{"id":484330,"date":"2010-03-29T08:35:34","date_gmt":"2010-03-29T12:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/climateprogress.org\/?p=22028"},"modified":"2010-03-29T08:35:34","modified_gmt":"2010-03-29T12:35:34","slug":"citing-%e2%80%9cirreversible-damage%e2%80%9d-epa-nears-veto-of-mountaintop-removal-permit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/484330","title":{"rendered":"Citing \u201cirreversible damage,\u201d EPA nears veto of mountaintop removal permit."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" title=\"this is what irreversible damage looks like\" src=\"http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/mtr_s.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"151\" \/>Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed its first Clean Water Act veto ever for a previously permitted mountaintop removal project, \u201cthe <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.wvgazette.com\/coaltattoo\/2009\/10\/16\/huge-mtr-news-epa-moves-to-veto-spruce-mine-permit\/\">largest mountaintop-removal permit<\/a> in West Virginia history.\u201d\u00a0 Wonk Room&#8217;s Brad Johnson has the story in this <a href=\"http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/2010\/03\/27\/mountaintop-damage\/\">repost<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-22028\"><\/span>The veto would reverse a permit granted in 2007 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Arch Coal to dig a 2,278-acre coal stripmine and fill six valleys and 43,000 linear feet of streams with the toxic debris. Based on the \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.umces.edu\/mining.html\">unequivocal<\/a>\u201d evidence that the damage from mountaintop mining is irreversible, the EPA is <a href=\"http:\/\/yosemite.epa.gov\/opa\/admpress.nsf\/0\/d19f832b77dbb0af852576f200567ba5?OpenDocument\">finally enforcing the Clean Water Act<\/a> to protect West Virginia\u2019s residents:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Coal, and coal mining, is part of our nation\u2019s energy future, and for that reason EPA has made repeated efforts to foster dialogue and find a responsible path forward. But <strong>we must prevent the significant and irreversible damage that comes from mining pollution \u2014 and the damage from this project would be irreversible<\/strong>. This recommendation is consistent with our broader Clean Water Act efforts in Central Appalachia. EPA has a duty under the law to protect water quality and safeguard the people who rely on these waters for drinking, fishing and swimming.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The EPA began the process to halt this permit <a href=\"http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/2009\/03\/24\/mountaintop-removal\/\">more than a year ago<\/a>. Although this veto will be finalized after a sixty-day comment period, <a href=\"http:\/\/ilovemountains.org\/\">many other projects continue<\/a>. Coalfield residents are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.unitedmountaindefense.org\/\">putting their lives on the line<\/a> to <a href=\"http:\/\/wonkroom.thinkprogress.org\/2010\/01\/28\/coal-river-sitin\/\">stop mountaintop removal projects<\/a> in Appalachia, which Barack Obama called an \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.appvoices.org\/index.php?\/site\/voice_stories\/john_mccain_to_appalachian_voices_stop_the_removal_of_mountains\/\">environmental disaster<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Related Post:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"Permanent Link to Science bombshell explodes myth  of clean coal:  Mountaintop \u201cmining permits are being issued despite  the preponderance of scientific evidence that impacts are pervasive and  irreversible and that mitigation cannot compensate for losses.\u201d\" rel=\"bookmark\" href=\"http:\/\/climateprogress.org\/2010\/01\/07\/science-clean-coal-mountaintop-mining-removal\/\">Science  bombshell explodes myth of clean coal:  Mountaintop \u201cmining permits are  being issued despite the preponderance of scientific evidence that  impacts are pervasive and irreversible and that mitigation cannot  compensate for losses.\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed its first Clean Water Act veto ever for a previously permitted mountaintop removal project, \u201cthe largest mountaintop-removal permit in West Virginia history.\u201d\u00a0 Wonk Room&#8217;s Brad Johnson has the story in this repost. The veto would reverse a permit granted in 2007 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6435,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-484330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6435"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}