The issuance of these permits and billions invested in oxymoron of 'clean coal' ,... Apparently 'coal is our future.
So much for renewable or sustainable energy, maybe next time.
In a surprise announcement Friday, Rep. Nick J. Rahall said 42 of the 48 permits already examined by the U.S. Environmental Protection had been approved by EPA for issuance by the corps.
"It is unfortunate that, when EPA once again began reviewing proposed coal mining permits earlier this year, alarmists claimed that a moratorium on permit issuance was being proposed,"
"EPA continues to conduct a detailed and rigorous review of all pending Clean Water Act permits for mines in the Appalachian coalfields," the statement said. "We have concluded, under the law, that six projects of an initial 48 permits EPA reviewed will not proceed unless adverse environmental impacts are further reduced.
"We will continue to follow the law and use the best science as we quickly and thoroughly evaluate over 150 pending applications to reduce harmful environmental impacts," the EPA said.
The statement said, the "EPA decided not to provide additional comments on the remaining 42 permits after consideration of the nature and extent of project impacts. Twenty-eight of the projects have two or fewer valley fills. Eleven have no valley fills at all. None have more than six.
"EPA's understanding is that none of the projects would permanently impact high value streams that flow year-round," the EPA said. "By contrast, EPA has opposed six permits because they would all result in significant adverse impacts to high value streams, involve large numbers of valley fills, and impact watersheds with extensive previous mining impacts."
Read ful at greenchange.org