Saturday, December 12, 2009
Federal Mining Report Released
KENTUCKY....
According to a federal report issued this week by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, between 2000 and mid-2008, regulators gave coal companies permission to put up to 2.15 billion cubic yards of rock and dirt left over from mining operations into 1,488 fills in eastern Kentucky. One official explained that nearly all those were hollow fills, which are smaller and located higher in the watershed than valley fills. The report did not say how many of those fills were actually created, but it did say companies do not build all the fills for which they get permits. Opponents of surface mining say the report offers further evidence that mining has caused widespread environmental damage, but the National Mining Association, says opponents of mining are attempting to twist the report to fit their view when, in fact, the report made no conclusions and was not an indictment of the industry. Information from the GAO report will be used at a hearing in 2010.
According to a federal report issued this week by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, between 2000 and mid-2008, regulators gave coal companies permission to put up to 2.15 billion cubic yards of rock and dirt left over from mining operations into 1,488 fills in eastern Kentucky. One official explained that nearly all those were hollow fills, which are smaller and located higher in the watershed than valley fills. The report did not say how many of those fills were actually created, but it did say companies do not build all the fills for which they get permits. Opponents of surface mining say the report offers further evidence that mining has caused widespread environmental damage, but the National Mining Association, says opponents of mining are attempting to twist the report to fit their view when, in fact, the report made no conclusions and was not an indictment of the industry. Information from the GAO report will be used at a hearing in 2010.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 3:43 PM 
