Making a bad rule a bad law in West Virginia

Even if you don't live near a Mountaintop Removal site, we're all 'down wind' of Dirty Coal or threatened by Coal Ash. [Massachusetts is no exception.]

From CRMW:

We had a win. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia struck down a 2008 rule change that made it easier for coal companies to dump their rubble into mountain streams. Now, if only the federal Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement would reinstate the previous rule and actually enforce it, coal companies would have a harder time doing mountaintop removal. Until then, it’s a hollow victory. Read more here.

Unfortunately, there’s a bill in the US House that would make this bad rule a bad law. Please go here to tell your representative to oppose HR 2824.

Alpha's Edwight mountaintop removal site above Naoma, Pettry Bottom, and Sundial, WV. Flyover courtesy southwings.org

Yesterday, the federal EPA proposed a settlement with Alpha Natural Resources, the company responsible for most of the mountaintop removal in the Coal River Valley. Under the proposed consent decree, Alpha would pay a $27.5 million fine and spend another $200 million to reduce pollutant discharges at 79 mines and 25 preparation plants in WV, KY, VA, TN, and PA. The EPA says that Alpha violated water pollution limits more than 6,000 times from 2006 to 2013.

Alpha’s Edwight mountaintop removal permit is up for renewal. This 2,000-acre mess in our backyard continues to endanger our community’s health with blasting dust in our air and contaminants in our water, as well as the ongoing blasts that rattle our homes and mountains.

If you can make it, please come out to the informal conference tonight, March 6, 2014, at 6:00 PM at the NEW Marsh Fork Elementary School, 5960 Coal River Rd, Rock Creek, WV, 25174. If you can’t attend, please take a moment TODAY to email the WVDEP at Thomas.E.Wood@wv.gov and tell them that you OPPOSE the renewal of permit number S301299. Here are some good reasons:

-WVDEP consistently ignores or denies the many health studies indicating that mountaintop removal harms our health. Here's a list, and here's a link to the most recent study about airborne dust from mountaintop removal.

-WVDEP refuses to effectively enforce laws at this site. They ignore citizen complaints, issue a tiny fine, or simply enlarge the permit boundaries to include off-site damage. See violations (where they actually issued a violation) here.

-WVDEP ignores the danger of blasting to the rock overhangs along Coal River Road. Alpha should pay for the cleanup and repairs from the Dec. 27 cliff collapse that cut off the road for nearly two months.

-WVDEP has no business renewing a permit that they cannot or will not enforce.

Thanks for all your support. Please consider a one-time or recurring donation to support our work to protect our communities.

Vernon Haltom, Executive director, Coal River Mountain Watch