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Thursday, March 19, 2009

Administration refereeing debate between Corps, EPA over future of mountaintop-removal mining

After remaining silent on the issue, it appears the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies in the Obama administration are getting close to a new policy on mountaintop-removal strip mining for coal.

Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, "told lawmakers her staff have been meeting with EPA, the Corps of Engineers, the Department of Justice and the Office of Surface Mining, discussing the issue, reviewing the February decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and examining a flood of pending permits at the corps office in Huntington," W.Va., writes Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette. That decision overturned a lower-court ruling that would have thwarted some mountaintop removal.

Sutley was questioned firmly by a strong opponent of mountaintop removal, Democratic Rep. Ben Chandler of Kentucky's Bluegrass region. She explained that the council is mediating a debate between the Corps, which wants to allow mountaintop removal, and EPA, which opposes it. (Read more, including the transcript of the exchange between Sutley and Chandler)

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