Tri-City Herald Logo

Lawmakers, activists battle over mountaintop removal mining | Tri-City Herald

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Archives
    • Buy Photos and Pages
    • Contact Us
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Newsletters
    • Subscribe
    • Subscriber Services

    • News
    • Local News
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Hanford
    • Northwest
    • Nation & World
    • Obituary Listings
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • Health
    • Weird
    • Photos
    • Weather
    • Videos
    • Sports
    • Local Sports
    • Preps
    • Prep Countdown
    • Seattle Seahawks
    • Seattle Mariners
    • Tri-City Americans
    • Tri-City Dust Devils
    • Tri-Cities Fever
    • Hydros
    • Photos
    • Outdoors
    • Blogs
    • College
    • NFL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • NHL
    • MLS
    • Golf
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Public Records
    • National Business
    • Technology
    • Entertainment
    • Local Arts
    • Celebrity
    • Mr. Movie
    • Movie Times
    • Movie News
    • Music News
    • Calendar
    • Submit Event
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Contests
    • Living
    • Food & Wine
    • Wine Press NW
    • Antique Appraisals
    • Health & Science
    • Home & Garden
    • Light Notes
    • Religion
    • Spiritual Life
    • Births
    • Engagements
    • Weddings
    • Anniversaries
    • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Editorials
    • National
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Submit Letter
    • Guest Columnists
  • Obituaries

  • Classifieds
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Place An Ad

  • About Us
  • Mobile & Apps

Latest News

Lawmakers, activists battle over mountaintop removal mining

Halimah Abdullah - McClatchy Newspapers

    ORDER REPRINT →

June 25, 2009 04:59 PM

WASHINGTON — Coal industry advocates and environmentalists converged on Capitol Hill on Thursday at a congressional hearing on the impact of mountaintop removal mining on Appalachian streams and rivers.

The coal industry has long held that this method of mining, which involves blasting the tops off mountains to reveal the underlying seams, is the most economical way of extracting coal. Environmentalists decry the destruction of Appalachian forests and streams and the coal waste runoff that often seeps into the surrounding water supply.

The Obama administration has vowed to change mountaintop removal mining practices, and in March the Environmental Protection Agency cited a proposed mine in Kentucky and one in West Virginia as examples of areas with particularly environmentally hazardous "valley fills," or areas where mountain streams are covered with rock and dirt that have been blasted away to reach seams of coal.

The EPA has pledged to review other mining permits, using "the best science" and following "the letter of the law" — moves that could delay the issuing of mining permits and require revisions to those permits.

SIGN UP

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to the Tri-City Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

However, the Obama administration stopped short of calling for an end to mountaintop removal. Environmentalists and some members of Congress would like to see an outright ban.

That would be a disaster, according to the National Mining Association.

"At a time when we are spending billions of taxpayer dollars to create jobs, it is inconceivable that some in Congress would attempt to destroy some of the highest-paying jobs in American industry," said Hal Quinn, the association's president and chief executive, in a statement Thursday.

Though activists from across the country wearing T-shirts that read "Friends of Coal" and "I Love Mountains" packed the hallways and the committee hearing room, the sharpest dialogue and tension took place among committee members who hail from coal-producing states and their colleagues.

"There is no denying coal's significance to the culture and economy of Appalachia," said Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works water and wildlife subcommittee. "However, mountaintop coal mining is a long-term assault on Appalachia's environment, economy, culture, and the health of its citizens."

Cardin and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., are sponsoring legislation that would outlaw mountaintop mining. The bipartisan proposal puts them at odds with fellow committee member and the subcommittee's ranking Republican, Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, who says the legislation would result in job losses and higher electricity prices.

Nearly half the nation's electricity comes from coal.

"I'm concerned about the infighting among Democrats when it comes to coal," Inhofe said, referring to battles within the Democratic Party over how to best cap greenhouse gas emissions and whether to ban mountaintop removal mining.

