The recent announcement by the Interior Department, the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. EPA of a new multi-agency plan to regulate mountaintop removal coal mining is a mixed bag. 

People who have worked for years to bring the destruction of the Appalachian Mountains to the attention of the nation are encouraged by the administration’s focus on the issue - and nobody doubts the good intentions of the people at the EPA and the Council on Environmental Quality who are navigating a complicated and politically charged issue.  But they are rightly concerned with many of the details of the President's plan.

First, the timeframe ignores the immediate threats to health, safety, and quality of life of the people who live in the coalfields and are most affected by mountaintop removal coal mining. Just weeks before the announcement that more scrutiny would be applied to the permitting process, the EPA released a group of 42 permits without a transparent process. 

More than 100 more permits are under review, including the “Bee Tree” permit on Coal River Mountain.  That permit is the first of four that together would obliterate nearly 7,000 acres of the tallest peaks ever to be mined in West Virginia, while destroying hundreds of megawatts of wind potential at the same time.

But the fundamental problem with the administration's approach is that they are trying to control the impacts of mountaintop removal by enforcing rules rigged by the Bush Administration to favor the coal industry. At the same time, they are telling the people whose homes and health are at stake that, “We are doing all we can under current law.” 

What the people of Appalachia need is for the current President to act as strongly on the behalf of the people, on behalf of justice, and on behalf of the environment as Bush did for the coal industry.

Whether President Obama will do that remains to be seen, but we cannot simply wait and hope.  We must work even harder now to pass the Clean Water Protection Act and the Appalachian Restoration Act, bills in the US House and Senate that will outlaw the dumping of mine waste into streams and dramatically curtail mountaintop removal coal mining.  

Passage of these bills is crucial even if the President does overturn the Bush “fill rule,” because existing laws have failed to protect the people and environment of Appalachia for decades. Nearly 500 mountains have been erased from the Appalachian skyline and more than 1,000 miles of streams have been buried since the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act was passed in 1977.

We also have an opportunity to co-create a non-polluting energy future for Appalachia that supports whole and vibrant communities. It’s a challenge we should eagerly embrace. I think the people of Appalachia are ready for real change. Yes we can!