West Virginia is suing the Obama administration to try to block new water quality rules intended to protect streams from being polluted by mountaintop coal mining.
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, portrayed the federal court case against the Environmental Protection Agency as part of a fight against the Obama administration’s “attempts to destroy our coal industry and way of life in West Virginia.”
The New York Times reports that the development comes at a politically sensitive time for Manchin, who is competing in a Senate contest where his ties to national Democrats have become a key issue. In addition, Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike from Appalachian coal-mining states also have pushed to throw out the EPA’s guidelines.
Mountaintop mining, The Wall Street Journal noted, involves using explosives to blow off the top of a mountain to expose deposits of coal. The rock and other debris blown off a mountaintop can foul streams in the valleys below, the EPA says. In the guidelines issued in April, the agency also is seeking to prevent operators from dumping waste in nearby streams.
The mining industry and its supporters, however, have characterized the technique as a way to produce cheap power and employ thousands of people in well-paying jobs. The National Mining Assn. last month also filed a lawsuit seeking to repeal the guidelines.
The EPA rules, according to the New York Times, require companies to show that their projects will not raise pollutant concentrations in surrounding waters more than roughly five times the normal level.
