GOP to 300,000 Thirsty West Virginians (and the Rest of Appalachia, too): Screw You!

As though things aren’t bad enough for West Virginia. At a time when the residents who live in the southern part of the Mountain State have been living through a massive coal mining related disaster, members of the House GOP quietly slipped into the $1-trillion budget appropriations bill a rider that would forbid the Army Corps of Engineers—the government agency that issues Clean Water Act 404 permits that allow for the dumping or dredging of material into streams and rivers—from redefining stream “fill material” so as to include the waste and overburden material that results from mountaintop removal mining.

            As part of a mountaintop mining operation, the top of the mountain that is removed to get at the coal is routinely dumped into adjacent valleys, burying mountain streams. It is estimated that over 2,400 miles of streams, the length of the Mississippi, have been buried or destroyed in Appalachia due to mountaintop removal.

Amount the GOP cares about West Virginia and the rest of Appalachia

The Obama administration has been trying to reintroduce stream protection provisions that were tossed out the window by the administration of George W. Bush. Now, even with the stream protection rules, valleys were filled in and streams destroyed. This rider will ensure that even the minimal protections afforded rivers and streams will not be reintroduced. Think of it. The type of lawlessness and lack of regulation that poisoned drinking water for 300,000 people will continue for mining in Appalachia. For this disaster there are no lessons learned, no urging to ameliorate a bad situation, and zero concern for the health and lives of those who live in Appalachia.