineers was planning to issue that would allow companies to fill thousands of feet of streams with mining waste in West Virginia and Kentucky.
The agency says the projects could damage aquatic resources.
BOO YAH!
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This is wonderful news! Thanks for sharing!
Hurray!!..so happy….
It is so good to see the environmental protection agency, protecting the environment again! So proud of Lisa Jackson!
amazing!!
YES!
a million thank yous to everyone who has been working so hard and risking so much to stop coal. you’re doing it!
So proud and humbled by our friends in communities all over Appalachia who have been fighting to save mountains for decades. More power to you, folks, and keep up the fight. We’ll close ALL the MTR sites before long…
Victory!!! So Great!
Smiles!
I wish you people would get your head out of your ass and use it for something else besides trying to destroy so many families across the country.
Fantastic!! I called the White House number to say thanks, but they only work office hours! (Never heard of voice mail?) But I will call back later, and we all should, because the fossil fool lobby will be out in force to roll this back. And like the post says, we need to keep pushing to have current permits revoked, and then to ban this practice all together!
All these negative comments on mountain top mining. I have one question: Have any of you ever visited an reclaimed mountain top mine area? You have no idea how beautiful these places are. We have oak, maple, sycamore and even chestnut trees that are taking over these areas. The deer, bear, and turkeys are flourishing. We have large ponds/lakes that hold 4-5 pound bass. Flat land that can and will be developed. I don’t think you realize what you are trying to do. West Virginia is COAL. What other industry do we have that pays it’s employees $60,000 per year plus benefits? I’ve tried to be civil but this is getting out of hand. You people slam our livelihood and you have no idea what actually take place before, during and after surface mining. I think the inmates are running the asylum.
Good for the EPA. Mountaintop Removal Mining is simply not sustainable, and the “reclaimed” land is never as good as the rich mountain forest ecosystem it replaces. It worries me when I hear pro coal talk like above, because it doesn’t consider the costs of MTR, instead defending it with weak arguments that are completly irrelevant to the environmental issues at hand. Nothing is worth the destruction of our planet on this grand scale. MTR must stop, the Appalachians are far more valuable than the coal. Our future is not in coal.