Today, just seven days after members of KFTC, The Alliance for Appalachia and other allies from across the country met with  the  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the EPA expressed grave concerns about two pending valley fill permits and indicated that hundreds of other pending applications would come under much more strict review.

It's the first step that the citizens urged the agencies to take, and one that many KFTC members have been waiting and hoping for.

"I was hoping this would happen in the first 100 days [of the Obama administration]. It's made my day," said Rick Handshoe of Floyd County. "There are 9 existing valley fill permits in my neighborhood and three more valley fill permits proposed within a mile radius."

"EPA will use the best science and follow the letter of the law in ensuring we are protecting our environment,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson in a press release.

"We finally have an administration that uses scientific reasoning to make decisions instead of ideology. We fought for this for years — I hope the EPA comes through and permanently stops the permits in our community," said Carl Shoupe, a retired union coal miner in Harlan County.

Handshoe and others were quick to point out that even considering science in decisions about mining and valley fill permits is something new.

"I was hoping they would look at what's happening to the people and the water.  It's a victory that they are even looking at the impacts of these valley fills. If they look at the science they will see what's going on," Handshoe said.

There is an overwhelming body of evidence, including much gathered by the EPA, that valley fills cause significant environmental destruction, both in the communities where the mining takes place and for many miles downstream.

Typical valley fills

EPA's announcement today came with the release of two letters it sent to the U.S Army Corps of Engineers in Huntington, West Virginia where permits for valley fills that would bury hundreds of miles of streams are pending. The letters addressed the Corps' inadequate review of the impacts valley fill permits for CAM Mining in Kentucky and Highland Mining in West Virginia would have on water quality.

“The two letters reflect EPA’s considerable concern regarding the environmental impact these projects would have on fragile habitats and streams,” said Jackson. The letter stated that the coal mines would likely cause water quality problems in streams below the mines, would cause significant degradation to streams buried by mining activities, and that proposed steps to offset these impacts are inadequate.

This step forward by EPA to reclaim its role in protecting the nation's waterways is a reversal of the Bush administration policy of allowing the Corps to issue the valley fill permits without oversight or consideration of scientific evidence of the harm being done.

The Huntington Corps' office is the permitting agency for all valley fill permits in West Virginia and some in the eastern Kentucky coalfields (Big Sandy River watershed). The Corps' Louisville office has jurisdiction over other watersheds in Kentucky, and KFTC is working to make sure the EPA's action applies to all pending valley fill permits.

ACTION: Please call the White House message line and leave a message to thank President Obama for taking this important first step toward protecting the land and people in coalfield communities.

MESSAGE: Mountaintop removal and valley fills must stop. Thank you for taking action through the EPA to see that our streams are protected.

PHONE: 202-456-1111

or use this online contact form.

EPA press release:  EPA Acts to Reduce Harmful Impacts from Coal Mining

Media Coverage;

• EPA to crack down on mountaintop removal coal mining (Lexington Herald-Leader)

• Obama EPA starts crackdown on mountaintop removal (Charleston Gazette)

• EPA puts brakes on mountain mining permits (The Courier-Journal)

• EPA Takes on Mountaintop Mining (solveclimate.org — good background)