President Obama is systematically increasing the chances that mountaintop removal mining (MTR) permits may not be granted by insisting on compliance with the law. One tool that mining companies, and other corporations that harm our environment for their own profit, hate is an environmental impact statement (EIS). An EIS is generally a document based on scientific studies and data that analyze the environmental impacts of a proposed project, such as MTR. When a project might have a significant environmental impact, then an EIS may be required to answer questions, such as what are the environmental impacts, are there alternatives to the project, and can mitigation measures lessen these impacts. Corporations that want to rape our environment dislike EIS because it reduces the chances of their projects being approved as they want. Not only is the decision maker better informed of the facts, but the public is allowed to participate in the EIS process and environmental organizations have been successful in terminating projects by litigation. Bush used one tool to increase the chances of project approvals, and now Obama has nixed this tool, paving the way for more EIS required for MTR.
One tool that the Bush Team used to approve MTR projects was an expedited permit process: Obama suspended this expedited process last week. Instead, new surface coal mines in Appalachia are now required to obtain individual Clean Water Act (CWA) permits, which generally involve greater scrutiny and input from the public, and this often means trouble for MTR.
There are two primary permits available for MTR under the CWA: an individual permit or a Nationwide Permit (NWP). If a project might have a significant environmental impact -- such as the MTR impacts of decapitating mountaintops, burying streams, killing ecosystems etc. -- then an individual permit is required and it will often require the preparation of an EIS. Individual permits also require public hearings so that interested parties (often environmental groups and citizens in the area of the proposed project) may evaluate and comment on the environmental impacts of the proposed project.
The NWP, on the other hand, is designed to regulate categories of activities on a nationwide basis in a streamlined process. These NWPs are supposed to be limited to activities that will only cause minimal adverse environmental effects on both an individual and cumulative basis. Despite this standard, an NWP #21 was issued for valley fills (dumping of tons of mining waste into streams that literally bury the stream and suffocate the ecosystems) and surface impoundments. In 2004, a court enjoined the use of NWP#21 for valley fills and surface impoundments, but was vacated by the Court of Appeals.
By suspending the NWP for MTR, Obama has increased the likelihood that an EIS will be required for the MTR mining. This is no small accomplishment because recently an EIS was required for a huge MTR project but it might be the first "specific mountaintop removal proposal" to be required to prepare an EIS.
The EIS is a vital process to protect our natural resources and our health. Based on this EIS, the EPA last May, proposed for the first time issuing a veto of a MTR mine that already had received one federal permit. The reason for the veto is the significant environmental impacts disclosed by the EIS.
The sleazy Bush days of ignoring the rule of law are being reversed, step by step.
Other news in tonight's Climate Change News Roundup:
BP NEWS
- With Criminal Charges, Costs to BP Could Soar: "The total legal cost, including criminal fines" has been estimated at $62.9 billion" for BP, which had revenue of $240 billion in 2009.
- Spill Takes Toll on Gulf Workers’ Psyches.
Beyond the environmental and economic damage, the toll of the mammoth spill in the Gulf of Mexico is being measured in hopelessness, anxiety, stress, anger, depression and even suicidal thoughts among those most affected, social workers say.
- If not stopped, well could keep gushing for 2-4 years based on "government's present flow estimates of up to 60,000 barrels a day." But now internal BP memo estimated 100,000 barrels of oil a day in worst case scenario.
- BP's British shareholders to join US class action for securities fraud over oil spill: Legal theory is BP management "misrepresented the company's true safety record, thereby artificially inflating its share price. When Hayward took over in 2007, he promised to focus 'like a laser' on safety after the 2005 explosion at BP's Texas City refinery, which killed 15 workers, and the oil spill from a BP-owned Alaska pipeline in 2006."
- Deepwater oil spill victims, from waitresses to cabbies and strippers, plead for BP payouts: The "economic ripple effect" spreads as fishing ban hits both fishermen/women and businesses that served them.
- Congress's key accusations against BP include well design, safety procedures, stonewalling, company culture, and penny-pinching.
- Jones Act: Maritime politics strain Gulf oil spill cleanup: "Pressure is building for President Obama to lift a 1920 protectionist law so that high-tech foreign oil skimmers can help with the Gulf oil spill. Why are 1,500 available US oil skimmers not on the scene?"
The Coast Guard Friday "redoubled" efforts to keep the Deepwater Horizon oil spill from impacting Gulf states by calling in more skimming boats and equipment from the Netherlands, Norway, France, and Spain after previously telling one Dutch official "Thanks, but no thanks," to an offer of help.
...The news of more foreign ships steaming toward the Gulf also comes amidst a heated political debate over the role of the 1920 Jones Act, a protectionist law that prohibits foreign-flagged boats and crews from doing port-to-port duty within 3 miles of the US coast.
BP OIL GUSHER IMPACTS ON WILDLIFE & OCEAN CRITTERS
- Spill May Have Taken Its Largest Victim Yet - First Dead Sperm Whale found 77 miles from site: (photo of badly decomposed body – I am squeamish, so have not looked at the picture (pdf file) -- bottom half of whale might have been eaten by sharks and "charred appearance results from exposure to sun and heat.") It may take weeks to determine testing for oil.
"It is a relatively rare occurrence," ... there have been only five or six whale deaths in the gulf in five years, "so we are studying this very carefully."
A little perspective. Scientists say that if the BP oil gusher "kills just three sperm whales, it could seriously endanger the long-term survival of the Gulf's native whale population."
- Scientists: Gulf oil spill threatens breeding ground for bluefin tuna: "The sargassum and the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico are an important nursery and habitat not only for these fish but also for whales, sharks, and other big ocean fish such marlin and swordfish. What happens to these top predators will be one important part of measuring the costs of the oil spill to the environment."
- Oil spill full of 40% methane, adding new concerns of gas suffocating marine life, creating dead zones: "That means huge quantities of methane have entered the Gulf, scientists say, potentially suffocating marine life and creating 'dead zones' where oxygen is so depleted that nothing lives."
- If oil does not kill sea creatures (dolphins, sharks, mullets, crabs, rays and small fish) that flee spill, the relocation may kill them: The "animals' presence close to shore means their usual habitat is badly polluted, and the crowding could result in mass die-offs as fish run out of oxygen. Also, the animals could easily get devoured by predators."
CLIMATE CHANGE & ENERGY
- Hot Times in Antarctica: The "world's polar regions are warming up faster than the global average, but the western edge of the Antarctic Peninsula is especially steamy. Over the past 50 years, winter temperatures have shot up by an almost unbelievable 6°C--more than five times the global average, according to a paper just published in Science."
- Major climate decisions may come from ozone treaty: "The obscure round of U.N. ozone treaty talks in Geneva, which few people are following, laid the groundwork this week for a possible decision in Uganda in November to halt the promotion of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, which are manmade chemicals not found naturally in the environment, and are considered greenhouse gases."
WATER & NATURAL RESOURCES
- Oceans choking on CO2, face deadly changes: study.
The world's oceans are virtually choking on rising greenhouse gases, destroying marine ecosystems and breaking down the food chain -- irreversible changes that have not occurred for several million years, a new study says.
The changes could have dire consequences for hundreds of millions of people around the globe who rely on oceans for their livelihoods.
"It's as if the Earth has been smoking two packs of cigarettes a day", said the report's lead-author Australian marine scientist Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg.