Back in December, we reported that the EPA, still under control of the Bush Administration, passed an 11th hour policy to allow mountaintop miners to bury streams with leftover rocks and debris from mining. Now, only a few months later, the Obama Administration is taking steps to reverse that rule and preserve the areas directly affected by mountaintop mining.
Back in December, we reported that the EPA, still under control of the Bush Administration, passed an 11th hour policy to allow mountaintop miners to bury streams with leftover rocks and debris from mining. Now, only a few months later, the Obama Administration is taking steps to reverse that rule and preserve the areas directly affected by mountaintop mining. Ken Salazar, the Interior Secretary, said “Coal must and will remain an important component of our nation’s energy portfolio,” but it would be in the interests of the nearby ecosystems to revert the rule back to what it has been since 1983, and ensure debris cannot be dumped within 100 feet of nearby rivers or streams. To learn more about mountaintop mining and how it affects everyone, read Robert Kennedy Jr’s You Are Connected To Mountaintop Removal Mining.
Photo credit: Paradise Earth
