environmental protection agency

The collision between environmental protection and coal extraction is nothing new to the Appalachian states, which are home to some of the largest coal deposits in the world. But in the middle of an unemployment crisis — and with a new administration showing signs of cracking down harshly on the destructive practice of mountaintop removal [...]

As Kate pointed out a few weeks back, the Environmental Protection Agency earlier this month stalled 79 applications for new surface mines in the Appalachian Mountains, citing concerns that those operations would harm local water quality. Today, the agency went a step further, announcing in a letter to the U.S. Corps of Engineers that all [...]

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) wants to put the brakes on the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to curb climate change by barring the agency from spending any funds on regulating carbon dioxide pollution from power plants, manufacturers, and other major emissions sources. She’s asking for a one-year “timeout” so Congress can pass new legislation, despite the [...]

Kate has a great piece today about some of the nation’s polluters embracing once-dreaded regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency in order to fend off the tougher House climate bill. But at least one group has added a twist. The Western Business Roundtable, an industry coalition opposed to the Waxman-Markey bill, issued a statement yesterday [...]

Several farm-state senators are looking to include a provision in a major appropriations bill that would significantly increase the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline, despite concerns about the impacts.
Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) are reportedly considering (sub. req’d) offering amendments to force the Environmental Protection Agency to raise the blend level [...]

The Obama administration on Tuesday outlined a new set of proposed rules for automobile fuel efficiency and emissions. The new rules follow an  announcement in May that the administration had reached a deal with automakers and state governments to create a unified national standard.
“This action will give our auto companies some long-overdue clarity, stability and [...]

The EPA just issued a statement announcing that they have extended the review period for 79 surface mining permit applications in Appalachia. This means that the permits will not be streamlined for approval, and is in accordance with the Obama administration’s memorandum issued in June to subject coal-mining permits to greater scrutiny.
“The administration pledged earlier [...]

The Environmental Protection Agency last week quietly asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “to suspend, revoke or modify” the coal mining permit for the largest mountaintop removal operation in West Virginia, the Charleston Gazette reported today. In turn, the Army Corps has asked a federal judge for a 30-day stay to review the permit, [...]

The Interior Department just sent over its statement reacting to a judge’s decision today to uphold a Bush-era rule making it easier for mining companies to dump their waste in mountain streams. In toto:
This Administration has shown it is determined to improve mining practices and we will do so within the context of the court’s [...]

A federal judge today blocked the Obama administration’s efforts overturn a Bush administration rule allowing coal companies to dump their mining waste in mountain streams.
The ruling is a victory for Appalachian mountaintop removal operations, where the peaks of mountains are literally lopped off with dynamite and the rock and soil pushed into adjacent valleys, many [...]