The White House on Tuesday approved a final rule that will make it easier for coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys. The rule is one of the most contentious of all the regulations emerging from the White House in President Bush’s last weeks in office.
James L. Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, confirmed in an interview that the rule had been approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget. That clears the way for publication in the Federal Register, the last stage in the rule-making process. Stephen L. Johnson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, concurred in the rule, first proposed nearly five years ago by the Interior Department, which regulates coal mining. In a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, dated Tuesday, Mr. Johnson said the rule had been revised to protect fish, wildlife and streams. Mining activities must comply with water quality standards established by the federal government and the states, Mr. Johnson said.
But a coalition of environmental groups said the rule would accelerate “the destruction of mountains, forests and streams throughout Appalachia”…
Maybe that’s all they ever were after Lincoln. This current bunch consistently supported business for their whole term, including with the War in Iraq [a massive boon to the Military Industrial Complex which has expanded well beyond the limits that Eisenhower warned us about]. Now that it doesn’t matter anymore, they’ve dropped the facade and they’re finishing off the things they couldn’t figure a way to spin while we were still looking.
I guess you could look at two ways. You could be disheartened at the nasty things they’re spending their time with in these last few months – things like making it cheaper to strip mine. Another way would be to feel comforted that you were right all along about them – that all that stuff they said was just to get elected.
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