The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
November 2, 1999
Dear Mr. President:
On behalf of the millions of members and supporters that our organizations represent in the coalfields and across the nation, we are writing to you concerning an urgent situation that threatens critical natural resources. We understand that a mountaintop removal coal mining rider waiving critical provisions on the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) may be added to one of the pending appropriations bills. We urge you to vigorously oppose such a rider.
Our organizations greatly appreciate your leadership on behalf of the environment when you vetoed the Fiscal Year 2000 Appropriations bill for the Commerce, State and Justice Departments. Among other concerns you raised in your veto message, was that the legislation contained unacceptable anti-environmental riders that would harm environmental quality and progress. We hope you will demonstrate similar leadership and veto the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations bill if it contains the anti-environmental riders currently adopted by the Congress.
One of these pieces of legislation now faces a new threat. The Commerce, State and Justice Departments legislation, or perhaps the Interior and Related Agencies bill, may be used as a vehicle to undercut critical provisions of the CWA and SMCRA. This rider would waive the CWA and the stream protection provisions of SMCRA so that the coal mining industry can dump their industrial waste into streams and not have to comply with state or federal water quality standards. It is a special interest loophole that would set a dangerous precedent for other industries that want to ask for exemptions from the CWA and other environmental laws.
We agree with the statement you issued on Saturday, concluding that there is no need to consider legislation on this issue. We urge you to veto any bill that contains such a rider. Any legislation enacted in the current climate of confusion and misrepresentation would undoubtedly be bad public policy. For example, contrary to some representations of this issue, environmentalists have not agreed to any proposal to waive application of the Clean Water Act or SMCRA with respect to mountaintop removal mining. The West Virginia groups involved in the litigation did sign off on the April, 1999 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that
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waived objections to the Army Corps of Engineer's jurisdiction over Clean Water Act permits for these operations. The plaintiffs did not agree to the August MOU that was the subject of the court’s decision. At least one of the draft riders we have seen would not only incorporate the second MOU, which is totally unacceptable itself, but would go much further and exempt valley fills from water quality standards, an unprecedented waiver of Clean Water Act requirements. The lack of clarity surrounding this issue underscores the importance of a deliberative process to resolve these questions and the need to resist efforts to react immediately by attaching a rider to a pending bill.
The mountaintop removal rider comes in response to a recent federal District Court decision that protects the streams and citizens in West Virginia from mining waste. No change is needed in the law to address the concerns expressed by supporters of this rider. The federal judge made clear that the decision only applies to future permitting actions affecting mountaintop removal mines, and has no immediate impact on existing jobs or the operation of existing mines. As you know, the judge put a stay on the decision contingent upon appeal so his decision currently has no impact on the mining industry in West Virginia. There is more than sufficient time for the parties involved to meet and discuss a deliberate and rationale approach to mountaintop removal mining regulation in Appalachia.
SMCRA was passed by Congress in 1977 to protect the people and the environment in the coalfields of Appalachia, the Midwest, and the West from some of the most devastating effects of coal mining. Particularly in Appalachia, a century of coal mining had taken a major toll on the water and the watersheds, and the people who suffered from loss of the quality of life at the hands of the coal mining companies. Today’s coal mining in Appalachia literally strips off hundreds of feet of the tops of mountains, and fills long pristine valleys with waste and spoil from the mining operation. These mountaintop removal and valley fill operations are extremely controversial due to the permanent damage that is occurring to the creeks and rivers in Appalachia that are being filled with the spoils of mining.
We are deeply troubled about the events unfolding in Appalachia around this court decision, where coal mining companies are using the opinion as a tool to drive a wedge between mine workers and West Virginia citizens concerned with protecting the quality of their water. Sadly, coal companies are trying to gain a political advantage by announcing that the court decision is forcing them to lay off mine workers. These company
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layoffs are occurring at mines that will not be affected by the decision. The Americans working and living in the coalfields of Appalachia should not be used as pawns in a political chess game or forced to accept continued environmental degradation as a condition of this game.
As you consider future iterations of annual spending bills for Fiscal Year 2000 from the Congress, please stand firm against the mountaintop removal rider and the other anti-environmental riders that have been proliferating on these legislative vehicles this year. Thank you for your continued diligence on behalf of our environment.
Sincerely,
Carl Pope
Executive Director
Sierra Club
Mark Van Putten
President and CEO
National Wildlife Federation
John Adams
President
Natural Resources Defense Council
Philip E. Clapp
President
National Environmental Trust
Brent Blackwelder
President
Friends of the Earth
Deb Callahan
President
League of Conservation Voters
Fred Krupp
Executive Director
Environmental Defense Fund
Vawter Parker
President
Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund
Rodger Schlickeisen
President
Defenders of Wildlife
Gene Karpinski
Executive Director
U. S. Public Interest Research Group
William M. Eichbaum
Vice President, U.S. Conservation and Global Threats
World Wildlife Fund
Bill Meadows
President
The Wilderness Society
John Flicker
President
National Audubon Society
Stephen D’Esposito
President
Mineral Policy Center
Wanda Hodge
Chair
Citizens Coal Council
Brock Evans
President
Endangered Species Coalition
James Wyerman
Executive Director
20/20 Vision
Patrick Sweeney
Director
Western Organization of Resource Councils
Barbara Jeanne Polo
Acting Executive Director
American Oceans Campaign
David Zwick
President
Clean Water Action
Cc:
Bruce Babbitt, Secretary
Department of the Interior
George Frampton, Chair
Council on Environmental Quality
Jacob Lew, Director
Office of Management and Budget
Carol Browner, Administrator
Environmental Protection Agency
Lt. General Joe Ballard, Chief of Engineers
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers