Destructive Mining Method Violates Traditional Conservative Ethic of Stewardship
The Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of a rule lifting stream protections will enable further environmental damage from mountaintop removal coal mining, Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP) said today.
“EPA’s action is a giant step backwards. Mountaintop removal coal mining flies in the face of traditional stewardship values that all true conservatives hold. There is nothing conservative about burying streams, obliterating forests, forever deforming landscapes, and butchering traditional mountain ways of life in Appalachia,” REP Government Affairs Director David Jenkins said.
“The environmental and social damage of mountaintop removal mining is immense – much of it irreparable. It is offensive to virtually everyone who understands its impacts. Toxic metals fill the drainage water that runs downhill from mining spoils, contaminating the water table and fisheries that have sustained mountain families for generations,” REP Policy Director Jim DiPeso said.
“Blasting and flyrock damage houses. Overweight coal trucks grind up mountain roads. Parents are forced to make their children sleep fully clothed when it rains so they can buy a few seconds of time if they must evacuate in the event of a mining sludge impoundment collapse,” DiPeso said.
“This is no way to treat our natural heritage. We call on Congress and the administration to put an end to mountaintop removal coal mining,” Jenkins said.
See REP’s web resources on mountaintop removal coal mining:
C.E.P. (Conservative Environmental Policy) Quarterly, Fall 2007
The Case for Responsible Mineral Extraction
http://www.rep.org/C.E.P.Quarterly_fall07.pdf
Jim DiPeso’s Blog
Rahall Looks on Mountaintop Removal’s Bright Side
http://www.rep.org/opinions/weblog/weblog08-10-20.html
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Jim DiPeso
Policy Director
Republicans for Environmental Protection
jdipeso@rep.org
