Burning coal to make electricity isn’t its only impact on the environment. The mining process has also been shown to pollute nearby waterways.
New rules proposed by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement to protect that water, will be debated over the next several months. Some see them as a potential threat to dwindling coal jobs and others, as not strong enough to protect the environment.
As droughts continue to worsen out west, it’s becoming clear to people all over the country that like water conservation, water protection is also important. The Obama administration says its newly proposed rules would protect some 6500 miles of streams near coal mining operations where waste from the process is dumped into the water. They would require coal companies to test and monitor the condition of streams before, during and after their operations.
Thom Kay is with Appalachian Voices, an environmental advocacy group focused on reducing coal’s impact on the region and advancing cleaner energy.
“For years, enforcement has largely relied on testing done by the companies themselves. And Appalachian Voices has found multiple instances across multiple states, where companies have used that to their benefit and they’ll turn in false data in order to avoid penalties and internal costs.
Kay says, luckily the Clean Water Act ensures that groups like his can do their own water testing of streams near the mines. But he adds, the proposed new rules don’t go far enough.
“We don’t believe that filling streams is ever the right course of action and this rule still allows for companies to blow up mountains and put their mining waste right into our streams.”
Spokesman for the Virginia Energy and Coal Alliance, Harry Childress is calling the newly proposed stream protection rules a solution looking for a problem. "This is just another piling on by the Obama administration to an already suffering coal industry, that will cause additional job losses in much higher numbers than those identified in the proposed rule."
Public hearings will be held across the country starting in September. From Pittsburg to Lexington, Denver and St. Louis and in Charleston, West Virginia.
To see the full text of the proposed water protection rules, and the environmental impact study, go to our website
