I've passionately written about the destructive nature of Mountaintop removal before here on Green Options. In an effort to mine coal, entire mountains are laid barren through explosive practices that destroy the ecosystem and lay waste to streams and valleys.

The past couple years have been difficult, with efforts to fight legislation that allows the mining to proceed so recklessly quickly brushed aside in court. Remediation projects in the past have proven to do very little to return these areas to safe and viable landscapes. Awareness of these practices, however, and onus for managing their environmental pollution is finally being scrutinized and punished. This past Friday, a federal judge in West Virginia passed a decision stating "that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the law by issuing mountaintop removal mining permits that allowed vital headwater streams to be permanently buried." In other words, the days of easy permits may be coming to an end.

The decision is significant because it proves that the federal government was illegally issuing such permits, leading to widespread damage to streams, mountains, and the lands of Appalachia. For a long time, protesters have been arguing this case to deaf ears, convinced that the government was not performing its duty of environmental checks and balances. According to the ruling, the decision does give the Corps another opportunity to attempt to prove that such permits can be issued according to the Clean Water Act, but so far — in all the years of mountaintop removal — there appears to be no evidence to support this is true. The destruction is simply too great to be "cleaned" up according to the provisions specified in the Act. From the article,

Mountaintop removal mining valley fills cannot comply with the Clean Water Act without strict environmental limits. We hope the Corps recognizes this fact and realizes that approving illegal mountaintop removal mining permits does nothing to protect the environment, violates the law and is destroying the lives and culture of the people of West Virginia and the region.

So, it is one small step forward, but an important victory nonetheless in an environmental atrocity littered with dead mountains. Let's hope the curtain is pulled back on the violations, blatant dumping and pollution, and policies that have taken us in this direction. The days of unchecked mining must come to an end. Enough is enough.

Source: Stop Mountaintop Removal