Mine Waste Threatens Mountain Streams

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Nov 08, 2007

Mine Waste Threatens Mountain Streams

Posted by : Jon Clausen

Mountain Top Mining Daily Kos is up in arms about some recent changes in environmental legislation which have left U.S. rivers and streams open to the dumping of Mountain Top Removal Mining waste under the guise of "fill dirt".

Until recently, the job of those trying to make mine waste magically invisible to the law was complicated by the Stream Buffer Zone Rule, which directly addressed dumping of mine waste into streams. That rule has allowed locals and organizations to take mountaintop removal operators to court. But because this was an administrative rule, it was open to administrative interpretation... and you can guess how that's gone.

So one of the things that makes passing the Clean Water Protection Act vitally important right now is that the Bush administration has chosen to rewrite the Stream Buffer Zone Rule, turning it into the Free Pass to Dump as You Please Rule.

The solution, as he sees it, is getting Congress to pass HR2169, which is a bill amending the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and provides a strict definition of "fill material" which would disallow mining companies to dump their wastes on to the rivers and streams. As before a veto override will likely be necessary.