Statement to the Press
September 30, 2009

EPA Regional: All 79 Mountaintop
Removal Permits Need Further Review
Appalachian Mountain Communities Breathe Sigh of Relief

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CONTACT:
Willa Mays, Appalachian Voices - 828-262-1500
Sandra Diaz, Appalachian Voices - 828-262-1500
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Appalachian Voices, a regional organization that has helped to propel mountaintop removal mining as a national issue, applauds the decision by the Environmental Protection Agency’s regional offices to support EPA headquarters’ recommendation that all 79 pending mountaintop removal permits be submitted to an extended 60-day review process.

Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency made a recommendation to hold 79 mountaintop removal permits for further review, pending approval of EPA regional offices. This process is in accordance with a “memorandum of understanding” between the EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Interior, which called for a more stringent and transparent oversight of these permits.

We are pleased with the way federal agencies have thus far executed the enhanced coordination process, and hope that they will continue to take decisive action to stop the burial of our streams. It is also encouraging to see the EPA following through on its commitment to science-based oversight, with the announcement that the the agency is assembling a panel to gather and examine the best peer-reviewed and published scientific research about the ecological impacts associated with mountaintop removal.

We will continue to work with our partners in the coalfields as part of the Alliance for Appalachia to meet with the EPA and the Army Corps to make the case about the terrible impacts mountaintop removal coal mining and valley fills have on the mountains, streams and communities of Appalachia.

We recognize, however, that an administrative approach is only a short-term strategy to stop the destruction of our mountains. “The theme of our campaign has always been, ‘They’re blowing up our mountains and there ought to be a law,’” said Willa Mays, executive director of Appalachian Voices. “We will continue to work for passage of the Clean Water Protection Act in the [U.S.] House and the Appalachia Restoration Act in the Senate, both which would permanently end this destructive practice.”

For now, the mountains, streams and communities of Appalachia can breathe a sigh of relief, but until mountaintop removal coal mining is made illegal, the fate of these communities will continue to remain uncertain.

Mountaintop removal is a type of surface coal mining in Appalachia that blasts the tops off of mountains and dumps the toxic metal-laden waste into streams and valleys below. To date, mountaintop removal has leveled over 1 million acres, destroyed more than 500 mountains, and buried nearly 2,000 miles of streams in the mountains of West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. In addition to destroying the nation’s oldest mountains and most biologically diverse forests and streams, mountaintop removal mines are devastating the communities of Appalachia with water and air pollution, damaging personal property, destroying a proud heritage, and limiting future economic expansion.