Today, December 17, the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) released the final rule defining when a coal mining operation can avoid the protections of Section 522 of the federal mining act. Section 522 is the section of the law that prevents mining near dwellings, cemeteries, and within the boundaries of parks and other public lands.

The final rule defining "Valid Existing Rights" reaffirms that the proper test for when a strip mining operation can avoid the protections of federal law is the most protective among those the agency considered – the "good faith-all permits test," which requires that the mining company demonstrate that, before the date on which the lands it wishes to strip mine became protected by federal law, it had made a good faith effort to obtain all needed permits. Yet a companion final rule fails to extend the same protections of Section 522 to prevent damage to homes, cemeteries, and public parks from underground mining; thus allowing continued mining beneath structures, cemeteries and public lands.

Underground coal mining causes subsidence which can collapse the land surface, causing damage to the land and to homes, schools, and other buildings, cracking walls, buckling floors and collapsing houses. The Interior rule denies the owners of 1.8 million homes the right to decide whether to allow mining under their homes, and if so, when, and under what conditions.

In the environmental and economic assessments accompanying the final rules, OSM admits that the failure to extend the protections of Section 522(e) of the Act to underground mining will cause subsidence damage, in the next 20 years alone, to:

* almost 30,000 homes, a result that OSM admits "does represent a significant amount of disruption to the dwelling owners, families, and communities,

* some 3,500 acres of federal parks, wilderness and national recreation areas, mostly in the eastern United States, including National Historical Parks, Wild and Scenic Rivers, and National Forests and

* some 12,600 acres of state park lands.

The Citizens Coal Council, a federation of 52 citizens grassroots groups in 22 states and the Navajo nation, in conjunction with the National Citizen’s Coal Law Project of the Kentucky Resources Council, expressed outrage at the decision to exclude homes, cemeteries, churches and parks from the protections of the federal law against underground mining damage:

"Even at their worst, the Reagan Administration never proposed that Section 522 of the mining law wouldn’t protect homes against subsidence damage. It is outrageous that the Clinton-Gore Administration, which claims a strong environmental record, would propose such a harsh rule that would allow the Interior Department to abandon coalfield residents this way, and to place their homes and communities in harm’s way," said Citizens’ Coal Council Virginia Board representative Barney Reilly, of Clinchco, Virginia.

"The irony of the final rule is that the Clinton Administration has extended the greatest degree of protection to homes, churches and parks from strip mining damage by narrowing exemptions from the buffer zones created under federal law, yet has placed those same homes, families, community buildings and public parks at risk of being undermined. It is a cruel and illogical reading of the law that will be challenged in court," said Tom FitzGerald, director of the Coal Law Project.

For further information, contact the Citizen's Coal Council at 202-544-6210, Barney Reilly at 540-835-8857 and the National Citizens’ Coal Law Project at 502-451-2492.