--------------------------------------------------
From: "Oliver Bernstein" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 3:11 PM
To: "Oliver Bernstein" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: News -- EPA Approved WV Mountaintop Removal Permit

> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 5, 2010
>
> Contacts:
> Janet Keating, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, (304) 522-0246
> Judy Bonds, Coal River Mountain Watch, (304) 854-2182
> Cindy Rank, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, (304) 924-5802
> Raviya Ismail, Earthjustice, (202) 667-4500 x221
> Joe Lovett, Appalachian Center for the Economy & the Environment, (304) 
> 645-9006
> Oliver Bernstein, Sierra Club, (512) 477-2152
>
> Environmental Protection Agency Approves Permit for Controversial WV
> Mountaintop Removal Coal Mine
>
> Decision opens the door for more destruction in Appalachia
>
> Charleston, West Virginia – Today the U.S. Environmental Protection
> Agency (EPA) announced that it would sign off on a Clean Water Act
> permit for Patriot Coal Corp.'s Hobet 45 mountaintop removal coal mine
> in Lincoln County, West Virginia. This controversial permit now goes
> to the Army Corps of Engineers, which issues such permits.
>
> This decision highlights the urgent need for the U.S. EPA to protect
> streams from mining waste by revising Clean Water Act regulations
> gutted by the Bush Administration. The Sierra Club and other national
> and local environmental groups encourage the Obama Administration to
> begin a rulemaking to exclude mining waste from the definition of
> ‘fill’ as a material that can be dumped in waters of the United
> States.
>
> This decision marks the first mountaintop removal mining permit to
> move forward of those mining permits the agency earlier identified in
> 2009 as needing additional attention.
>
> "Sadly, the coal industry’s undue influence over decision-makers has
> traded people’s health, communities, and water for profit," said Janet
> Keating, Executive Director of the Ohio Valley Environmental
> Coalition. "We’re shooting ourselves in the future. After all the coal
> has been mined, what kind of economic development can happen when the
> water is unfit to drink and people have been driven away?"
>
> The permit would allow Patriot to mine through more than three miles
> of streams, and to add millions of cubic yards of fill to existing
> valley fills offsite.
>
> "We, the affected citizens that are living with the impacts of this
> destructive mining practice, pray that this decision is not a preview
> of other destructive mining permits being approved," said Judy Bonds
> with Coal River Mountain Watch. "We certainly hope this is the last
> destructive permit approved that will allow the coal industry to
> continue to blast our homes and pollute our streams."
>
> In 2009 the EPA announced that it would conduct an enhanced review of
> dozens of permits to fill and otherwise destroy streams for
> mountaintop removal coal mining, including the Hobet 45 permit.
>
> "Allowing this newest addition to the over 25 square miles of
> devastation at the Hobet complex to proceed makes one seriously
> question if EPA is truly interested in making a real difference," said
> Cindy Rank, chair of the mining committee at West Virginia Highlands
> Conservancy.
>
> "While we understand that this short term deal means more mining and
> destruction but also the extension of employment to mine workers, we
> know that mountaintop removal coal mining is not a long-term economic
> strategy for Appalachia," said Bill Price, environmental justice
> organizer for the Sierra Club in West Virginia. "As Senator Byrd of
> West Virginia said last month, it is mechanization and the demand for
> coal that have eliminated jobs in West Virginia, and it's time to
> adapt to change and to embrace clean energy solutions."
>
> Even with these alterations, the Hobet 45 mine would still have
> unacceptable adverse impacts on local waterways and therefore violates
> the Clean Water Act. Mining companies have already buried close to
> 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams beneath piles of toxic waste and
> debris. Entire communities have been permanently displaced by mines
> the size of Manhattan.
>
> "The Obama administration rings in the new year by allowing coal
> companies to bury more miles of streams," said Joan Mulhern, senior
> legislative counsel for Earthjustice. "There is no excuse for
> approving this permit when the science is clear that mountaintop
> removal coal mining permanently destroys streams. The administration
> claims to be making progress on mountaintop removal, but in reality
> they are still following the flawed policies put in place by the Bush
> administration. It is time for them to make a commitment to ending
> this abominable practice."
>
> ###
>
> -- 
> Oliver Bernstein
> Sierra Club
> Phone: 512.477.2152
> Cell:  512.289.8618
> www.sierraclub.org
> 

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