Environmental activists who were hoping the administration of Barack Obama would quickly overturn a last-mintue mining regulation imposed by a lame duck President George W. Bush have been told that they are going to have to be patient. The process of changing the controversail regulation is just getting started, and Glenda Owens, acting director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, said a new regulation will not be in place until at least early 2011.
While that does not please those who were hoping the Obama administration would quickly undo the changes imposed by President Bush, it is the established way of bringing about change in federal regulations.
During the final days of his eight years as president, George W. Bush approved a change rewriting 1983 regulation that barred mining companies from dumping material removed from surface operations within 100 feet of streams if the disposal harmed water quality or quantity. The new regulation requires mine operators to keep debris piles as small as possible, but allows them to skirt the buffer requirement if compliance is determined to be impossible.
Disagreement over the regulation is at the heart of the ongoing fight over mountaintop removal coal mining in West Virginia, Kentucky and other parts of Appalachia.
Coal companies say the practice of blasting and scraping away ridges to expose multiple coal seams provides cheap electricity for millions and supports thousands of high-paying jobs. Environmental groups and other opponents contend the regulation allows coal companies to bury streams rather than buffer them.
While the new regulations were not imposed until the last days of the Bush administration, they had been on the table for a number of years and gone through the long hearing process and public comment periods required by federal law. While they may prefer a quick replacement of the Bush regulations, Obama officials are right when they contend the proposed new regulations must go through the same process as the regulations imposed by Bush. While that takes time, it also gives everyone — from coal companies, to environmental groups, to private citizens — a chance to comment on the proposed changes.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has decided to delay approval of 79 coal mine permits — with more than half of them being in Kentucky — to allow for additional scrutiny. Thus, while going through the long process of changing the regulations, the Obama administration is dragging its feet on approving new mountaintop removal permits.
To listen to some coal company executives, the industry cannot survive without mountaintop mining, but we can’t see how returning to the regulations that were in place for nearly three decades is going to bring an end to all mountaintop mining. After all, the mining process existed under the old rules. The new regulations simply make it easier for mining companies to bury streams, and frankly, we don’t see that as a step forward.
