Fill minimization - will it happen?

There is an important new protocol now in place for lessening the amount of toxic mining wastes dumped into streams. If enforced, it could help reduce significantly the destruction of our waterways. That is a good thing,

Titled the "fill placement optimization processâ€ the document establishes a protocol (it reads largely like an engineering paper) for determining the amount of mining waste and where it should end up — first on the site being mined, then on adjacent abandoned mines and possibly in upper valley elevations (above stream level). It potentially diverts mining wastes from streams but does not ban dumping into streams. Basically, it establishes a possible protocol for enforcing existing law.

That’s the rub: state officials could (and should!) have been enforcing these laws all along had they chosen to do so. And the industry could have been obeying these laws. Instead, state officials have routinely granted waivers of the stream buffer zone (165 waivers out of a total of 251 new permits issued in 2005 and 2006) and reclamation laws. There is no evidence that they will not continue to do so, and this "newâ€ policy — which the state is "encouragingâ€ coal companies to follow — means nothing if the state and federal agencies are not going to require it. There are still plenty of loopholes.

That’s why the Stream Saver Bill and the Clean Water Protection Act are still needed. Coal companies should be prevented by law from filling our streams with their toxic wastes, not just "encouragedâ€ to do so.

And given the Science journal study cited in our January 7 blog post, an outright prohibition of mountaintop removal and valley fills is the only real guarantee that our streams (and land and forests and people) will be protected and preserved.

We applaud the efforts of Tom FitzGerald and the Kentucky Resources Council to move the enforcement agencies a step closer to real enforcement of the law. Now it is up to enforcement officials to prove there will be action behind these words.

An active mountaintop removal site near the Floyd/Magoffin county border in Eastern KY