Something of a minor uproar occurred last week as news
outlets reported EPA was putting a hold on mining permit
applications—specifically, those for mountaintop coal mining operations. Almost
immediately, EPA issued a statement saying that wasn’t the case and that it had
in fact only issued comments on two pending applications for permits under the
Clean Water Act.
The story started two years ago, in March 2007, when a US District Court
judge ordered the Corps to rescind several permits; since then, relatively few
new permits have been approved. In February of this year, the 4th
Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision and ruled that the Corps can
issue Clean Water Act mining permit applications without additional reviews. EPA
says that, while not halting the permitting process or placing any kind of
moratorium on applications, it “will take a close look at other permits that
have been held back because of the 4th Circuit litigation” and, in
cases where it has concerns about water quality, will work with the Corps. It
had urged the Corps not to issue the two permits in question until changes were
made. EPA says that the projects on which it commented would have harmed—or in
fact buried—streams below the mining operations.
What’s interesting is not so much the question of who’s reviewing what,
but the reactions of many of those whose operations would potentially have been
affected. The Kentucky Coal Association,
the West Virginia Coal Association, and the National Mining Association
variously cited potential job losses (and therefore the loss of state taxes) if
the permits were delayed, as well as the potential need to import coal. Tens of
thousands of people in West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky are
employed in mountaintop coal mines.
EPA does, in fact, have authority to review and veto Clean Water Act
permits that the Corps of Engineer issues, although under the last
administration that didn’t happen often. Is this a signal that the EPA, under
new Administrator Lisa Jackson, is going to be taking a more active role in
approval?