Ban on mountaintop mining overturned

[n2doc]

19 February 2009
Magazine issue 2696.

EVEN as public opinion in the US turns against coal, judges have overturned a ban on blasting away mountaintops to get at seams.

In the central Appalachians, including West Virginia, mining companies have lopped up to 300 metres off hundreds of mountains, destroying biologically diverse hardwood forest. The debris is often dumped into valleys, sometimes burying streams in the process.

A lawsuit filed by the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) based in Huntington, West Virginia, argued that such valley fills violate the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, and a US district court ruled in their favour in March 2007. But on 13 February, a Court of Appeals panel voted 2:1 to reverse the decision.

OVEC is now deciding whether to go to the US Supreme Court. "Meanwhile, we will redouble our efforts to educate the public on this national disgrace," says Vivian Stockman, OVEC project coordinator.

more:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126963.900-ban-on-mountaintop-mining-overturned.html

[Shakespeare]

1. It'll go to the supreme court.

I'm not thrilled about the situation, but it's not finished working its way through the courts yet, so I'm not overly worried, either.

[n2doc]

3. Except there are 4 votes certain to uphold this decision

So the whole thing comes down to Kennedy.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. This is totally the wrong decision.

Obviously the judges didn't watch "Burning the Future: Coal in America." http://www.burningthefuture.org/show.asp?content_id=14089