Obama Administration mountaintop mining siege targets state mining regulation
The Obama Administration is keeping the heat on mountaintop coal mining, first by delaying permit, and now through proposed increased federal oversight of state coal mining regulation.
Author: Dorothy Kosich
Posted: Thursday , 19 Nov 2009
RENO, NV -
mineweb.com
The Obama Administration ratcheted up its regulatory pressure on mountaintop coal mining Wednesday as the U.S. Department of Interior announced it is taking immediate actions "to strengthen oversight of state surface coal mining programs and to promulgate federal regulations to better protect streams affected by surface coal mining operations."
In a statement, DOI Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Wilma Lewis said, ‘We are moving as quickly as possible under the law to gather public input for a new rule, based on sound science, that will govern how companies handle fill removed from mountaintop coal streams."
Lewis added that until the new rule is adopted, the agency will "strengthen our oversight and inspections, and coordinate with other federal agencies to protect streams and water quality."
Office of Surface Mining Director Joe Pizarchik said, "Until we complete the new rule, we have to manage the shortcomings of the 2008 rule. OSM will establish a new practice for reviewing permits under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) that will improve consistency and coordination with other federal agencies."
The review and approval of SMCRA permits must now be coordinated with reviews and authorizations required under the Clean Water Act. OSM plans to work with both the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency to coordinate the permitting processes and "ensure effective and coordinate compliance with provisions of the Clean Water Act."
Lewis and Pizarchik also announced a number of "oversight improvements actions" aimed at improving OSM's effectiveness in overseeing state implementation of approved surface coal mining regulatory programs. OSM wants to conduct independent inspections of operators with state-issued surface coal mining permits. The agency also would conduct more offsite inspections, place greater emphasis on reducing the off=site impacts of mining, and review more state-issued surface coal mining permits and state permitting processes in an effort to "improve" state permitting decisions.
The DOI said the reforms "are consistent with the Obama Administration's commitments in a June 11, 2009, Memorandum of Understanding among the Department of Interior, the EPA and the Corps of Engineers to reduce "the harmful environmental consequences of Appalachian surface coal mining."
Last month, the Obama Administration placed a moratorium on all 79 pending permits for coal mining operations in Appalachia on the grounds that most of them exhibited the potential to cause or contribute to violations of applicable water quality standards. |
