Keep Our Streams Safe From Dirty Coal Mining
The Federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) is poised to finalize a rule that would allow thousands of natural streams and valleys in Appalachia to be buried by waste from mountaintop removal coal mining. OSM's plan directly conflicts with the decades-old Stream Buffer Zone Rule, which prohibits surface coal mining activities from disturbing areas within 100 feet of permanent and seasonal streams.
For years, federal agencies have looked the other way as the coal industry has been allowed to blast away the tops of mountains to reach thin seams of coal. Already, mountaintop removal mining has flattened more than 500,000 acres and permanently buried 2,000 miles of streams, destroying sources that feed drinking water. These actions were taken in defiance of the existing Stream Buffer Zone Rule. Now, OSM wants to legalize this destruction, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must first give its approval for the change in rules to become law.
Dear [Congress Member],
I am writing to express my concern about the Office of Surface Mining's (OSM) proposal to effectively repeal the Stream Buffer Zone Rule. Changing this rule to allow coal companies to dump their massive piles of waste directly into streams will accelerate mountaintop removal mining and environmental destruction in Appalachia. Under the law, your agency must concur with OSM for the rule change to become final. I urge you not to agree with this proposal to destroy more streams.
The decades-old rule requires 100 foot buffer zones around streams to protect against damage caused by mountaintop removal mining. But the OSM wants to rewrite the rule to eliminate the buffer; instead, their proposal would tell mining companies to dump mountaintop removal waste and giant sludge ponds directly into streams, effectively repealing the existing law.
Without the current Stream Buffer Zone Rule, mountaintop removal mining will accelerate and more valleys will be filled, more streams will be buried, and more habitats will be destroyed.
According to the government's own figures, more than 2,000 of miles of streams in Appalachia have already been destroyed over the last two decades. Repealing the Stream Buffer Zone Rule will create more destruction by allowing continued contamination of surface waters and drinking water sources in Appalachia.
[Your comment here]
The destruction caused by mountaintop removal mining is in complete disregard for the residents of Appalachia and the natural environment. You must not allow coal mining an exemption from the Stream Buffer Zone Rule, but must instead protect our vital streams and drinking water. Please do not allow the OSM to take away the Stream Buffer Zone protections.
