President Obama has elected a coal proponent to head the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM). Simply put, this is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house.
After months of internal debate, Obama passed over prominent mining reform candidates to select Joseph G. Pizarchik, a Pennsylvania mining regulator. Pizarchik has taken a pro-industry line on acid mine drainage and has become a leading advocate for disposal of toxic industrial coal ash in coal mine sites. He claims this is a “beneficial use” of the same coal combustion waste involved in the disastrous TVA spill in December that devastated 300 acres.
During his August 6th confirmation hearing, Pizarchik astonishingly claimed ignorance about mountain-top removal or what changes the Obama administration might propose, since that mining technique is not widely used in his state. That would be like the cybersecurity czar claiming ignorance of the Internet.
Obama’s choice signifies yet another broken campaign promise: to end environmentally destructive coal mining practices such as mountain-top removal. According to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), placating the coal industry has become the central plank of the administration’s environmental agenda.
“It is appointments like this that are causing many to become disillusioned with the Obama presidency,” said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. He noted the Obama administration has approved tens of permits for mountain-top mining. “Putting forward a nominee who claims ignorance on a central issue so that his true position cannot be discerned is the sort of cynical politics I thought President Obama vowed to change.”
Story at Common Dreams
August 31st, 2009 by The Cleaner
Save the Wild U.P. is a grassroots nonprofit organization based in Marquette, Michigan with deep concerns about the economic, social, and environmental impacts of nonferrous mining. Membership is open to all who desire to help Save the Wild U.P. protect the quality of our environment and the permanent economic base of our economy by opposing experimental, historically risky, metallic sulfide or uranium mining.
There has never been a metallic sulfide mine that has failed to pollute its watershed. Once such a reaction starts, it is difficult to keep this acid drainage out of the water. When water becomes acidic, it leaches out and disperses heavy metals into lakes and streams. Heavy metals are dangerous to health, wildlife, and the environment.
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August 26th, 2009 by The Cleaner
According to a new article published in The Citizen:
“As mines come to the end of their lives, mining companies stop pumping water from abandoned shafts. Water can then flood in, mix with chemical sludge and eventually spill to the surface like an overflowing bath.
“The toxic brew seeps into streams and water catchments and is often used for irrigation. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has linked long-term exposure to Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) to cancer, skin lesions and mental retardation.
“The Environmental Protection Agency has previously rated the ecological risk associated with mining waste as second ‘only to global warming and stratospheric ozone depletion.’ In its March 2008 Emerging Issues Paper, the Department for Environmental Affairs and Tourism warned that long-term effects of AMD could persist for ‘several hundred years.’ ”
August 25th, 2009 by The Cleaner
There are two main approaches to controlling Acid Mine Drainage (AMD): eliminate the source and treat the AMD.
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August 5th, 2009 by The Cleaner
