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Bush admin moves to ease restrictions on mountaintop-removal mining

 

The Bush administration is about to ease restrictions on mountaintop-removal

mining, making it easier -- and legal -- for companies to dump mine waste in

streams. Since 1983, dumping mine waste within 100 feet of streams has been

illegal, but many mining companies have done so anyway due to a combination of

lax enforcement and varying interpretations of the law. The Bush admin's

proposed rule change, which will become final after 30 days of public comment,

would still require miners to observe the 100-foot stream-buffer rule unless, of

course, they don't want to and can " show why avoidance is not possible. " Some

2,000 miles of Appalachian streams have already been buried by massive amounts

of mine waste from mountaintop removal in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and

West Virginia. The Interior Department suggests the rule change will be

" slightly positive " for the environment since it requires mining companies to

minimize debris that's disposed of outside the mined area, but environmentalists

derided the change. " Its only purpose is to expedite mining without regard to

environmental damage, " said Ed Hopkins of the Sierra Club.

 

 

sources: The Washington Post, Associated Press, Reuters, Earthjustice

 

 

 

 

 

 

For in a Republic, who is “the country� Is it the Government which is for

the moment in the saddle? Why, the Government is merely a servant—merely a

temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and

what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn’t. Its function is to

obey orders, not originate them.

Mark Twain