The Charleston Gazette’s tireless Ken Ward Jr. notes today that, in southern West Virginia, mountaintop removal mining is threatening more than wildlife and
“„Mountaintop removal mining has buried nearly 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams, contaminated drinking water, impaired water quality for river recreation, increased water treatment costs for industry, displaced some communities and increased susceptibility to flooding for others. Despite escalating environmental and community costs, more mountaintop removal mining projects have been proposed to access the remaining coal seams in Appalachia.
“„In 1988, the Gauley received some federal protections as the Gauley River National Recreation Area, under legislation pushed through by Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va. Rahall, though, has opposed EPA’s efforts to crack down on pollution from mountaintop removal mining.
“„“I kept [supporters] from even having a hearing on it. It would have passed Congress overwhelmingly. It was a freebie. Republicans would have voted to end mountaintop removal.”
“„Since it’s not an issue in their districts, he said, “they’d have voted to abolish it in a heartbeat.”
“„Another means of wiping out the practice would be to amend the surface mining and reclamation law which Rahall authored in his first year in Congress in 1977.