After weeks of tense back and forth and internal disputes, House Democrats may be poised to push through historic climate-change legislation in a few days.

The brewing debate over banning mountaintop removal mining could reignite those tensions.

"The administration's decision will bring tighter scrutiny, but it is still important to pass the Cardin-Alexander legislation that would prohibit blowing off the tops of mountains and putting the waste in our streams," said Alexander, a committee member. "Coal is an essential part of our energy future, but it is not necessary to destroy our environment in order to have enough of it."

The battle between environmentalists and mining advocates has been in the news this week.

On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that the Idaho-based Coeur d'Alene Mines Co. could throw waste from an Alaska gold mine the company owns into nearby Lower Slate Lake, even though environmental experts suggest doing so would kill the lake's fish.

The ruling clears the way for the company to build a mining facility north of Juneau — a move that could bring more than 300 jobs to the area. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, hailed the ruling as a victory for the state.

Earlier this week, West Virginia police arrested more than two dozen people, including NASA climate expert James Hansen, actress Daryl Hannah, 94-year old retired West Virginia Rep. Ken Hechler and West Virginia activist Julia "Judy" Bonds for protesting mountaintop removal mining at the Goals Coal plant in Sundial, W.Va.

MORE FROM MCCLATCHY

Report: Coal industry costs Kentucky more than it pays in taxes

Supreme Court ruling allows gold mine to dump waste in lake

Mountaintop mining proposals to face more stringent review

Commentary: Obama caves to pressure from coal interests

Follow the latest politics news at McClatchy's Planet Washington

Related stories from Tri-City Herald

latest-news

Mountaintop mining proposals to face more stringent review

June 12, 2009 10:52 AM

  Comments  

Videos

These two spots could be the future location for the Tri-Cities Public Market

Police investigate shooting in Richland and surround another home in connection

View More Video

Trending Stories

Kennewick teen’s unsolved murder among 1,200 youth deaths nationwide

February 16, 2019 04:49 PM

15 restaurants fail latest Tri-Cities inspections

February 17, 2019 06:19 PM

Basketball playoff berths still up for grabs Monday in the Tri-Cities

February 17, 2019 06:08 PM

A Tri-Cities public market would be a winner, but where best to put it bedevils Pasco

February 17, 2019 06:37 PM

Learn about materials being designed in Richland that will make your life better

February 17, 2019 01:26 PM

Read Next

A Tri-Cities public market would be a winner, but where best to put it bedevils Pasco
Video media Created with Sketch.

Local

A Tri-Cities public market would be a winner, but where best to put it bedevils Pasco

By Wendy Culverwell

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 17, 2019 06:37 PM

The Tri-Cities Public Market is economically feasible in Pasco. But even the consultant hired to study the idea is hard pressed to say if it should be in downtown or beside the Columbia River near the cable bridge.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to the Tri-City Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE LATEST NEWS

Victims, not criminals: State’s runaway foster kids often end up in cuffs and jail

Politics & Government

Victims, not criminals: State’s runaway foster kids often end up in cuffs and jail

February 17, 2019 01:42 PM
Learn about materials being designed in Richland that will make your life better

Local

Learn about materials being designed in Richland that will make your life better

February 17, 2019 01:26 PM
Free streaming movie system comes to Tri-Cities libraries

Local

Free streaming movie system comes to Tri-Cities libraries

February 16, 2019 01:39 PM

Latest News

Increased avalanche danger in Cascades

February 16, 2019 12:51 PM

Latest News

Petroleum terminal expands to allow more oil trains

February 16, 2019 07:05 AM
Layoffs and cutbacks coming to state’s schools without levy reform, district leaders say

Politics & Government

Layoffs and cutbacks coming to state’s schools without levy reform, district leaders say

February 15, 2019 05:54 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Tri-City Herald App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
Advertising
  • Digital Solutions
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
  • Contact Us
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story