Policy News - November 26, 2003

Undermining permitting practices

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is violating the Clean Water Act by allowing hundreds of miles of Appalachian streams to be buried under mining waste, according to three environmental groups that filed suit October 23 in U.S. District Court in Charleston, W.Va. The Corps issues Nationwide Permit 21, a general permit intended only for activities that cause “minimal” environmental damage, for mountaintop removal mining of coal—a common practice in West Virginia where mountaintops are leveled and the resulting debris is dumped in valleys (Environ. Sci. Technol. 1999, 33, 451A). The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Trial Lawyers for Public Justice say that coal companies should be required to get more stringent individual permits to bury streams. The U.S. EPA’s draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on mountaintop removal mining recommends that the Corps decide on a case-by-case basis whether to issue Nationwide Permit 21 or individual permits. Comments on the draft EIS are being accepted until January 6. For more information, visit www.epa.gov/region3/mtntop/eis.htm.