Breaking: EPA delays hundreds of mountaintop mining permits

[RB TexLa]

EPA halts hundreds of mountaintop mining permits

By DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press Writer Dina Cappiello, Associated Press Writer – 12 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency is putting on hold hundreds of mountaintop coal-mining permits until it can evaluate the projects' impacts on streams and wetlands.

The decision was announced Tuesday by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson. It targets a controversial practice by coal mining companies that dump waste from mountaintop mining into streams and wetlands.

It could delay more than a hundred permits being sought by companies wanting to begin blasting mountaintops to access coal.

The EPA also denied two permits the Army Corps of Engineers was planning to issue that would allow companies to fill thousands of feet of streams with mining waste in West Virginia and Kentucky.

The agency says the projects could damage aquatic resources.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090324/ap_on_go_ot/epa_mountaintop_mining_1

[ellie]

1. WOO HOO!

[DS1]

2. woo hoo!

:applause:

[CBR]

3. OMG!! I am so HAPPY!! nt

[Matariki]

4. I know a couple people who work at the EPA

and they say the atmosphere there is ecstatic now that Bush is gone. Also, they say the new director is *very* good.

[PVnRT]

5. Outstanding news

[Stephanie]

6. It's hard to get used to seeing good news every single day!

After eight years of what-fresh-outrage-is-this, I am having trouble adjusting.

[lazyriver]

8. Especially when it comes to mountaintop removal. I can't

remember the last time I read a story regarding that industry that wasn't so depressing it tore a piece of my heart out. This is a great step in the right direction.

[Captain Hilts]

7. Yaaaaay!

[pleah]

9. K&R Good!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[SemiCharmedQuark]

10. Kick!

[eppur_se_muova]

11. WOOHOO! Never been happier to K&R! nt

[gratuitous]

12. No difference between the parties

Right, Ralph?

[backscatter712]

13. AWESOME!!!

Hopefully, this means no more of the Appalachians will be turned into a toxic moonscape!

Nice to see the Environmental Protection Agency, y'know, protecting the environment!

[Richard Steele]

14. So after 8 years, the EPA is actually DOING ITS JOB again?

That's certainly a good sign of things to come. K&R

[ColbertWatcher]

15. That didn't take long. Great news. k+r, n/t