Friends,
We have been mining coal for 150 years in Appalachia. Increasingly, over the last few decades, we have been doing this with a method of coal mining called "mountaintop removal," which is exactly what it sounds like.
As giveaways to the coal industry, the Bush Administration curbed regulations and wrote new rules which made it even easier for these renegade companies to blast apart mountains, and dump the toxic mine waste into our streams free of oversight or significant regulation.
Devilstower, A Siegel, emmasnacker, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, Jesse Jenkins, and 100s of other Kossacks have joined with a grassroots army in Appalachia to fight the Bush Administration's rule changes regarding mountaintop removal, and it is my pleasure to relay that with enormous gratitude to the EPA and the Obama Administration, we can celebrate a significant victory in the name of progress.
(w/ an important caveat...)
During the campaign, President Barack Obama promised to end mountaintop removal, and to make protecting Appalachian streams a top priority of his EPA. Yesterday, the Obama Administration and the EPA took a critical first step to protect the economy, environment, and energy future of Appalachia.
What does this decision by EPA mean?
Although they may have taken a step in the right direction, the Obama Administration has NOT overturned the Bush Administration's "fill rule" or the "stream buffer zone rule." The EPA is only going to "review" the impacts of these permits released by a recent 4th circuit decision. The extent of that review was again brought into question last night when EPA released a very weak "clarifying" statement as to their plans.
The worst case scenario is that we celebrate too early, the coal companies throw everything they have at pushing these permits back through, and the rules and regulations regarding mountaintop removal stay as they are, and as they have been under the Bush Administration. We could be in a worse place than we were off before, and still see the Appalachian Mountains ripped apart at an unprecedented rate.
The best case scenario is that we thank the Obama Administration, while politely reminding them that to end the Bush Administrations dangerous and devastating legacy of mountaintop removal, they must overturn Bush's 2002 "fill rule," and 11th hour repeal of the stream buffer zone rule. We must also still work with Congress to pass the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310) to permanently safegaurd the mountains, streams, and communities of Appalachia from mountaintop removal mining waste.
The Bush Administration's infamous 2002 "fill rule" and 11th hour repeal of the stream buffer zone rule left a dangerous and toxic legacy for the region. The changes to ease restrictions on mountaintop removal also departed from the original intent of widely respected laws such as the Clean Water Act. The Obama Administration must work with the EPA to reverse these rules permanently to protect and promote the economy, the energy future, and indeed the very hills and hollows that make Appalachia what it is.
If we do not, then today's victory means very little.
Why is it important for the Administration to end MTR
We have got to fight back against the National Mining Association, WV Governor Joe Manchin, and others who contend that perpetuating mountaintop removal is somehow beneficial to the Appalachian economy.
Mountaintop removal is preferred by coal companies specifically because it employs fewer workers. Mountaintop removal does the same thing to our economy that it does to our mountains.
Coal mining once provided over 120,000 jobs in West Virginia alone, but that number has dropped to less than 20,000. Instead of bringing wealth to the region, areas of high strip-mining and mountaintop removal have remained some of the most impoverished counties in the United States.
At a time when the Obama Administration is so clearly focused on rebuilding the economy, this decision creates the perfect opportunity to jumpstart the economy of the region in a way that is environmentally sound and sustainable for this and future generations in Appalachia.
Appalachia is rich with alternative energy potential and green job opportunities in many places which were slated to be blasted, such as Coal River Mountain, West Virginia. It has been shown that we can create more jobs, more energy, and more tax revenue for the surrounding communities by harnessing the wind potential of Coal River Mountain, rather than blasting the top off the mountain and shoving the waste directly into streams.
At Coal River Mountain alone, 164 wind turbines could provide 328 MW which would power nearly 70,000 homes. If we halt these permits, a majority of Coal River Mountain will be saved, and the people of the surrounding communities will benefit economically, environmentally, and in their energy future.
A majority of the American people and Appalachian voters oppose mountaintop removal, and we applaud President Obama's decision to listen to the American people. Indeed, this important reversal of these dangerous Bush Administration policies is truly change we can believe in.
Who's Coming With Me?!?
There is a lifetime of work to be done in Appalachia, and this unmistakable progress is a testament to the hundreds of citizens in Appalachia who have made the long trip to Washington DC to ask Congress and the White House for change.
But the coal companies are going to come at us with everything they have right now, and we have got to hold the line and continue moving forward to end this American embarrassment called mountaintop removal.
Not only for our mountains, but for the communities and people in the coalfields who lives and communities depend on us;
...women like Teri Blanton with Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and her grandchildren...
...men like Bo Webb with Coal River Mountain Watch, who is constantly living in terror in his own home in the United States...
...women Kathy Selvage of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards (and DailyKos)...
...the 100s of Appalachian citizens who have come to Washington DC over the years to tell our elected officials that mountaintop removal has got to stop, and that we can do better in this country...
For all of us in Appalachia, KEEP UP THE FIGHT!
I hope to see ya in the mountains...