Dump This Dirty Practice

The systematic destruction of the West Virginia and Kentucky countryside by mining practices that rip off mountaintops and dump them into valleys has been a national shame for years. That the federal government would formally endorse such plunder--as the Bush administration did last week--is an outrage. However, a note of sanity was struck Wednesday by a federal judge who ordered the destruction halted as a violation of the letter and spirit of the Clean Air Act.

Hurrah for District Judge Charles H. Haden II in Charleston, W. Va., who condemned the attempt by federal agencies “to legalize their long-standing illegal regulatory practice.” Mostly, the Army Corps of Engineers, no great friend of the environment, had merely granted miners exemptions from the law.

A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency, expressing concern for the region’s economy, said the administration would seek a stay of Haden’s ruling while an appeal was filed. Perhaps federal officials are forgetting the congressionally mandated purpose of their agency. The name, after all, contains the words “environmental protection.”

If the White House insists on appealing, the federal appeals court and Congress must act to make Haden’s ruling permanent.

The mining practice involves shearing off the tops of mountains with earth-moving equipment to expose the coal. Waste is dumped into adjacent valleys and streambeds, erasing streams, polluting the water and contaminating water wells.

Federal law requires restoration of the mountain contour after the coal is mined, but much or most of the dirt and rock is left in the streams and valleys.

The EPA spokesman said the rule allowing the dumping was an effort to establish a regulatory environment that was fair and fostered “good environmental stewardship.” Since when is illegal destruction of streams good environmental stewardship?

Let’s call it what it was: legalizing permanent ruin of the countryside to temporarily, very temporarily, increase coal production and fatten the coffers of mining companies.