Comment on FR Doc # E7-15930

I am disappointed to find out that the Office of Surface Mining is considering changes to the stream buffer zone rule that would make it easier for coal companies to pollute and degrade our nation?s streams. I urge you to abandon this proposal and instead focus on enforcing the current protections on the books. According to government studies, the failure to enforce the stream buffer zone rule has already allowed companies to damage more than 500 miles of streams between the years 2001 and 2005 alone. Mining companies continue to fill entire streams with mining waste during mountaintop removal mining in violation of the rule, but the federal government has turned a blind eye to this practice for years. The purpose of maintaining a stream buffer zone is exactly as it seems -- to provide a buffer, or protection zone, around streams and make sure they are not polluted or destroyed. The proposal currently under consideration would do nothing more than take the buffer out of the picture. I urge you to reject these changes.