WASHINGTON, D.C. — A long anticipated stream protection rule drew immediate criticism from West Virginia’s congressional delegation Thursday concerned about its impact on the struggling coal industry.
The proposed rule “would protect about 6,500 miles of streams nationwide over a period of 20 years, preserving community health and economic opportunities while meeting the nation’s energy needs,” according to the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE).
“This proposed rule would accomplish what Americans expect from their government – a modern and balanced approach to energy development that safeguards our environment, protects water quality, supports the energy needs of the nation, and makes coalfield communities more resilient for a diversified economic future,” U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said in a news release. “We are committed to working with coalfield communities as we support economic activity while minimizing the impact coal production has on the environment that our children and grandchildren will inherit.”
The five-member West Virginia delegation—which has been critical of the federal EPA and its impact on coal–was quick to respond. A news release from U.S. Senator Joe Manchin claimed the proposed rule is based “on undisclosed data and was written without proper consultation with the states.”
“This proposed rule would have a devastating impact on our families, jobs and economy, and it fails to strike an appropriate balance between the economy and the environment,” Manchin said. “I urge my colleagues to take immediate action on the STREAM Act to rein in this harmful rule.”
The proposal would replace regulations from 1983 rule and is focused on minimizing impacts from surface mining on surface water, groundwater, fish, wildlife, and other natural resources, OSMRE Director Joseph Pizarchik said. He told reporters during a conference call the proposed rule does not overlap with federal EPA clean water rules.
“It includes groundwater and further up into the watershed area away from the stream. So there are factors that can adversely impact or influence a stream’s water quality that are outside the EPA’s jurisdiction and firmly in the jurisdiction of the Surface Mine Act,” he said.
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito called the proposal a “far-reaching” regulation that “fails to consider the benefits our state’s mining operations provide to West Virginia’s economy.”
Congressman David McKinley (WV-1), Alex Mooney (WV-2) and Evan Jenkins (WV-3) were also critical in statements released Thursday.
The proposed rule has a 60-day comment period and OSMRE announced it will conduct five public hearings later this year including one in Charleston.
Further explanation of the rule from the Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement:
“Guided by the best-available science and utilizing modern technologies, the proposed rule would require companies to avoid mining practices that permanently pollute streams, destroy drinking water sources, increase flood risk, and threaten forests.
The proposed rule would require coal companies to test and monitor the condition of streams that their mining might impact before, during and after their operations. This feature would provide baseline data to ensure that operators could detect and correct problems if or when they arise.
The proposed rule would also require companies to restore streams and return mined-over areas to the uses they were capable of supporting prior to mining activities, and replanting them with native trees and vegetation unless a conflicting land use is implemented. Through clear, measurable standards, the proposed rule would promote operational accountability to achieve the environmental restoration required when operations were permitted. Moreover, economic impacts were thoroughly analyzed and the proposed rule is projected to have a minimal impact on the coal industry.”