Army Corps to halt the use of streamlined mining permits

Terrific news!  The West Virginia Gazette reports that Army Corps of Engineers has decided to halt the use of the Nationwide Permit 21 for surface coal mines.  This permitting process has been used extensively in Appalachia to allow for the creation of new mountaintop removal sites with little environmental oversight.  Here is how our allies at the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition describes the NWP 21:

Before a company can start removing a mountain and dumping it into nearby valleys, there is supposed to be a rigorous permitting process to ensure that they will use good science, operate within the law and not harm nearby communities. Unfortunately, about one-third of mountaintop removal coal mining projects are approved under "nationwide permits.â€ These permits are designed for projects with "minimal impactâ€ –but burying miles of streams under millions of tons of rubble is hardly "minimal impact.â€ During the Bush Administration, the Army Corps regularly granted nationwide permits for valley fills, even after federal judges found that the practice was illegal.

Ending Nationwide Permits will allow citizens more voice on mountaintop removal permits in their community–and it will require more scrutiny from government agencies to make sure permits are following the law and using good science. It will slow down mountaintop removal — but it won’t stop it. 

A valley fill at the head of Montgomery Creek in Perry County

Readers of this blog may remember last October's public hearing at the Pikeville Expo Center on this issue.  This is a victory that can in large part be credited to our brave members and allies in other states who stood up at that meeting to speak out against the NWP21 and to all of those who submitted written comments to the Army Corps.