Mountaineers Say EPA Has Backtracked
07/13/2010- By Robert Browman- Daily Yonder
In April opponents of mountaintop removal coal mining believed the federal government was finally ready to outlaw such operations. But a new recommendation to permit yet another huge mine has Appalachian environmentalists baffled and angry.
In April, a turn in the Environmental Protection Agency bouyed Lorelei Scarbro with hope. After many trips to the nation’s capitol to oppose mountaintop removal mining, the 54 year old grandmother and coal miner’s widow thought the EPA was taking its first steps to abolish the radical coal extraction process that threatens her West Virginia home.
But two weeks ago, the EPA seemingly reversed course. It recommended approval of a major mountaintop removal mine in nearby Logan County, WV, an operation that would level 760 mountain acres, fill three valleys, and destroy more than two miles of streams.
“The most important thing to me is clean drinking water for my grandchildren,” Scarbro wrote to Lisa Jackson of the EPA after the June decision. “I don’t believe that is possible if we continue to destroy and cover head water streams in Appalachia. Once again, I have lost hope. Please don’t let this be the final word.”
Scarbro lives in fear that a coal mine like this one will bury her home in Raleigh County, West Virginia, taking with it the way of life she holds dear. Her house, built by her late husband, stands in the shadow of one of the last untouched mountains in the area, Coal River Mountain. Massey Energy is poised to blast it to smithereens. Read entire article.