Read more at Coal Tattoo

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A federal judge on Wednesday threw out a key part of a plan the Obama administration says would reduce the environmental impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia.

U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. blocked an Interior Department plan to reinstitute a 25-year-old rule that environmental groups argue bans the dumping of coal-mine waste in most streams.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had sought to reverse Bush administration changes that eliminated key water quality protections included in the 25-year-old stream "buffer zone" regulation.

But in a five-page ruling, Kennedy concluded Salazar could not undo the Bush changes without starting a new rulemaking process involving public comment and hearings.

"In determining the federal government cannot arbitrarily strike down a regulation, the court has preserved an open and transparent regulatory process that provides for notice and protects the rights of all interested parties to comment," said Carol Raulston, spokeswoman for the National Mining Association, which had generally supported the Bush administration changes and opposed the Obama Interior Department's actions.

Ed Hopkins, a spokesman for the Sierra Club, called Kennedy's ruling "unfortunate," but said it highlights the need for "bold action to truly end mountaintop removal coal mining.

"We praise the Department of Interior's efforts to address this most destructive form of coal mining by focusing on stream impacts, but only a comprehensive effort by the Obama administration will bring true relief to Appalachian communities," Hopkins said.

Kendra Barkoff, a spokeswoman for Salazar, would not say if the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement would institute a new rulemaking process to overturn the Bush buffer zone changes.

Read more at Coal Tattoo

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A federal judge on Wednesday threw out a key part of a plan the Obama administration says would reduce the environmental impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia.

U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. blocked an Interior Department plan to reinstitute a 25-year-old rule that environmental groups argue bans the dumping of coal-mine waste in most streams.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had sought to reverse Bush administration changes that eliminated key water quality protections included in the 25-year-old stream "buffer zone" regulation.

But in a five-page ruling, Kennedy concluded Salazar could not undo the Bush changes without starting a new rulemaking process involving public comment and hearings.

"In determining the federal government cannot arbitrarily strike down a regulation, the court has preserved an open and transparent regulatory process that provides for notice and protects the rights of all interested parties to comment," said Carol Raulston, spokeswoman for the National Mining Association, which had generally supported the Bush administration changes and opposed the Obama Interior Department's actions.

Ed Hopkins, a spokesman for the Sierra Club, called Kennedy's ruling "unfortunate," but said it highlights the need for "bold action to truly end mountaintop removal coal mining.

"We praise the Department of Interior's efforts to address this most destructive form of coal mining by focusing on stream impacts, but only a comprehensive effort by the Obama administration will bring true relief to Appalachian communities," Hopkins said.

Kendra Barkoff, a spokeswoman for Salazar, would not say if the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement would institute a new rulemaking process to overturn the Bush buffer zone changes.

"This administration has said it is determined to improve mining practices and we will do so within the context of the court's ruling, which we are reviewing," Barkoff said.

Generally, the 1983 version of the buffer zone rule prohibited mining activities within 100 feet of perennial and intermittent streams. Coal operators could obtain waivers, but only if they could show their operations would not damage water quality or quantity.

OSM and various state regulators never applied the buffer zone rule to valley fill waste piles. After a federal court ruled in 1999 that it did apply there, government regulators and coal lobbyists have been trying to eliminate the rule.

In December, OSM issued a final rule change that exempted valley fills and similar waste dumps, such as slurry impoundments, from the 100-foot stream buffer. A companion rule required coal operators to minimize these fills and consider alternatives for waste disposal.

OSM officials said the rule "places new restrictions" on coal companies. But the agency's own studies showed coal operators would still bury another 724 miles of Appalachian streams by 2018.

Separate environmental groups filed two different federal court lawsuits challenging the Bush rule changes.

Then in late April, Salazar announced he was filing a legal motion in one of those cases asking to reinstitute the 1983 version of the buffer zone rule, saying the Bush version "doesn't pass the smell test."

At the same time, Salazar did not say if Interior planned to apply the buffer zone protections to the footprint of valley fills -- the key issue in deciding if the rule limits mountaintop removal.

"Restoring the previous stream buffer zone regulation remains one component in the complex effort to end mountaintop removal coal mining," Hopkins said. "But with the administration current considering more than 80 permit applications for new mountaintop removal coal mining, it will take policy changes at the Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Interior and Environmental Protection Agency, along with tough enforcement, to end the destruction completely and protect Appalachian communities."

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.