Bloomberg reported that US government approved Consol Energy Inc’s plan to fill valleys and streams with debris from a mountaintop removal coal mine in West Virginia, over the objections of environmental groups.
Peg Fork was one of 6 projects flagged by the EPA under Mr Barack Obama president of US over concern that water runoff from the landfill could pollute nearby streams and rivers. Mr Obama administration said in June that regulators would do more thorough environmental reviews of mountaintop coal mining permits to reduce damage to streams and rivers. Consol originally applied to fill eight valleys around the Peg Fork mine.
Ms Enesta Jones a spokeswoman for the Environmental Protection Agency said that the Army Corps of Engineers approved a water quality permit for the Peg Fork project in Mingo County, letting Consol dump mining waste into 2 valleys. The project may be expanded if the environmental impacts are limited. Ms Jones said that “EPA has not changed its position regarding the need to significantly improve the Clean Water Act review of surface coal mining practices in Appalachia in order to reduce environmental and water quality impacts.”
Mr Joe Cerenzia a spokesman for Canonsburg, Pennsylvania based Consol said that the company can fill the 6 additional valleys with debris from the mine if tests show streams below the area aren’t affected. Mr Cerenzia said that “Our intention is to mine responsibly. We’re going to mine coal there and we’re going to have a potential for 8 locations within this coal reserve.”
Mr Joe Lovett ED of the Lewisburg, West Virginia based Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment said that “Obviously it’s going to spoil the streams that are being filled. The question is what happens downstream. This is the most destructive form of mining.”
According to the Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy group based in San Francisco, removing mountain peaks to expose coal deposits and filling in adjacent valleys with mining debris is the least expensive and more environmentally harmful method of extracting the fuel for power plants.
Mr Ed Hopkins director of the environmental quality program for the Sierra Club said in a statement that “We are disappointed that the administration has approved a new mountaintop removal mine. While we appreciate that the Mr Obama administration is taking a harder look at mountaintop removal coal mining, unless those results in decisions that end the irreversible destruction of streams, the harder look isn’t going to do the job.”
(Sourced from Bloomberg)
