Impact of Mountaintop Mining To Be Subject of Major Study by U.S. EPA

The Obama administration is quietly launching a major scientific review of the environmental impact of mountaintop coal mining on streams and rivers in Appalachia, according to a news report. The Charleston Gazette says that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is forming a scientific panel to study how mountaintop removal has affected headwater streams and impacted downstream water quality. The study, announced without fanfare in the Federal Register, will also examine whether coal mining companies are meeting their obligations to restore Appalachian streams where millions of tons of mining debris have been dumped. Mountaintop coal removal is an environmentally destructive practice in which companies blast off the tops of mountains to get at coal seams below, then dump the debris in Appalachian valleys. Hundreds of miles of headwaters streams have been buried in mining debris, and the proposed EPA review marks the first time that the agency will undertake a major review of mountaintop mining. The Obama administration has promised to take “unprecedented steps” to reduce the impacts of mountaintop removal.