EPA delays mountaintop-removal plan after 'chilly' reaction from other feds, state officials

The Environmental Protection Agency won't be announcing its comprehensive plan to deal with mountaintop-removal mining after it "received a chilly reception from coal-state regulators and other government agencies," Greenwire (subscription-only) reports. The announcement has been delayed for several weeks, reports Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette.

The plan would provide coal companies with clearer guidelines for obtaining new permits, while imposing tougher water-pollution standards and permit requirements, requiring more extensive monitoring downstream from mining operations, and propose the first limits on selenium discharges and electrical conductivity of streams, Ward reports. Conductivity is believed to be a key indicator of the presence of many harmful pollutants, including chlorides, sulfides and dissolved solids. EPA's proposal would have required "additional monitoring of any permits where conductivity was measured above 400 microsiemens per centimeter, and a reduction in mine size or a stop of mining above 500 microsiemens per centimeter," or ms/cm, Ward writes. "An EPA scientific report due out soon is expected to conclude that conductivity above 300 micro-siemens per centimeter should be avoided to protect water quality."

"If we decide that is where impairment occurs, we better be right," because the effect of a 300 ms/cm standard on West Virginia's economy would be "pretty severe," state Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Randy Huffman told Ward. The U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement declined Ward's request for an interview, indicating its displeasure with EPA's stance. Joe Lovett, director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, explained, "EPA is under significant pressure from the coal industry and its friends. But the science has now become clear that mountaintop removal is harming the state's water resources in real and measurable ways, and EPA has no choice but to do this." (Read more)

UPDATE, March 9: Ward reports in his Coal Tattoo blog on EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's appearance at the National Press Club and offers audio of her reply to a question about mountaintop removal.