U.S. Seeks to ReverseLax Rule on Mountaintop Coal Mining

Ken Salazar, secretary of the U.S. Interior Department, vowed to overturn a Bush-era regulation allowing coal companies to dump millions of tons of waste from mountaintop mining into Appalachian streams. Calling the relaxed environmental regulations a “major misstep,” Salazar said the Interior Department will go to court to strike down the Bush-era rule, which allows coal companies to dump mining debris in and around streams if other disposal options are “not reasonably possible.” The Bush rule overturned a 1983 regulation that only allowed mining companies to dump mining waste within 100 feet of a stream if the dumping would not “adversely affect” water quality. Mountaintop coal mining in the Appalachians — which involves blasting the tops off mountains to get at coal seams below — is a widespread and environmentally destructive practice. Environmental advocates said that reinstating the older, more restrictive rule was insufficient, since lax enforcement of old and new regulations has led to 1,600 miles of Appalachian streams being buried under mining waste.