EPA Issues Stricter Rules on Mountaintop Removal Mining

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has imposed strict new guidelines that could curtail mountaintop removal mining, including restrictions on the amount of debris that mining companies are allowed to dump in valley streams. More than 2,000 miles of Appalachia streams have been buried in rock and debris from mountaintop removal mining, a practice in which the tops of mountains are blasted off to get to the coal seams below. EPA officials say the debris can increase levels of toxins in the streams and valleys below. A recent EPA analysis of water tested downstream from mountaintop mining operations in Appalachia shows high levels of toxins, with some samples testing 50 times the U.S. safety guidelines. “This is not about ending coal mining,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “This is about ending coal mining pollution.” Supporters and opponents of mountaintop mining agreed, however, that limiting valley fills could curtail the practice altogether. “Mountaintop mining, by its nature, destroys water,” said Joe Lovett of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment. “I hope it means the beginning of the end.” The rules will apply to new permits, not existing mining operations.
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