Brand New Concept at the EPA: S-C-I-E-N-C-E

The mountaintop coal-mining industry has just heard a terrible, heart-stopping phrase, something it hasn’t heard for over eight years: “No. You’ll have to wait.”

Hundreds of permits for mountaintop mining were put on hold today. The Environmental Protection Agency needs to evaluate the impact these projects will have on streams and wetlands.

After eight years of protecting Big Business from those rabid environmentalists, the Environmental Protection Agency is slowly returning to its original purpose — protecting the environment (hence the name).

An EPA spokeswoman said she thinks most of the 150-200 pending permits will ultimately be approved. These permits were issued by the Army Corps of Engineers. The EPA has the authority to veto these permits, but this virtually never happened during what’s-his-name’s administration.

And that’s another dead (for the last 8 years) concept being slowly revived at the EPA: Oversight.

The executive director for the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment said: “If the EPA didn't step in and do something now, all those permits would go forward. There are permits that will bury 200 miles of streams pending before the Corps.”

The reaction from the mining industry was slightly different (and totally predictable).

And in a separate action, the EPA recommended denying permits that the Army Corps of Engineers was planning to issue, which would allow two companies to fill thousands of feet of streams with mining waste.

Science. Protecting streams and rivers. What's going on here? Is this what the Renaissance was like?

cross-posted at Bring It On!