Question:
With a boost from President Bush, central Appalachia's mountaintop
coal miners are finally embracing the future again, flagging more of
this state's ancient summits for blasting and more of its hollows for
burying than in many years.
The industry hasn't yet reversed more than a decade of sliding output,
job losses and environmental lawsuits. But its backers are at least
feeling resurgent confidence - which could translate into votes for
the president this fall across the region.
Answer:
Over the past five years, environmentalists have elevated Appalachia's
strip mines into a national battleground because, unlike other forms
of mining, these operations often lop off entire mountaintops. Mining
companies often gain waivers from rebuilding the slopes. Even when
they do reshape the hills, they dump tons of leftover earth into
neighboring creeks and valleys.
"You can't lay it all at the feet of President Bush," says
Earthjustice lobbyist Joan Mulhern. "The harm has been going on for a
long time. But what's different about this administration is the speed
at which they are willing to eviscerate environmental protections that
stand between the coal companies and the ... mountains."
Since coming to power, the Bush team has taken some concrete steps
that spur strip mine investment through regulatory help. For one
thing, it has reshaped rules to shore up the legal foundation of
mountaintop mining, repeatedly challenged in lawsuits. It has moved to
water down a buffer-zone rule protecting streams. It has also changed
the definition of "fill" to more clearly allow valley dumping of this
extra rock and dirt.
Bush regulators say the law clearly allows mountaintop strip mines to
dump their leftover fill in valleys. The only mandate is to reduce its
impact, says Michael Robinson, an administrator at the U.S. Office of
Surface Mining who has helped shape policy.
Are most of Appalachia's mountaintops now bound for dismantling bucket
by bucket? Are most of its valley floors going to vanish under mining
fill? Probably not.
Even here, much land isn't promising for mining. Only 5 percent of the
mountaintop mining region has ever been mined by any method. Federal
regulators project a maximum of 7 percent affected by mountaintop
mining during the 20 years ending in 2012.
