U.S. boosts coal mining oversight to fight pollution
Ash plume at confluence of Clinch and Tennessee rivers on 4/16/09, about 5 months after the Kingston plant disaster
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Interior Department said on Wednesday it would immediately strengthen oversight of surface coal mining programs and draw up new regulations to protect streams polluted by mining operations.
The action comes after a U.S. court in August blocked an attempt by the Obama administration to overturn a Bush administration rule that made it easier for coal mining companies to dump mountaintop debris into valley streams.
The court said the department should have followed certain procedures, including collecting public comments, before trying to repeal the government regulations.
The department said it will now move 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 seams.
“Until we put a new rule in place, we will work to provide certainty to coal operations and the communities that depend on coal for their livelihood, strengthen our oversight and inspections, and coordinate with other federal agencies to better protect streams and water quality,” said Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Wilma Lewis.
The department is publishing an advance notice of proposed rulemaking regarding the protection of streams from the adverse impacts of surface coal mining operations.
The notice requests comments on alternatives for revising the current regulations, which include the stream buffer zone rule issued by the Bush administration in December 2008.
The Bush regulation modified a 1983 rule by allowing dumping within 100 feet of a stream if it would not “adversely affect the water quantity or quality or other environmental resources of the stream.”
More than half of U.S. electricity is generated from coal. U.S. surface coal mining is mostly done in the steep mountains of Appalachia, across Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, and accounts for about 10 percent of U.S. coal production.
“America’s vast coal resources are a vital component of our energy future and our economy, but we have a responsibility to ensure that development is done in a way that protects public health and safety and the environment,” Lewis said.
The department’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking will soon be published in the Federal Register of government regulations. The department will take public comments on it through December 18.
Credit ReverseEnergy.com
Source:( Tom Doggett, additional reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; editing by Jim Marshall)