The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is making good on a 9-month-old threat and revoking a permit for West Virginia's largest mountaintop removal mine.
The agency said Thursday that Arch Coal's Spruce No. 1 mine in Logan County would cause irreparable damage to the environment.
The nearly 2,300-acre operation would bury 7 miles of streams. EPA says it would likely hurt downstream water quality.
Arch has argued killing the project would hurt West Virginia's economy and tax base.
The St. Louis-based coal company has planned to invest $250 million in the project, creating 250 jobs.
The mine was permitted in 2007 but has been delayed by lawsuits.
This is only the 13th time EPA has vetoed a water permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
When the EPA turns sumersaults to 'find a way' for an entire year, it needs to be called what it is. The Logan Mine was a disaster waiting to happen and would have caused severe impairment of citizens' ability to live productive lives with longevity and good health.
Sludge dam near mountaintop removal coal mining site in
Logan County, West Virginia (Photo by Kent Kessinger courtesy
NO MORE !!!
We have had enough of lousy business practices that destroy lives and ultimately costs the American Taxpayer more money than the company could ever produce in the first place.
The proposed mine project would have:- Buried more than six miles of high-quality streams in Logan County, West Virginia with millions of tons of mining waste from the dynamiting of more than 2,200 acres of mountains and forestlands.
- Buried more than 35,000 feet of high-quality streams under mining waste, eliminating all wildlife.
- Polluted downstream waters as a result of burying these streams, leading to unhealthy levels of salinity and toxic levels of selenium that turn fresh water into salty water. The resulting waste that then fills valleys and streams can significantly compromise water quality, often causing permanent damage to ecosystems and streams.
- Caused downstream watershed degradation that will kill wildlife, impact birdlife, reduce habitat value, and increase susceptibility to toxic algal blooms.
- Inadequately mitigated for the mine's environmental impacts by not replacing streams being buried, and attempting to use stormwater ditches as compensation for natural stream losses.
When it comes to long term costs to the state and federal governments these projects never, ever call up THAT DATA. It is all short term gains without any consideration for what lies 'after the profit' runs out and it no longer makes enough money to continue to any environmental standard if any existed in the first place. The population of the country isn't getting smaller, BUT, between lousy mining practices and hydraulic fracturing practices its clean water supply certainly is.
The House Repuglicans can have fund DEFUNDING the Superfund, right? Let the local and state governments pick up the cost. What the heck, why not?
Superfund Sites Where You Live (click here)
...The Kerr-McGee (Columbus) (click here) site in Mississippi, previously regulated under the state and federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) programs, could not be managed under RCRA authority following the potentially responsible party’s bankruptcy filing. As a result, the responsibility of the site transitioned to the Superfund Division. During the transition, a community engagement plan of action was immediately crafted for the site....
