Posts over the last couple of days have noted that EPA is reviewing permit applications for mountaintop mining, that the Fourth Circuit case that began this brouhaha could be easily reversed by a very simple amendment to a key EPA regulation, and that Representative Frank Pallone (D., N.J.) had introduced H.R. 1310, which would appear to ban all mountaintop mining that caused soil or debris to be placed in bodies of water (within Federal jurisdiction, of course).
Now, Senators Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) have introduced S. 696 [see http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.696:], which is just as succinct as HR 1310 and appears to do the same thing, ban all mountaintop mining that caused soil or debris to be placed in bodies of water (within Federal jurisdiction, of course). The Senators note that the technique produces less than 5 percent of the coal mined in the U.S., and noted the legislation would not ban other methods of coal mining.
Given the action by both Legislative bodies and by EPA, it would seem fair to speculate that the days of mountaintop coal mining are numbered.
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