Join the Fight to End Mountaintop Removal

Dear [Decision Maker],

As a senior member of President Obama's environmental team, you have already shown your commitment to sound science and justice.

Mountaintop removal continues to destroy irreplaceable mountains, forests and streams and degrade the quality of life of communities across Appalachia. Despite the fact that all available science shows that this most devastating form of mining is causing irreparable damage to the environment, a recent court ruling has the potential to result in a flood of new, expansive mining operations.
In the wake of this decision I am writing to ask that the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prevent additional devastation by freezing the permitting of any new mines. Today more than ever, I also request that the EPA provide long-term protection for the waterways and communities of this region by initiating a rulemaking process to prevent the use of mining waste as fill material.

As you know, on February 13th the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a major decision deferring to the Army Corps of Engineers permitting authority regarding mountaintop removal mining. This decision will make it easier for mining companies to conduct devastating mountaintop removal mining without acting to minimize stream destruction and without conducting adequate environmental reviews. This decision has the potential to result in a huge expansion of mountaintop removal by opening the door for the Army Corps of Engineers to immediately issue close to 100 permits for new valley fills.

The bulldozers are standing by. In order to move toward a clean energy economy, I ask you to freeze the permitting of these pending mountaintop removal coal mines. I also urge you to take steps to prohibit this destructive practice entirely.