Friday, March 26, 2010 1:50 PM
EPA May Block Mountaintop Mining Operation
By Amy Harder, NationalJournal.com
Updated at 5:20 p.m.
The EPA announced plans today to "significantly restrict or prohibit" one of the largest mountaintop mining operations in central Appalachia by authority of the Clean Water Act.
The agency has determined that the mountaintop removal operation, located in West Virginia and known as Spruce No. 1, would be environmentally detrimental to more than seven miles of streams and more than 2,200 acres of forestland.
Spruce No. 1 had been permitted by the Army Corps of Engineers in 2007, but has been caught up in litigation since then. This is the first time that the EPA has ever sought to revoke a permit for a project that was already approved, and only the thirteenth time the agency has vetoed a project under the Clean Water Act, according to an agency release.
The announcement immediately drew fire from Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, who has been spearheading efforts to delay EPA action on greenhouse gas emissions regulations. "I have said this before, and will say it again: it is wrong and unfair for the EPA to change the rules for a permit that is already active," Rockefeller said in a statement today.
Not surprisingly, environmental groups are pleased. "It is good to see the EPA applying more scientifically rigorous analysis to these permits," Sierra Club's director of environmental quality, Ed Hopkins said in a statement. "The best available science tells us that proposed mines like the massive Spruce Mine would pollute waterways, destroy mountains and devastate communities."
The Charleston Daily Mail has more on the announcement.
Clarification: The headline of this post has been changed from the original version to clarify that the EPA has not definitely decided to block the Spruce No. 1 mountaintop mining operation.
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