Supreme Court Rejects Coal Industry Lawsuit, Defends EPA Veto of Mountaintop Removal Mine
Source: Earthjustice | March 24, 2014 12:41 pm
Today the U.S. Supreme Court denied the coal mining industry’s request to hear a case against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for vetoing part of a permit for one of the largest and most harmful mountaintop removal coal mines in West Virginia’s history, the Spruce No. 1 mine. By declining to take the case the Supreme Court refused to reverse the lower court’s ruling that the EPA has full authority to protect clean water whenever necessary to prevent unacceptable environmental harm.
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Photo courtesy of Southwings
In October 1999, the Spruce No. 1 Mine became the subject of the first significant federal court decision on mountaintop removal mining, won by individual community members and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy (represented by Appalachian Mountain Advocates and Public Justice). That case initiated years of controversy and litigation over this proposed mine. In the meantime, the science accumulated showing how devastating this type of mining is for local waters and communities.
In Jan. 2011, the EPA decided to veto the Spruce No. 1 Mine permit based on robust science showing the irreparable harm that would occur if the mining company were allowed to permanently bury and pollute natural headwater streams with mining waste. The permit would have allowed the Mingo Logan coal company to bury and destroy more than six miles of pristine mountain streams under mining waste dumps created from the destruction of more than 2,000 acres of land, releasing harmful pollutants into downstream waters that sustain local communities and wildlife. Appalachian citizen groups have been fighting to save the streams that would be destroyed by the Spruce Mine for more than a decade—as one of the largest, most harmful mountaintop removal mines ever proposed.
“The Spruce No. 1 mine is one of the largest and most destructive mountaintop removal mines ever proposed in Appalachia,” said Trip Van Noppen, president of Earthjustice. ”EPA’s decision to veto the dumping of waste from this mine was a decision to prevent the most extreme impacts of the most radical type of strip mining—the worst of the worst. The Clean Water Act, enacted with wide bipartisan and public support, gave EPA broad authority to step in and stop this type of wholesale destruction and pollution of U.S. waters. The Supreme Court refusal to hear industry’s baseless case confirms that the EPA has the clear legal authority to prevent the dumping of waste whenever it would cause unacceptable harm to communities and the environment.”
Read more: http://ecowatch.com/2014/03/24/supreme-court-coal-industry-lawsuit-mountaintop-mine/
= new reply since forum marked as read
...once in a while the good guys DO win...
Some of the politics behind it over a series of years, detailed at the blog link below:
Reactions to EPA proposal to block Spruce No. 1 Mine
Activists
Diane Bady of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition
"We are so glad to see the Obama administration based its decision on sound science."
Ed Hopkins, director of environmental quality for the Sierra Club.
"It is good to see the EPA applying a more scientifically rigorous analysis to these permits, and we hope that the agency follows through on this recommendation. The administration needs to fix the Bush administration rulemaking that allows mines to fill waterways with waste."
Mike Roselle, of Climate Ground Zero:
'This is really big news! Largest MTR mining permit ever is vetoed by the EPA. For the first time since being created the EPA'S now doing it's job, which is to enforce the Clean Water Act. Many thanks to all of those who helped crank up the pressure to save the mountains.'
Statement from Rainforest Action Network:
'It seems that EPA Administrator Jackson's concern over the impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining on human health and waterways is now translating into meaningful action. We hope that the Spruce Mine veto is a sign that EPA is going to begin using its full authority to stop this devastating practice.
"The science is clear that mountaintop removal is harming water resources in real and measurable ways. We hope that the Spruce Mine veto is a sign that EPA is going to begin using its full authority to stop this devastating practice.
"We urge the EPA to take holistic and preventative measures, to issue no new MTR permits and end this devastating practice once and for all."
Officials
Sen. Robert C. Byrd, again being the most reasonable
"The announcement by the EPA today of its Proposed Determination to exercise its veto authority over the Spruce #1 Mine permit begins a process that enables the company and the public to comment on the matter in writing and at public hearings. I would strongly encourage all parties to seek a balanced, fair, reasonable compromise.
"EPA Administrator Jackson reiterated to me that more wide-ranging guidance is forthcoming in the near future, providing clarity relating to water quality issues and mining permits. I encouraged her to move forward as soon as possible so those seeking approval of permits can fully understand the parameters for acceptable activity under the Clean Water Act."
Sen. Jay Rockefeller:
"I have said this before, and will say it again: it is wrong and unfair for the EPA to change the rules for a permit that is already active. The Spruce Number 1 Mine has made good faith efforts to comply with all applicable laws and regulations, and I believe the EPA should honor their commitment in return. I will continue to push EPA officials until we can find a workable, long-term solution."
Rep. Shelley Moore "Lockstep" Capito:
"[The EPA] has "no regard for the economic hardship created by their policies, or for the judgment and authority of the state and federal agencies involved."
Rep. Nick Rahall:
"This is an unprecedented, unjustified and undeserved decision and I completely disagree with it as I told EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson directly. The owners of the Spruce Mine worked in good faith over the course of many years with State and Federal permitting agencies, including the EPA, and the permit was issued after the conclusion of a full environmental impact statement. To come back now and pull the rug out from under this mining operation is unconscionable."
