The Bush Administration is pushing more Mountaintop Removal Mining in face of Utah disaster
How does the Bush administration react to the latest coal mine disaster in Utah?
By recommending the increasing use of Mountaintop Removal Mining. I’ve written about this terrible practice here before, but for those who missed it- MRM involves literally cutting an entire mountain down and dumping the rubble in the valleys nearby. It’s incredibly destructive and leaves a terribly blight on the land afterwards. I mean, they are chopping down the WHOLE mountain. From the International Herald Tribune…
WASHINGTON: The Bush administration is set to issue a regulation on Friday that would extend the coal mining practice of mountaintop removal. The technique involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the rubble into valleys and streams.
It has been used in Appalachian coal country for 20 years under a cloud of legal and regulatory confusion.
The new rule would allow the practice to continue and expand, providing only that mine operators minimize the debris and cause the least environmental harm, although those terms are not clearly defined and to some extent merely restate existing law.
The Office of Surface Mining in the Interior Department drafted the rule, which will be subject to a 60-day comment period and could be revised, although officials indicated that it was not likely to be changed substantially.
The regulation is the culmination of six and a half years of work by the administration to make it easier for mining companies to dig more coal to meet growing energy demands and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
This is where I wish I believed in the concept of Hell, because if anyone deserves to be in such a place, it’s President Bush and his band of evil cronies who put power and wealth ahead of any other consideration. What kind of jerkass chops an entire mountain down just to get at the coal?
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