FEDERAL RULE CHANGE COULD RAVAGE APPALACHIA-----TAKE ACTION NOW:: Take Action

TENNESSEANS NEED TO STAND NOW, FOR OURSELVES, FOR THE FUTURE:

Friday, August 31, 2007

Take Action

*NEW* - DEADLINE TO SUBMIT WRITTEN PUBLIC COMMENTS ON THE STREAM BUFFER ZONE- 4pm EDT, Nov 23

Tell the Bush Administration:
Its time Mountaintop Removal is outlawed
“Pull the Rule & Enforce the Law!”
End Mountaintop Removal

NEW Deadline to Submit Written Comments (Updated Talking Points Below)>>NOV 23rd, 4PM EASTERN
Below are instructions for (a) submitting comments on the proposed rule RIN 1029-AC04, and (b) the draft environmental impact statement OSM-EIS-34:

(a) To submit comments on the proposed rule (RIN 1029-AC04) by mail send to: the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Administrative Record, Room 252- SIB, 1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20240, or by internet through the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.Please identify the comments by including docket number 1029-AC04 in the subject line.

(b) To submit comments on Draft Environmental Impact Statement OSM-EIS-34 by mail, send to: David Hartos, Supervisory Physical Scientist, Office of Surface Mining, 3 Parkway Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15220, or by the internet through the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Please identify the comments as OSM-EIS-34
----------------

➢ Other resources:
➢ Visit www.700mountains.org and sign on to one letter that will go to all your representative and senators
➢ Join SOCM

No comments:

Post a Comment

BACKGROUND INFO

Oppose Effort by the Bush Administration to Blow Up Mountains and Destroy Streams in Appalachia

Introduction:

On August 24, 2007, the Bush administration proposed repealing another longstanding environmental protection law in order to allow the coal mining industry to engage in “mountaintop removal” mining. In mountaintop removal mining, coal companies actually blow up entire mountaintops and dump millions of tons of waste into nearby streams, burying them forever. This parting gift from the administration to its coal industry friends will allow coal companies to continue their assault on the forests, streams and communities of Appalachia.

The Bush administration has already relaxed Clean Water Act safeguards that protected Appalachian mountain streams from mountaintop removal mines. Now, the administration is targeting a Reagan-era rule known as the "buffer zone rule" that prohibits coal-mining activities from disturbing areas within 100 feet of streams. If the new Bush rule goes forward, coal companies will be allowed to dump massive amounts of waste directly into streams, destroying them completely. Already, nearly 2000 miles of mountain streams in Appalachia have been buried by mountaintop removal waste, wiping out these streams and causing flooding and destruction in the surrounding communities. The Bush administration’s failure to enforce the buffer zone law led to an additional 535 miles of stream impacts nationwide during between 2001 and 2005. Thus, the repeal of the buffer zone rule allows more than 1,000 miles of streams to be destroyed each decade into the future. Permanently destroying thousands of miles of mountain streams is more than irresponsible; it is insane.

The Bush administration prepared a draft environmental impact study (DEIS) on the elimination of buffer zone protections. The DEIS is required by federal law to analyze to alternatives to repealing the buffer zone rule rule. Remarkably, the administration failed to even consider leaving in place and enforcing the existing rule in its alternatives analysis.

You can view the proposal at http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main and search for Document ID "OSM-2007-0007-0001"