Protect Communities from Hazardous Coal Mining Waste
The Department of the Interior and Office of Surface Mining have publicly stated they plan to reinstate regulations to prohibit mining activities within 100 feet of streams and end mountaintop removal coal mining -- rules that were gutted by the Bush Administration.
Communities throughout the Appalachian region suffer daily from contaminated drinking water, increased flooding and a decimated landscape as a result of coal mining. Reinstating and enforcing the 100-foot prohibition in the Stream Buffer Zone rule is a necessary step in protecting the health of communities and the environment.
This is our opportunity to reverse some of the destructive Bush-era regulations. Tell Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to protect at-risk communities by restoring strong protections for streams and ending mountaintop removal coal mining before the Dec. 30th deadline for public comment.
Dear Secretary Salazar,
I am writing to urge you to fully restore the "Stream Buffer Zone" rule and protect streams and communities from hazardous coal mining waste.
[Your comment will be inserted here].
Please undo the Bush administration's dangerous change to the Stream Buffer Zone rule and enforce the prohibition on mining activities within 100 feet of streams. It is time to end mountaintop removal mining.
The buffer zone approach is a common-sense and science-based protection that dates back to 1983 and a Republican President. It should never have been rolled-back by the Bush administration. Please reinstate this decades-old prohibition, make it clear that valley fills and mining through streams is prohibited, and ensure these regulations are effectively enforced to protect the people and streams of Appalachia from the destructive practice of mountaintop removal coal mining.
