EPA To Gut Mountaintop Mining Rule That Protects Streams

WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday approved a last-minute rule change by the Bush administration that will allow coal companies to bury streams under the rocks leftover from mining.

[Mountaintop coal mines, such as this one near Mud River, W.Va., generate large amounts of waste. "With less than two months left in power, the Bush administration is determined to cement its legacy as having the worst environmental record in history," Earthjustice said in a statement. "This is a sad day for all people who are thankful for the clear mountain streams and stately summits of the Appalachians."(By Michael Williamson -- Post)]

Joan Mulhern, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, a nonprofit law firm that has fought mountaintop mining, said the EPA had failed to do its job.

"With less than two months left in power, the Bush administration is determined to cement its legacy as having the worst environmental record in history," she said in a statement. "This is a sad day for all people who are thankful for the clear mountain streams and stately summits of the Appalachians."

FitzGerald said the rule change applied to mountaintop mining and all other forms of surface mining, as well as disposal of coal mine processing waste, disposal of waste from underground mining and the use of streams for sedimentation ponds.