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Obama and EPA allow mountaintop coal removal
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Obama and EPA allow mountaintop coal removal. Much to the dismay of environmental groups the Obama Administration has allowed 42 of 48 mountain top removals for coal mining in Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio. Obama is clearly playing primary politics. He is also giving these heavy coal producing states a chit in exchange for a carbon cap and trade program which will raise industry and utility costs in these three states.
Industry officials say that blasting off the tops of mountains to extract coal is safer than conventional shaft mining. But environmentalists claim the process creates to much coal waste that flows off full of toxins into Appalachian streams. The streams are protected by the Clean Water Act. Obama said he would end the "Appalachian apocalypse" during the campaign. However, EPA quietly allowed the Army Corps of Engineers to issue dozens of permits for mountaintop coal removal in the past several weeks. The industry prefers to call it surface mining.
This is a politically sensitive issue for Obama who received a great deal of support from environmentalists during the election. Al Gore is thought to have lost these three states in 2000 against George Bush, largely because he was critical of the coal industry. Stopping mountaintop coal removal EPA says could cause job loss and upward pressure on energy prices at a time of recession. Obama did not say he would end the practice during the campaign, which John McCain said he would. Still, environmentalists feel betrayed. Many had hoped Obama would end or sharply curtail mountaintop coal removal. But the White House says it has to strike a balance between the environment and the economy. Another 200 projects are pending review. Call this one a victory for the coal industry and a surprising defeat for environmentalists.
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