April 19, 2000 

U.S. Asks Court to Prevent Dumping of Coal Waste Into Streams 

By REUTERS WASHINGTON, April 18 -- 

The Clinton administration has asked an appeals court to uphold a federal law that
prevents coal mining companies from dumping waste in Appalachian streams, legal briefs
made available today show. The Justice Department, acting on behalf of several federal
agencies, filed a brief on Monday supporting a federal judge's ruling that West Virginia
cannot issue new permits for dumping coal mine waste within 100 feet of streams, unless
the waste causes no environmental damage. In its brief, the Justice Department argued that
Judge Charles H. Haden II of United States District Court in Charleston, W. Va., ruled
properly in October that the buffer zone rule of the surface mining law prohibited the
dumping of mountaintop coal waste near streams. The coal is extracted from mountains by
using explosives to blow away the peaks, so giant earth-moving equipment can get to the
coal underneath. While the mountaintop removal method of mining has been around since the
late 1960's, it became common in West Virginia in the 1990's as utilities sought to meet
the demand for clean-burning, low-sulfur coal to fuel electric-generating plants.
Mountaintop mining has also become popular because coal supplies near the surface have
been depleted and large surface mining equipment, some 20 stories tall, has made it
possible to remove mountaintops more efficiently>and economically. From 1986 to 1998, the
Justice Department said, 900 miles of streams were filled with coal mine waste in
Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, and half of these streams were in West
Virginia. The United States Public Interest Research Group, which represents state
>environmental and consumers organizations, praised the administration's decision to
support the dumping law. However, the group said it was disappointed that the
administration might allow mountaintop waste to be dumped into wetlands. The Environmental
Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers on Monday proposed changes to current
rules to authorize wetlands permits for >mountaintop removal and other kinds of wastes.
The group said the changes conflicted with provisions of the Clean Water Act that bar
dumping waste in streams, rivers and lakes.

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