To the delight of radical environmentalists, a major source of energy to generate electricity is being threatened by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). On Oct. 15, the EPA regional administrator for the country’s mid-Atlantic area, Shawn Garvin, urged his agency to revoke a permit for America’s largest “mountaintop,” or surface, coal mine site. This action forecasts higher electricity bills–just as President Obama himself warned of in 2008. Other industries also are at risk of arbitrary EPA action.
West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney charged that the “withdrawal of the permit…continues this Administration’s war against Appalachian coal. It reveals an agency willing to put a political agenda ahead of people…and the jobs our nation so desperately needs,” Continuing, Raney said the decision “reneges on an already approved permit, something that has never been done previously. It would be the “first time ever that a permit would be revoked with an investment already in place,” explained Terry Headley, communication specialist with the West Virginia Coal Association. The site at issue is the Spruce No. 1 mine in Logan County, West Virginia. “EPA has been involved in the whole process, for three years,” Headley added. He said the threat now extends to “any industry that applies for a permit from EPA.”
Raney also pointed out that the original mine design and production levels had been significantly reduced to address the concerns of EPA….This is the most scrutinized mining permit in the country….The decision to revoke the permit violates the sanctity of the legally-established permit process (and) unless changed they threaten the livelihoods of thousands of families across our region.”
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa) certainly no rigid conservative, said he was “extremely disappointed “ to learn of the EPA stance. “The fundamental issue with the Spruce Mine permit is one of fairness. From the beginning, the company has made good faith efforts to comply with all applicable laws and regulations…The second-guessing has got to stop. The coal industry, like any other, deserves to know that the commitments made by the government will be honored.” The permit was issued by the Army Corps of Engineers nearly four years ago.
Spouting a mouthful of distortions, the left-tilted environmental organization, Natural Resources Defense Council, said the EPA Administrator has taken “courageous action to move closer to revoking the federal permit issued in 2007 to Arch Coal to blow up a mountain (and) destroy 2,278 acres of temperate rainforest and bury more than 7 miles of streams.” This charge is wacko because there are five steps to surface mining (typically called “mountaintop mining”) that restore the area to its former condition. Federal and state reclamation and safety regulations are enforced throughout the mining process. The area is replanted with bushes, grasses, and hardwood seedlings, mining experts explain. The green-brained Sierra Club joined the fray with loony claims that “This mother of all mountaintop removal coal mines would destroy thousands of acres of land, bury seven miles of streams and end a way of life for too many Appalachian families.” (In fact, the streams are largely ditches and gullies with water only when it rains.)
Arch Coal has won seven environmental awards this year, two of them in West Virginia. Mountaintop mining is the most efficient and environmentally responsible type of surface mining, according to Walker Machinery Company which services 25 West Virginia counties. The company is also involved in forestry, construction and natural gas operations. Land that has been mined and restored now serves agricultural, recreational, and commercial purposes. Even the FBI Center is on former mined land. Mountaintop, or surface, mining doesn’t blanket usable streams, despite the inflammatory claims the environmentalists spew. And the law requires that mined land be restored to its “approximate original contour.”
The West Virginia Coal Association says that two of the state’s 55 counties’ acreage permitted for mining is less than 1 percent. Most of the other counties have no permits for mountaintop mining. Coal was discovered in Boone County, West Virginia, in 1742. It still produces more than 33 million tons a year.
Agreements with commies are worth little to nothing.
Hussein and the dp pledged to cut America off from fossil fuels before we develop anything to replace them, and they are doing it.
They've been taking the law into their own hands since they came into office (AIG,GM), and abusing their regulatory and legal power (drilling moratorium, Arizona assault), so it's no surprise they would do so here as well.
The EPA is Obama's tool to destroy the oil, gas and coal industries and substitute green energy. It is in the hands of radical, leftist environmentalists, whose regulations will force us to buy more oil from overseas at a higher cost. Now, does this make sense???????? Mr. O. sounds like he is proud that their polices will raise the cost of electricity for all of us!!!!!! Go figure.
Nothing about this administration makes sense???????? Such as its moratorium on oil drilling in the Gulf(since lifted) Mr. O. talks about jobs, but he's destroyed many more than he has created. Is Mr. O. trying to CREATE A CRISIS. Rahmn Emanuel, his former chief of staff, told O. a crisis is an opportunity. TO WHAT END, Mr., O.? To destroy this country????? To make it pay for its sins????????? It seems you lied when you took the oath of office. You were to protect and defend.
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
Thomas Jefferson
Nothing about this administration will ever make any sense. Like drunken sailors these guys get an idea and in an abuse of power, like to watch themselves giving the lofty orders, the go ahead. Little thought and consideration is put into anything.
If it feels good to them…..then go ahead. Laughing all the way. They are fools.
Gee, won't you ever get it, our imam president hates america and all of us white trash, duhhhhhhh!!!!!!
Mr. Obama is guided by a vision, not facts and the concerns of human beings.
It seems to me that Mr. Obama is doing whatever the hell he wants to do and no one is yelling foul.
Let's boycott coal and all the products associated with it. There's the coal that is used to produce the metals going into automobiles, airplanes, ships, steel reinforcement for buildings and bridges, washing machines, dryers, sewing machines for making the clothes we wear, and countless other steel products. Not to mention a few of the by-products of coal, such as: paving, roofing insulation, storage batteries, fungicides, paint thinner, perfumes medicines, baking powder, fertilizers, paint pigments, synthetic rubber, and linoleum, to name a few. And, oh yes, electricity. When Obama and the EPA succeed in driving all this nation's coal mines out of business we can buy all our coal from China and pay the "necessarily skyrocketing rates" for these products. So, all of you out there get together with your liberal groups and send us on the road to the UTOPIA promised by this administration!!!
If you want to clean up the environment, you should have the option of purchasing only "green" energy. Support the energy of your choice with your dollars not mine. I'll go for the most cost effective choice everytime.
If I decide I want to go GREEN, let me make my own choice. Give me the information, show me the price of the energy or equipment and I'll make an informed decision.
I agree with kiltmaker. The foundation of America is the freedom of choice. If you want to buy "green" energy, then that should be your choice, not a mandate. I am all for conservation whenever possible, but not to the detriment of everyday people. Using ALL the resources we have, and using them wisely, is what is needed. Punishing regulations and unrealistic permit guidelines will only further stifle the industry and raise overall costs, for the producer and consumer.
This whole administration revolves around killing choice, except the ones they want you to make. It is about control, and power. Oil is made evil; I've worked around the oil business as a young man and never encountered any evil people that I noticed. Everyone worked hard. We're supposed to "lesson dependence on foreign oil." Hmmm. What's wrong with trade? It's what nations do. We import most oil from Mexico and Canada, a fact most don't know. Ethanol is false green; an inferior fuel that provides campaign money for career politicians of both parties. Bush supported it, as well as Obama. Take away political manipulation of oil, plus the manipulation by spectulators, and fuel would be much more reasonable for most of us that have to drive to work. Oil is no longer supply and demand, thanks to Clinton and other career politicians defending the practice of speculation as "free markets." Was it not free market, and traditional supply and demand, prior to the "electronic trade futures modernization act" that Larry Summers and company stifled dissent on? The manipulations of the Ruling Class has screwed the public for some time now…
1. there is no such thing as removing one part of a ecoystem without damaging all of it
2. what happens when all the coal is gone
3. mtr has also destroyerd thousands of mining jobs
4. the coal industry hides under behind the very people they are trying to destroy