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By Elizabeth Shogren
LOS ANGELES TIMES
WASHINGTON - A few years ago, the residents of Appalachia's hollows
started fighting in court to rein in the practice of mountaintop
mining, which they argued was ravaging the region's forests, streams
and wildlife, and leveling its rugged mountain peaks.
They say it has been an exercise in frustration, and one in which an
administration friendly to mining interests has changed the rules
along the way.
In one case, residents argued that the mining companies were
violating the Clean Water Act by dumping the "overburden," leftover
rock and soil, into streams. Then, in 2002, the Bush administration
rewrote a Clean Water Act regulation explicitly to allow the
companies' practice.
In another case pending in state court, West Virginians argued that
the companies had violated the Surface Mining Act, which banned
mining within 100 feet of a stream. This month, the administration
proposed to "clarify" that rule to make it legal for companies to
mine along streams, and to heap leftover rock and soil into them, as
long as they dumped the smallest amount possible.
"We find legitimate ways to fight this destructive type of mining, we
present our case to the courts, and in the meantime the Bush
administration goes behind our backs and changes these laws," said
Judy Bonds, an organizer for Coal River Watch, an environmental group
in Whiteville, W.Va. "It shows contempt for the people who live in
these communities and don't want their lives destroyed by the coal
industry."
In search of Appalachia's cleaner-burning coal, companies use massive
machines to shear off tops of mountains, extract the coal, and pile
leftover rock and soil in valleys. After two decades, more than 700
miles of streams have been buried (other sources claim well over 1000 miles),
according to a recent federal
study. Bald, flat plateaus remain where steep, tree-covered peaks
once covered much of Appalachia.
Bush administration officials support mountaintop removal mining as
an important source of coal to fire power plants in the region.
"Our responsibility under the law is to strike the proper balance
between the production of coal that is essential to the nation's
economic and social well-being and protection of the environment,"
said Jeffrey Jarrett, director of the Interior Department's Office of
Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.
He and other administration officials say the recent regulatory
changes merely allow the continuation of a well-established
technique. "It is not backsliding from 20 years of practice," Jarrett
said.
The Clean Water Act and the Surface Mining Act were not intended to
prohibit mountaintop mining, even if some judges have ruled
differently, he added.
Furthermore, the Bush administration's regulations and proposals
require that the industry make new efforts to minimize the
destruction and to limit the damage.
But local residents and environmentalists accuse the administration
of purposely manipulating laws to ensure that mountaintop mining
continues.
"We have found two ways that mountaintop removal mining is an illegal
practice, and instead of owning up to it and figuring out what to do,
they have changed the law," said Joe Lovett, the West Virginia lawyer
who has argued most of the cases on the issue.
In the case of the Clean Water Act rule, U.S. District Judge Charles
H. Haden was on the verge of ruling when the Bush administration
changed the rule in 2002. Haden found the new regulation illegal,
only to be reversed by an appeals court a year ago.
In the case concerning mining within 100 feet of a stream, the
plaintiffs again prevailed in district court, but lost when the
appeals court found that the case should have been tried in state
court.
The West Virginians whom Lovett represents are too angry to quit.
"God compels me to keep fighting," Bonds said. "When these mountains
go, our culture, our heritage and our identity are gone. This is a
spiritual issue as well as an environmental issue." West Virginia native Bonds is
one of America's leading citizen environmentalists.
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