LAME-DUCK BUSH LIFTS MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL STREAM PROTECTION

(12/12/2008)

The Bush administration will publish its' final rule today, revoking key water quality protections that protect West Virginia streams from mountaintop removal. Last week, the Bush White House and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency paved the way for the Office of Surface Mining [OSM] to finalize its more than five-year effort to rewrite the 1983 stream "buffer zone" rule. Today, it will be a done deal. Environmental groups say the measure paves the way for more valley fill in state streams. The groups say more than 1000 miles of streams have already been filled in Appalachia, ignoring the environmental law which starting today allows it happen. If the Obama administration desires to reverse the ruling, they will find it difficult. "We believe that the new rule is consistent with a key purpose of the Surface Mining Law, which is to strike a balance between environmental protection and ensuring responsible production of the coal essential to the nation's energy supply," said C. Stephen Allred, assistant Interior Secretary for land and minerals management. "The Office of Surface Mining is again trying to mislead the public by claiming that the buffer zone rule changes tighten stream protections, when everyone knows they do the exact opposite," said Joan Mulhern of the Washington, D.C., group Earthjustice.

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