Hollywood is coming to town
By Robin Millican, Institute for Energy Research
In his documentary The Last Mountain, featuring Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., director Bill Haney weaves quite a tale of intrigue in the quest to rebrand surface mining as “mountain-top removal,” an emotionally-charged term that carries infinitely more public relations punch. Allegations of complicity between former West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, the Bush Administration, and coal executives to force surface mining upon the unwilling residents of Appalachia feature heavily, with Mr. Kennedy characterizing mining activities as loosely regulated at best … and criminal at worst.
However, Haney takes aim at more than just political corruption in The Last Mountain. The film attributes a plethora of wide-ranging environmental and economic impacts to surface mining and coal plants, including claims of inadequate reclamation requirements, groundwater contamination, flash flooding, and impacts to streams.
If true, these claims would almost certainly empower policymakers and regulators like the Environmental Protection Agency to put an end to the practice of surface mining. But do they match up with reality?
Regulatory framework
Many statutes currently govern mining practices in the United States. The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) is the primary environmental law governing coal mining and reclamation activities; however, other federal laws that apply to mining practices include the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.
Despite this extensive regulatory framework, a recurring theme in The Last Mountain is that the coal industry isn’t regulated well enough and political interests have intervened to keep rules lax. For example, Kennedy claims in the film that until the Bush Administration changed the regulations, surface mining used to be effectively illegal in the United States because coal waste could not be placed into U.S. waters.
Kennedy’s claim is misleading at best. In reality, surface mining has been in practice since the 1960s, and the key regulatory change in this area has been to alter how close operations can occur to streams – provided there is no significant harm to the environment.
If anything, the requirements that industry must meet in order to obtain a mine permit should speak to the considerable involvement of the federal government in regulating every aspect of mining activities. Prior to applying for a permit, the applicant must collect baseline environmental data from the proposed area, which includes surveys of soils, vegetation, wildlife, surface and groundwater hydrology, climatology, wetlands conditions, and cultural and historical resources. This information can take over a year to compile, depending on the mine characteristics.
Once a permit application has been submitted to the regulatory agency, it must undergo a completeness review and a technical review, as well as a public notice and comment period. This process will take several additional years before a permit can be issued.
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