Advocacy Against Mountaintop Removal Mining

Since 1986, Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has taken aggressive action towards environmental protection all around the world with Philadelphia, Pa. being one of their recent ventures.

One of RAN’s numerous campaigns is their fight to stop Mountain Top Removal (MTR) mining. This campaign led RAN to Philadelphia because of the Environmental Protection Agency Region 3 office that is located there which has oversight of MTR permits in Virginia and West Virginia. The Region 3 office has recently been faced with the decision to grant 16 upcoming MTR permits.

The Mountain Top Removal mining process involves blasting off the tops of mountains with explosives after forestation has been removed and then digging away at the land to expose the coal. This has many side effects to the environment and communities, but the most significant and dangerous of them all is the contamination of water with toxic chemicals and heavy metals.
The contamination of the water is the driving force behind RAN’s revolt against this type of mining. On March 1, 2010, RAN activists in Philadelphia staged a sit-in at the EPA office and were eventually granted a meeting with officials. Following the protests at numerous EPA offices throughout the country, the EPA sent out a news release on March 26, 2010 announcing its decision to block the approval of a permit for the largest MTR operation ever proposed.
The news release stated, “The project was permitted in 2007 and subsequently delayed by litigation. The Spruce No. 1 mine would bury over 7 miles of headwater streams, directly impact 2,278 acres of forestland and degrade water quality in streams adjacent to the mine.”
The release also stated potentials impacts the mining would have on the environment. These include impacts to water quality, fish and wildlife, mitigation, and cumulative mining. This announcement to block the approval of the mining permit follows guidelines within the Clean Water Act.
With much rallying conducted by RAN, there are two versions of a Bill in Congress (Clean Water Protection Act and Appalachia Restoration Act) that will amend the Clean Water Act to make it more difficult for mining companies to receive approval of permits.
A summary of these Bills on www.govtrack.us states that these amendments will “define fill material to mean any pollutant that replaces portions of waters of the United States with dry land or that changes the bottom elevation of a water body for any purpose and to exclude any pollutant discharged into the water primarily to dispose of waste.”
The U.S. government is listening to the cries of RAN and other environmental activist groups alike. On April 1, 2010, the EPA also announced new guidelines for MTR. These guidelines prevent operations that would exceed pollution limits of salt and specified toxins.
It is clear that the work the Rainforest Action Network has done to help save the environment has not been unnoticed. There is still more fighting to be done in their war against Mountain Top Removal mining and they are not about to stop any time soon.