Now or never — 10/25/08

October 23, 2008 07:42 pm

— In its final months in power, the Bush administration has put into high gear a plan that would make approval of mountaintop removal coal mining much easier. The plan would radically and permanently change the landscape of eastern Kentucky and West Virginia and cause irreversible damage to the environment.
The sudden rush by an administration that will be history in less than three months is understandable: Both Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are opposed to mountaintop removal. For coal companies that have been strong and loyal supporters of George W. Bush, it is now or never. Regardless of who wins on Nov. 4, mountaintop removal mining will have a powerful foe in the White House.
The reason the coal industry supports more mountaintop removal mining is simple: It is a much more efficient and effective way to get to the coal buried beneath the surface than underground mining, and, therefore, much less costly.
All one has to do is fly over West Virginia and eastern Kentucky to see the extensive damage from mountaintop removal, the ultimate form of strip mining. It’s an ugly way of getting at the coal, and unlike earlier forms of strip mining, the coal companies have no obligation to restore the mountains to their original contour.
The problem with mountaintop removal is what to do with the thousands of tons of rock and dirt that have been removed. As it now stands, coal operators dump the dirt and rock over the side of mountains into the valleys below.
According to government figures cited by the Charleston Gazette, 724 miles of Appalachian streams were buried by mountaintop debris between 1985 and 2001. Another 1,200 miles of streams were damaged between 1992 and 2002. New permits issued by the outgoing Bush administration will damage another 535 miles, burying 367 miles of them altogether.
As long-time readers know, our editorial board is not opposed to all mountaintop removal mining. There are times when the mining process has created level land that is at a premium in this region. Projects like the Big Sandy Regional Airport, the United States Penitentiary at Big Sandy, and, closer to home, the Paul Coffey Industrial Park are all on land leveled by strip mining. In fact, throughout this region, there are scores of Wal-Marts, shopping centers, fast food restaurants and other developments on level land created by mountaintop removal.
But there also are acres and acres of land that are far from any population center that have been permanently scarred by mountaintop removal. That will continue if the Bush administration issues dozens of new mining permits between now and Jan. 20. The desire for cheap coal will take precedence over the protection of the environment and this region will pay a high price for that greed for generations to come. It must be thwarted.