EPA Says No to Coal and Yes to Healthy Communities

New Ruling Comes After Groups Ask Feds to Strip KY Div. of Water's Authority

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently took the side of communities affected by the devastation of mountaintop removal coal mining. A newly released policy will better protect waterways by setting stricter guidelines for mining near streams.

Guided by a growing body of evidence that shows this practice is detrimental to our waterways and our communities, EPA proposed water quality standards that will prohibit most valley fills associated with mountaintop removal and other large surface mines. Among the various standards and guidelines EPA will apply is one for conductivity, a general measure of stream quality.

“We are thrilled that EPA has taken steps to protect our streams and our communities. In issuing this guidance, EPA is doing what they are legally required to do: propose specific limits on pollutants discharged from mining operations into our water that protect human and ecological health under the Clean Water Act,” said Judy Petersen, KWA executive director. “The EPA has finally acted to bring coal mining impacts under the provisions of the law.”

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced the new guidance at a press conference April 1. “Let me be clear, this is not about ending coal mining. This is about ending coal mining pollution,” Jackson said. “Coal communities should not have to sacrifice their environment, or their health, or their economic future to mountaintop coal mining. They deserve the full protection of our clean water law.”

Kentucky Waterways Alliance has worked for over a decade to prevent the destruction of the state’s headwater streams in Appalachia by taking a stand against the practice of filling valleys with mining waste – an action that buries streams and destroys ecosystems.

“The EPA has finally moved to protect not only the streams and aquatic life, but also the communities and people of Appalachia exposed to the harmful effects of the pollution from coal mining operations,” said Jason Flickner, KWA water resources program director.

Across Appalachia, mining companies blow the tops off mountains to reach a thin seam of coal and then, to minimize waste disposal costs, dump millions of tons of mining waste into the valleys below.

This dumping causes permanent damage to the waterways and surrounding communities putting the health of millions at stake. Since 1992, nearly 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams have been filled at a rate of 120 miles per year by surface mining practices. Mountaintop removal mining has disrupted drinking water supplies, flooded communities, and destroyed wildlife habitat.

“EPA’s actions will protect Appalachian communities so that residents living near and downstream of mines sites will be better protected and have input into future permitting decisions that clearly impact their communities and their lives,” said Petersen.

They EPA’s ruling came soon after several groups appealed to the EPA, asking that Kentucky’s powers to oversee water discharge permitting be stripped. The groups claim nearly 2,000 streams in the state don’t meet water quality standards with coal mining being largely to blame. The Kentucky Division of Water (KDOW) maintains that it follows and regulates discharge standards as set forth in the federal Clean Water Act.

However, the petition also revealed that KDOW does not have sufficient manpower or resources to adequately develop and review mining permits.

In Kentucky just four mining permit writers manage 2,353 mining permits (588 each). In contrast, in West Virginia, 15 mining permit writers manage 1,266 mining permits (84 each). These statistics show that mining permit writers in Kentucky have to manage seven times as many permits as those managed by mining permit writers in West Virginia. This lack of capacity may help explain why Kentucky’s permitting program has failed to prevent significant stream impairment.

The good news is that EPA’s new ruling will offer better protection to Appalachian streams and those living nearby them from pollution allowed by these types of permits despite the fact that KDOW is grossly understaffed. EPA is clearly now allowing science to dictate policy.