| Mountaintop Mining Permits Under Review | 24 September 09 |
 The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced it will hold back permits for 79 proposed mountaintop coal-mining projects in Appalachian states. If the permits were approved, coal companies would remove 60,000 acres of diverse hardwood forests and fill hundreds of miles of streams in mining waste.In an effort to protect waterways from coal mining waste, the EPA will work with the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct detailed reviews of pending permits and ensure compliance with the Clean Water Act. "Hopefully the Administration sees that the risks to health and environment from blowing up mountains are not worth the 7% coal we get from mountaintop removal mining" said Michael Brune, Executive Director of Rainforest Action Network (RAN). Mountaintop mining provides four percent of the nation's coal and has already destroyed 500 mountains, more than 1 million acres of forest and more than 1,200 miles of streams. View September 11, 2009 NRDC articleView September 9, 2009 EPA news releases View September 11, 2009 Center for Biological Diversity article View September 11, 2009 Mother Nature Network article View September 11, 2009 Rainforest Action Network article Sources: Common Dreams, EPA, Mother Nature Network |
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