Based on the science, these permits cannot be issued. Some of the problems that are pervasive in all of these permits – heavy metal pollution downstream, the inability to restore healthy functioning streams to replace what has been lost – are problems that we just cannot engineer our way out of once a stream has been buried under millions of tons of rubble.
The Obama Administration needs fix both the fill rule, under the Clean Water Act, and the buffer zone rule, under the Surface Mining Act.
For too long, the coal industry has benefited from loopholes that no other industry enjoys. They bury streams with mining waste in violation of the Clean Water Act. They still lack any federal regulations for mercury pollution, a potent neurotoxin. They are allowed to dispose of toxic waste from their power plants (coal ash), with no federal regulations. It is time to close these loopholes, protect public health, and return the rule of law not just to Appalachia, but to all of America.
Comment submitted by C. McCullough
This is comment on Notice
Draft Documents; Extension of Comment Periods: Effects of Mountaintop Mines and Valley Fills, etc., and Field-based Aquatic Life Benchmark, etc.
View Comment
Related Comments
View AllPublic Submission Posted: 07/16/2010 ID: EPA-HQ-ORD-2009-0934-0793
Aug 13,2010 11:59 PM ET
Public Submission Posted: 07/16/2010 ID: EPA-HQ-ORD-2009-0934-0794
Aug 13,2010 11:59 PM ET
Public Submission Posted: 07/19/2010 ID: EPA-HQ-ORD-2009-0934-0800
Aug 13,2010 11:59 PM ET
Public Submission Posted: 07/19/2010 ID: EPA-HQ-ORD-2009-0934-0801
Aug 13,2010 11:59 PM ET
Public Submission Posted: 07/20/2010 ID: EPA-HQ-ORD-2009-0934-0803
Aug 13,2010 11:59 PM ET