With the Senate deadlocked beyond functioning, and the House in the hands of a radical conservative majority, the battle to protect the environment is shifting to the federal agencies charged with regulatory authority. The EPA revoked the permit of Mingo-Logan Coal Company (a subsidiary of Arch Coal, Inc. the second largest US coal company) to remove a mountain top to mine coal at the company's Spruce No. 1 mine. The permit was originally granted in 2007, but operations were delayed by court review. The agency said its final determination was made after extensive scientific study and 50,000 public comments. The agency was unable to resolve impact mitigation with the company after a year of negotiations. The decision said that the mine would use destructive practices which would jeopardize public health and clean water. In its findings, EPA estimated more than six miles of high-quality streams would have been buried by the removal of 2,200 acres of mountain and forest. The agency has only used its power to deny permit authority in 12 cases and none of the previous ones involved a project that had already received provisional approval.
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| cement worker in Albany, NY |
On another front, a GOP representative in the House introduced a bill (H.R. 97) that would prohibit the agency from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the agency may legally do so under its delegated authority to regulate air pollution. Using their latest favorite rubric, "job killing" --which should actually read "profit killing"-- the attractive, blue-eyed Congress lady from Tennessee joined her colleagues in attacking the EPA's efforts to stem greenhouse emissions in the absence of comprehensive climate legislation passing Congress. EPA declared last year that greenhouse gases are a threat to human health because of their effect on global climate conditions. Ask the people in Queensland, Australia or Brazil if climate change is a reality. GOP members also want to rollback cement plant emission standards. The final rules would reduce plant emissions of mercury, hydrogen chloride and particulate matter by more than 90%. EPA estimates the new rules would prevent 2,500 premature deaths and thousands of cases of heart and respiratory illness.