Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
The New
York Times
View Related Topics
April 19, 2000, Wednesday, Late Edition -
Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 20; Column
1; National Desk
LENGTH: 374 words
HEADLINE: U.S. Asks Court to Prevent Dumping of Coal
Waste Into Streams
BYLINE: Reuters
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, April 18
BODY:
The Clinton administration has asked an
appeals court to uphold a federal law that prevents coal mining companies from
dumping waste in Appalachian streams, legal briefs made available today show.
The Justice Department, acting on behalf of several federal agencies,
filed a brief on Monday supporting a federal judge's ruling that West Virginia
cannot issue new permits for dumping coal mine waste within 100
feet of streams, unless the waste causes no environmental damage. In its brief,
the Justice Department argued that Judge Charles H. Haden II of United States
District Court in Charleston, W. Va., ruled properly in October that the buffer
zone rule of the surface mining law prohibited the dumping of mountaintop coal
waste near streams.
The coal is extracted from mountains by using
explosives to blow away the peaks, so giant earth-moving equipment can get to
the coal underneath.
While the mountaintop removal method of mining has
been around since the late 1960's, it became common in West Virginia in the
1990's as utilities sought to meet the demand for clean-burning, low-sulfur coal
to fuel electric-generating plants.
Mountaintop mining has also become
popular because coal supplies near the surface have been depleted and large
surface mining equipment, some 20 stories tall, has made it possible to remove
mountaintops more efficiently and economically.
From 1986 to 1998, the
Justice Department said, 900 miles of streams were filled with coal mine waste
in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, and half of these streams
were in West Virginia.
The United States Public Interest Research Group,
which represents state environmental and consumers organizations, praised the
administration's decision to support the dumping law.
However, the group
said it was disappointed that the administration might allow mountaintop waste
to be dumped into wetlands.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the
Army Corps of Engineers on Monday proposed changes to current rules to authorize
wetlands permits for mountaintop removal and other kinds of wastes.
The
group said the changes conflicted with provisions of the Clean Water Act that
bar dumping waste in streams, rivers and lakes. http://www.nytimes.com
LOAD-DATE: April 19, 2000 
