Bush badness
Aug. 24th, 2007 10:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonAs if mountaintop mining weren't bad enough already, Bush wants to remove what few legal barriers currently exist. Unbelievable. At least there will be a public comment period, for what good that will do. This is a story that needs wide circulation. Just maybe, if the public outcry is significant enough, the plan will get shelved. But don't count on it -- Bush's administration is already the most unpopular in history, and I see no sign of any interest in accountabilty. They seem to have given up any pretense of being a government of, by and for the people, and are using the full power of the executive branch to give away as much of this nation as possible to their corporate owners during their remaining months in office.
Bush proposal would ease rules on surface mining
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration wants to quit requiring coal operators to prove that their surface mining will not damage streams, fish and wildlife.
Under proposed new regulations that it will put out Friday for public comment, strip mine operators would have to show only that they intend "to prevent, to the extent possible using the best technology currently available," such damage.
"With this proposal, we can establish a consistent, nationwide means to reduce the impacts of surface coal mining and provide clear rules specifying what mining activities can and cannot be conducted near bodies of water," said C. Stephen Allred, assistant secretary of interior for land and minerals management.
Current policy from the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining says land within 100 feet of a stream cannot be disturbed by mining unless a company can prove it will not affect the water's quality and quantity.
Interior officials have said that complying with that buffer zone requirement is impossible in "mountaintop removal mining," which involves shearing off the tops of ridges to expose a coal seam. Dirt and rock are pushed below, often into streambeds, a practice known as valley fill.
Bush proposal would ease rules on surface mining
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration wants to quit requiring coal operators to prove that their surface mining will not damage streams, fish and wildlife.
Under proposed new regulations that it will put out Friday for public comment, strip mine operators would have to show only that they intend "to prevent, to the extent possible using the best technology currently available," such damage.
"With this proposal, we can establish a consistent, nationwide means to reduce the impacts of surface coal mining and provide clear rules specifying what mining activities can and cannot be conducted near bodies of water," said C. Stephen Allred, assistant secretary of interior for land and minerals management.
Current policy from the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining says land within 100 feet of a stream cannot be disturbed by mining unless a company can prove it will not affect the water's quality and quantity.
Interior officials have said that complying with that buffer zone requirement is impossible in "mountaintop removal mining," which involves shearing off the tops of ridges to expose a coal seam. Dirt and rock are pushed below, often into streambeds, a practice known as valley fill.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-08-24 02:39 pm (UTC)Thank you....
I'm so fired up about Mountaintop removal and stip mining here in WV that it keeps me up at night.
A movement is growing here, we are fed up with these despicable practices and with this presidential administration.
Swan
no subject
Date: 2007-08-24 04:46 pm (UTC)I just....wow...Ehrm....
Date: 2007-08-25 06:36 am (UTC)....I feel another tantrum coming on.....this one because he's actually added to the gene pool *sigh* ok, will go push pins in my "TaliBush" doll. ARGH!