Published: June 16, 2009 06:15 pm      

Seeking balance — 06/17/09

Obama administration puts curbs on mountaintop mining

In announcing steps to reduce the environmental destruction caused by mountaintop coal mining, President Barack Obama said he is attempting to establish clear standards that will ensure the environment, economy and health of Appalachia are adequately protected. Finding that balance between the environment and the economy could well be the president’s biggest challenge.

Unfortunately, like so many environmental issues, the debate over mountaintop coal mining had largely been dominated by those with the most extreme positions, while those of us who believe the best answer lies somewhere in between the two extremes have been largely ignored.

To members of environmental organizations like Kentuckians For the Commonwealth, all mountaintop removal projects cause permanent damage to the environment and the mining process should be completely banned.

However, to coal companies, mountaintop is the most cost-effective way of getting to the coal, and outlawing the process would make it economically unfeasible to mine millions of tons of coal that form the economic backbone of eastern Kentucky. In many rural counties of eastern Kentucky, the only good paying jobs are in coal mining, and banning mountaintop mining would only increase the poverty in what already is one of the poorest regions of the nation.

In addition, supporters say mountaintop mining has created thousands of acres of what is a real premium in the mountains: Level land. That land can be used for development. One needs look no further than the Paul Coffey Industrial Park in Boyd County to see what can be created on land leveled by strip mining.

It’s too early to tell just what impact the changes announced last week by the Obama administration will have on mountaintop mining, but at first glance, we think they will be positive. The administration of George W. Bush was too eager to issue mountaintop mining permits and tried to permanently change the regulations to make it easier for coal companies to get the permits.

The Obama administration has put the brakes on those changes. That’s a positive — as long as it does not go too far to the other extreme.

Nancy Sutley, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the Interior Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers will set clear standards, ensuring that communities in coal-mining regions have clean streams and drinking water.

“The Obama administration has serious concerns about the impacts of mountaintop coal mining on our natural resources and on the health and welfare of Appalachian communities,” Sutley said. “Within this plan the Obama administration is doing all it can under existing laws and regulations to curb the most environmentally destructive impacts of mountaintop coal mining.”

Good. Such changes are needed. We’re not opposed on all mountaintop removal mining, but we do think it should be the exception instead of the rule in determining how best to mine coal.

The administration’s announcement last week pleased neither coal mining companies nor environmentalists. Coal companies fear that it again will be too difficult to get permits to do mountaintop mining, while environmentalists expressed disappointment that the administration did not totally ban mountaintop removal mining.

“The administration’s current plan is a good first step. ... We would like leaps,” said Janet Keating, executive director of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.

When a new policy upsets those on both sides of an issue, that’s often a sign that the policy is the right one. We hope that’s the case this time.