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Oppose Mountaintop Removal Mining!
Oppose Effort By the Bush Administration to Blow Up Mountains and Destroy Streams in Appalachia!
On January 7, 2004, the Bush administration proposed to repeal another longstanding environmental protection law in order to let the coal mining industry accelerate "Mountaintop Removal" mining. In this form of mining, coal companies actually blow up entire mountaintops and dump millions of tons of waste into nearby streams, burying them forever.
In May 2002, the Bush administration already repealed an important Clean Water Act safeguard that protected mountain streams from Mountaintop Removal waste. Now, the administration is targeting a Reagan-era rule known as the "buffer zone rule" that prohibits coal-mining activities from disturbing areas within 100 feet of streams. If the new Bush rule goes forward, coal companies will be allowed to dump massive amounts of waste directly into streams, destroying them completely. Already, over 1200 miles of streams in Appalachia have been buried by mountaintop removal waste, wiping out these streams and causing flooding and destruction in the surrounding communities. Send your comments today, as the public comment period ends April 7th!
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: I oppose proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule.
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I strongly oppose the proposal to weaken and virtually eliminate the stream buffer zone rule that was adopted over 20 years ago to protect streams from coal mining activities, including Mountaintop Removal mining. The changes to this rule proposed by the Bush administration would repeal important protections for streams and allow Mountaintop Removal coal mining companies to further destroy and degrade waters in the Appalachian region with their waste.
Lapses in the enforcement of the stream "Buffer Zone" rule, which prohibits coal-mining activities from disrupting areas within 100 feet of streams unless those activities in no way impact water quality or quantity, have allowed more than 1,200 miles of streams to be buried or degraded by Mountaintop removal mining waste. Rather than weaken stream protections, the Bush administration should withdraw this rulemaking attempt and enforce the existing stream Buffer Zone rule in place. If it does not, Congress should overturn this rulemaking. I am sending a copy of this comment to my Members of Congress so they will be aware of my opposition to repealing the stream Buffer Zone rule.
According to the administration's own recently released studies on mountaintop removal coal mining, the immediate and long-term environmental impacts of this form of coal mining are severe and irreversible. The 2003 draft Environmental Impact Statement found that absent additional environmental protections, another 1,000 miles of streams and a total of 2,200 square miles of mountain-filled, forested terrain in Appalachia will be destroyed. The Bush administration must not respond to this information by trying to weaken existing environmental standards governing Mountaintop Removal.
The proposed rule changes would weaken stream protections that have been in effect for over two decades. I submit this comment to urge the administration not to move forward with this or any other any rulemaking that would weaken these existing protections. Instead, it should enforce the Buffer Zone rule as it is currently written, as this is the only way to truly protect streams from the destructive effects of Mountaintop Removal mining.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
March 29, 2004
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The Buffer Zone Rule: A 1983 rule which prohibits coal mining activities from disturbing areas within a 100-foot “buffer” of an intermittent or perennial stream. The buffer zone rule states that coal mining activities cannot disturb these sensitive areas unless water quality and quantity will not be adversely impacted.
Bush’s ‘No Buffer’ Rule: The Bush proposal is a much weaker regulation that would allow Mountaintop Removal coal mining companies to construct massive valley fills upon showing that they have merely minimized the amount of waste they produce and minimized adverse impacts to streams. It does not provide the same no adverse impact standard as the buffer zone rule. By getting rid of the ban on disturbing areas within 100 feet of streams, this proposal takes the “buffer” right out of the “buffer zone” rule and allows coal companies to dump waste directly into streams.
Mountaintop Removal Mining: Mountaintop Removal mining takes place in many states in the Appalachian region, including West Virginia, Kentucky, southern Virginia and Tennessee. In this destructive process, entire peaks, hillsides and mountaintops are literally blown off in order to reach the coal seams that lie underneath. The resulting millions of tons of waste rock, dirt, and vegetation are then dumped into the neighboring valleys and streams. These valley fills bury streams and aquatic habitat under piles of rubble hundreds of feet high, destroying the entire surrounding ecosystem and disrupting nearby communities. Rather than enforce the law against this kind of destruction, the Bush administration is repealing protections like the buffer zone rule.
In the summer of 2003, the administration released a draft Environmental Impact Statement detailing the harm caused by Mountaintop Removal, including:
- already, over 1200 miles of streams have been damaged or destroyed by Mountaintop Removal
- studies demonstrate that direct impacts to streams may be greatly lessened by reducing the size of the valley fills where Mountaintop Removal mining wastes are dumped
- when past, present and future areas that have been or will be effected are added together, the estimated area of forest impacts is 1.4 million acres
- forest losses in West Virginia alone have the potential of directly harming as many as 244 vertebrate wildlife species
- even if hardwood forests clearcut for mining could be reestablished, which is unproven and unlikely, there will be a drastically different ecosystem from pre-mining forests for generations, if not thousands of years
- without additional limits, an total of over 2200 square miles of mountains, streams, and forests will be flattened and destroyed by Mountaintop Removal
Despite these findings, the Bush administration’s DEIS not only failed to propose new environmental safeguards to avoid this devastation, it actually recommended easing the permitting process to allow even more destruction. The most significant weakening of existing standards they are pursuing is the repeal of the Buffer Zone rule. The Bush administration is pursuing this policy despite reporting that they received 82,500 comments in the comment period on the Environmental Impact Statement that ended January 21, 2004, most of which opposed weakening environmental safeguards on mountaintop removal coal mining.
Does Some of This Sound Familiar?
The Bush administration is relentlessly pursuing anti-environmental policies to allow coal companies to continue to bury hundreds of miles of streams in Appalachia under enormous piles of rubble created by Mountaintop Removal coal mining. In May 2002, the Bush administration eliminated a 25-year-old Clean Water Act regulation that prohibited the Army Corps of Engineers from allowing industrial wastes to bury and destroy U.S. waters.
We must keep up the pressure to protect the environment and communities of Appalachia. With your help, the Bush administration will again receive tens of thousands of comments by the April 7, 2004 deadline for commenting on the proposal to eliminate the Buffer Zone rule.
Send this letter now, send your own email to osmrules@osmre.gov, or send your comments by mail to:
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
Administrative Record, Room 101
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20240
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