Crooks
Elliott "Monaco Spike" Maynard
"The Obama, Pelosi, Rahall war on coal miners hit its peak today with the proposed veto of the Spruce No.1 Mine in Logan County. This tree hugging trio is working to destroy the entire economy of southern West Virginia through the EPA."
http://www.wvablue.com/diary/5674/epa-proposes-blocking-spruce-no-1-mine
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Knew that RFK, Jr., has worked against mountain top removal for many years. His poignant words at this link:
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – Environmental Lawyer and Waterkeeper Alliance
Mr. Kennedy serves as Chief Prosecuting Attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper and President of the Waterkeeper Alliance. He is also a Clinical Professor and Supervising Attorney at Pace University School of Law’s Environmental Litigation Clinic and Senior Attorney for the National Resource Defense Council. Earlier in his career he served as Assistant District Attorney in New York City. Mr. Kennedy was named one of Time magazine’s Heroes for the Planet for his success in helping Riverkeeper lead the fight to restore the Hudson River. The group’s achievement helped spawn more than 130 Waterkeeper organizations across the globe. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is the son to Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Among Mr. Kennedy’s published books are the New York Times’ bestseller Crimes Against Nature (2004), St. Francis of Assisi: A Life of Joy (2005), The Riverkeepers (1997), andJudge Frank M. Johnson, Jr.: A Biography (1977). He is a licensed master Falconer, and as often as possible he pursues a life-long enthusiasm for white-water paddling.
Q. What is mountain top removal and how does it affect our oceans and waterways?
A. Mountain removal is the worst ongoing environmental tragedy our country has ever endured. It is a catastrophically destructive form of strip mining where large companies like Massey Coal are using giant machines called drag lines, that stand 22 stories high and cost over a half billion dollars, to blow the tops off of large mountains in Appalachia to get at the coal seams that lay below. They use approximately 2,500 tons of explosives (ammonia nitrate explosives) that are detonated everyday in West Virginia, which is the equivalent to the power of a Hiroshima bomb once a week.
After they use the explosives to get at the coal seams that lay below they take the rock and debris and scrape it into the adjacent river valleys. They’ve already blown off 500 of the tallest mountains in West Virginia. They have flattened an area of 1.4 million acres that is an area the size of Delaware. They have also buried over 2,000 miles of streams and rivers that are mainly headwater rivers of the Ohio River. Headwater streams are critical to the health of river ecosystems; they control/regulate the hydrology of our rivers to make them friendly and stable for aquatic communities. The poisons associated with coal mining, like arsenic and mercury, travel thousands of miles downstream affecting the quality and health of fish in our global oceans, and human health as well.
The Appalachian Mountains are the richest ecosystems in North America because it is the oldest forest. Most deep forest systems have 2-3 tree species, the Appalachia have 80 tree species. There is more diversity per cubic meter than any other ecosystem in the Northern hemisphere. During the Pleistocene Ice Age, the glaciers extended as far south as New York, which was buried a mile and a half under ice. The rest of North America became tundra. The only place where the forest survived was a small area in the area of what is now the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia.
When the Pleistocene ended and the glaciers went through, all of North America was reseeded from those mother forests of Appalachia. Today, companies like Massey Coal are accomplishing what the glaciers could not which is to destroy the rivers, flattening the mountain ranges, and leveling the forest. In doing that, they are destroying terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, as well as impacting marine ecology all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico.
Coal may be part of our foreseeable energy future, but that doesn’t mean we should let mining companies destroy biologically diverse forests and fill our rivers and streams with debris.
Q. What are your thoughts on the BP Oil spill?
A. The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the single greatest damaging environmental incident in modern American history and arguably the greatest theft ever perpetrated against the American people. The Exxon Valdez spill affected 1,300 miles of shoreline. Most all the fisheries have never recovered fully including the salmon and herring. But the BP Gulf spill will impact 9,000 miles of American shoreline, which serves 40% of American seafood, 60% of the oysters, and 85% of the shrimp, and will hinder recreation areas, and property values for millions and millions of American citizens. Those shorelines do not belong to British Petroleum Corporation. They belong to the American public, that is what the law says.
There is an ancient law called the Public Trust Doctrine since the probligation of the Code of Jestinium in ancient Rome, it’s also in the Magna Carta, and in the Constitution of every state. The Public Trust Document has protected the public right to shoreline, fisheries, and waterways, and are the same rights which are also guaranteed by the Magna Carta since the dawn of constitutional democracy. It was the fountainhead of constitutional democracy, and these laws are enshrined in the Constitution for each of our states, including the Constitutions for each of the Gulf States. They mandate that waterways, beaches, shorelines, and the fisheries belong to the public. They do not belong to the governor, the legislators, or the conservation departments of any of those respective states, and they certainly do not belong to the oil companies or other corporations. They belong to the people. Every citizen has a right to use them. No one has a right to use them to injure or diminish their use as enjoyment by others. When BP dumps or causes oil to be dumped on a public beach, there is no difference.
Legally speaking, if someone pulled a tanker up to your front lawn, and dumped the contents and all the oil residues into your yard they would be trespassing and stealing from you which you would not tolerate. You would tell the company to take it all away, down to the very last molecule. This is our property and for every citizen in Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Florida, and Mississippi, the Gulf of Mexico is the people’s property, and for most of them it is the single biggest thing they will ever own. So we need to fight, we need to punish BP the same way you punish any other thief. The only way our environment will be saved is by the people who love it, who are willing to give their lives and passions to protect it, not by corporations driven by greed.
To see Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.‘s full interview, and the full interviews of everyone in the book, click here to get your copy of Sea Voices now:
http://seavoices.com/buy-book/
To learn more about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., click on the link below.
http://www.robertfkennedyjr.com/
http://waterkeeper.org/
http://seavoices.com/people-n-z/robert-f-kennedy-jr/
