BLUEFIELD — When the federal Environmental Protection Agency asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to review permits for surface mining technique often called mountaintop removal the action created a ripple effect that spread through the environmental activist community as well as through the coal industry.
“This is a strong signal that the Obama administration is taking the right steps towards recognizing the importance of sound science and the law when it comes to mountaintop removal mining,” Jennifer Chavez, an attorney with Earthjustice was quoted in a press release as stating.
“Today’s announcement and letters from the EPA to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers demonstrate a fresh perspective on the need to completely review the destructive impact that mountaintop removal mining has on streams and water quality throughout Appalachia,” Chavez was quoted in a March 24 press release as stating. “This is a victory for the people of Appalachia and for one of the must fundamental goals of the Clean Water Act: to prevent our entire nation’s rivers, streams and lakes from being used as waste dumps.”
Members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation were quick to point out that the EPA clarified its letter to the Corps of Engineers. U.S. Senator John D. “Jay” Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., pointed out that the EPA’s letter to the Corps “was specific to only one permit application in Ethel,” and that the nation has more than a 200-year history of mining West Virginia coal, “and that is not going to change any time soon,” Rockefeller was quoted as stating in a press release.
“Coal is an incredibly valuable resource and any alarmist reports suggesting that the EPA’s recent letters are the end of coal mining are inaccurate and unhelpful,” Rockefeller was quoted as stating. “I strongly encourage state and business officials to meet at one table with EPA and Corps of Engineers officials to discuss the best solutions — solutions that create jobs and protect our beautiful state and its people — all at the same time.”
On Wednesday, after news of the EPA’s letter to the Corps broke, Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association said he had a half-hour long conversation with Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America. “We talked about jobs and what we can do to keep West Virginia and eastern Kentucky coal miners working,” Raney said. “We agreed that what’s being talked about in Washington, D.C., could potentially have a major impact on coal mining jobs in West Virginia.
“West Virginia has an efficient, low-cost, dependable energy source in coal,” Raney said. “We just can’t continue to beat up on the American consumer any more by forcing the country to change to energy sources that have proven to be ineffective in meeting the nation’s energy needs and would increase the cost to consumers.
“People get excited about the idea of having electric cars, but sometime during the day, you’re going to have to plug them in,” Raney said. “People need to ask where is that electricity going to come from? If you have an elderly person living on a fixed income on Harrison Avenue in Princeton or College Avenue in Bluefield, and suddenly, they have to pay an additional $3,000 or $4,000 annually on their utility bills because of the policies Al Gore and Bobby Kennedy Jr., are proposing, it will make their lives that much more challenging.”
Chavez was quoted in the Earthjustice statement as stating that she applauded EPA’s decision. “We certainly hope that the EPA recognizes what we have known all along: that mountaintop removal mining permanently and completely destroys streams across Appalachia and causes severe harm to water quality in downstream communities.” Chavez was quoted in the press release as stating that almost 30,000 Earthjustice supporters wrote President Bark Obama to ask him “to fully review the environmental impacts of mountaintop removal mining, and we are pleased to see that their voices have been heard.”
U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., stated in a press release that it is “unfortunate” that the EPA’s action “has been so badly misinterpreted that it caused a period of confusion and alarm. In these recent actions, the EPA is simply reasserting its long-standing legal authority under the Clean Water Act, in the same way that it did for many years without detriment to the coal industry.
“I have been assured by the EPA that it intends to work to ensure clarity of understanding and certainty as it continues to help the Corps of Engineers clear out the long backlog of mining permit applications that resulted from years of litigation,” Rahall was quoted as stating. He stated that all entities needed to work together and work within the law, “balancing the protection of our communities with the preservation of coal jobs.”
Dan Pochick, president of Rish Equipment said “it seemed like the EPA was trying to stop issuing permits. A ban on mountaintop mining would have a devastating impact on eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. It’s not like the coal that is being mined in that method could be mined in any other way.
“It seems like this administration has taken the extreme environmentalist position,” Pochick said. “Our company supplies equipment to coal companies that operate surface mines. A ban on mountaintop removal mining would have a devastating impact on our company, it can’t survive at all. I don’t know how other companies would hold up either.”
Pochick said that “investment will not go where there are problems,” and as a result, if the regional coal industry has to overcome even greater permitting challenges, investors “will go some place where it’s easier,” he said. “This threatens the whole coal industry in Appalachia. It would have a dramatic impact in the coal industry and a devastating impact on West Virginia.”
Marc Meachum, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber had concerns at the start of the year that uncertainty in the coal industry may have an impact on the Chamber’s biennial Bluefield Coal Show, scheduled Sept. 16-18, at the National Guard Armory in Brushfork, but those fears proved to be unfounded.
“We are almost totally sold out of space and we’re still getting plenty of inquiries,” Meachum said. “All of us understand the importance of the coal industry in the region.”
Raney said that people in Mercer County should be aware that State Senator Don Caruth, R-Mercer, and State Delegates Mike Porter, R-Mercer, John H. Shott, R-Mercer and John Frazier, D-Mercer, have worked hard in Charleston to represent the region’s interest and to underscore the importance of the coal industry on all of West Virginia.
“It’s imperative that we find balance in this situation,” Raney said.
— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com
Local News
March 28, 2009
Mining industry leaders express concern about mountaintop removal issue
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