Last week Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Department of the Interior, appeared before the press to make a "Big Announcement."

Sadly, his "big announcement" was merely a statement of intent to return to the George W. Bush era of refusing to protect streams and rivers from the destructive practice of mountaintop removal coal mining.

Secretary Salazar announced that Interior is moving to vacate a midnight rulemaking by the outgoing Bush administration that stripped stream protections from the Reagan-era Stream Buffer Zone rule.  Sounds good so far, right? But then he made an about-face by revealing that Interior would continue to implement the restored rule as it had in the past: that even though the Stream Buffer Zone rule is back on the books, Interior won't even enforce it to stop stream destruction! In fact, Salazar fervently promised that current coal mining practices would not be affected, and it’s going to be business as usual for coal companies who carry out destructive mountaintop removal mining.

Secretary Salazar’s announcement is meaningless without a commitment to enforce the law. Returning to the status quo will continue to allow destructive mountaintop removal coal mining practices to dump waste within 100 feet of perennial and seasonal streams. When Secretary Salazar campaigned to serve as a Colorado Senator, he said that some of his proudest accomplishments in public life came from bringing varied interests together to protect and preserve land and water. Tell him to take a strong stand and enforce the Stream Buffer Zone rule and Stop Mountaintop Removal Mining!