In the last years, mountain top removal has been on the headlines numerous times because it is a real problem in different regions of the country: West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. Mountaintop removal mining is a type of coal mining used since 1970s as an extension of conventional strip mining techniques. The reason why coal companies in Appalachia use this method is because it permits for almost complete recovery of coal seams while reducing the number of workers required to a fraction of what conventional methods requires. Coal companies use explosives to blast as much as 800 to 1000 feet off the tops of mountains in order to reach the coal seams resulting millions of tons of waste rock, dirt, and vegetation are then dumped into surrounding valleys, burying miles and miles of streams. Unfortunately, while Congress is moving to act, mountaintops are still being blown up all over Appalachia.
So who regulates these mining operations? The EPA, under the Clean Water Act (CWA), regulates these mining practices, including discharges of pollutants, rock and dirt are placed in streams and wetlands. Coal mining operations are also regulated under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA).
Recently, in September, the EPA announced plans to hold 79 pending mountaintop removal mining permits for further environmental review. The news comes as part of a "Memorandum of Understanding" the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers signed earlier this year. The two agencies agreed to work together to review pending permits, and today's announcement sets the EPA and the Corps on a path towards closer scrutiny of these permits that is based on science and the law.
The announcement shows that the administration is serious about science and the law working together and that the clock is ticking. However, the destruction in Appalachia is far too great to ignore. Already mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia has permanently buried at least 2,000 miles of streams under piles of toxic waste and debris and not to mention the entire communities that have been displaced. Therefore the fact remains: mountaintop removal is an immoral crime against nature and our community, a human rights violation and it must be abolished, not regulated.
-Eliana Sejas
The 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act dictates that mining companies restore the land to its original shape—the “approximate original contour”—as best they can. Variances could be granted if the coal operator offered specific plans for post-mining development that would benefit the community, such as schools, housing, or shopping centers, but in most cases, the development never materialized. Reclamation, I thought, was supposed to help clean up after we'd finished using the land. It was supposed to help return the land to itself. But most reclamation sites are blasted with non-native grasses or in some cases just spread limestone. It's hard to restore the site when valleys, stream, and creeks are filled in. I don't think that there is proper regulation of SMCRA, this needs to improve if our administration and energy grid are going to remain dependent on coal... of course the ideal scenario would be to use alternative energies and not use coal at all.
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