WASHINGTON, DC, November 18, 2009 (ENS) - The U.S. Department of the Interior is taking immediate actions to strengthen its oversight of state surface coal mining programs. The agency will issue federal regulations to better protect streams affected by surface coal mining operations, such as mountaintop removal mining, Interior officials announced today.
Mountaintop removal mining involves clearcutting native forests, using dynamite to blast away up to 600 feet of mountaintop to get at seams of coal, and then dumping the waste rock, called fill, into nearby valleys, often burying streams.
"We are moving as quickly as possible under the law to gather public input for a new rule, based on sound science, that will govern how companies handle fill removed from mountaintop coal seams," said Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Wilma Lewis. "America's vast coal resources are a vital component of our energy future and our economy, but we have a responsibility to ensure that development is done in a way that protects public health and safety and the environment."
"Until we put a new rule in place, we will work to provide certainty to coal operations and the communities that depend on coal for their livelihood, strengthen our oversight and inspections, and coordinate with other federal agencies to better protect streams and water quality," she said.
Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, OSM, is publishing an advance notice of proposed rulemaking regarding the protection of streams from the impacts of surface coal mining operations.
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