EPA review of mining permits signals policy shift

Breaking with the policies of the Bush administration, the Environmental Protection Agency is sharpening its oversight of mountaintop coal mining to ensure projects do not harm streams and wetlands. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson on Tuesday directed the agency staff to review 150 to 200 applications for new or expanded surface coal mines, many mountaintop removal operations, pending before the federal government. The agency also recommended that two permits slated for approval by the Army Corps of Engineers be denied because the companies had not done enough to avoid and minimize damage to water quality and stream channels. The permits authorize mining companies that blast away mountaintops to access coal to dump the waste into streams and wetlands...AP