1990-1999 accomplishments
1992
CCC won a new law (a “flea on passing dog amendment”) to protect homes and water from mining.
1993
Protecting Homes and Parks From Mining: The Kentucky Resource Council (KRC) worked with other groups in 1993 to counter a federal proposal to open up national parks and buffer zones around homes and cemeteries to underground and strip mining.
1994-95
Clean Streams: CCC and its members groups (most prominently the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy) convinced the Office of Surface Mining to create the Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative (ACSI) and won about $10 million a year for cleaning up acid mine drainage. Acid mine pollution is the greatest threat to water quality in Appalachia; ACSI aims to clean up acid mine drainage from abandoned mines and prevent further destruction from acid run-off.
SMCRA Enforcement: Citizens Coal Council (CCC) joined Navajo residents in filing a joint citizens’ complaint against Consolidated Coal (CONSOL), operating in Burnham, New Mexico. The complaint resulted in individual fines of $198,000 against each of its 18 directors for “knowing and willful” violation of SMCRA.
The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) was not enforcing SMCRA at mines in Arizona and New Mexico. In the mid-1990s CCC appealed two decisions to the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA). The ILBA appeals failed.
CCC hired full time staff in 1994 and incorporated as a 501(c) (3) in 1995.
1995-96
CCC defeated the attempt by the coal industry, state governments and the Clinton Administration to weaken SMCRA provisions on citizens’ rights and reclamation.
1997
Reclamation Enforcement: In a multi-year enforcement effort CCC actively participated in legal actions in the late 1990s against OSM for failure to take enforcement action against Appalachian coal operators over the failure of contract miners to reclaim. The cases involved mountaintop removal abuses, acid mine drainage, subsidence damage, and other reclamation failures. These actions resulted in performance of reclamation and the payment of more than $10,000,000 in civil penalties.
CCC had 30 member groups by the 20th anniversary of SMCRA in August of 1997. CCC started the “Jobs & Justice” campaign and obtained an additional $35 million for cleaning up abandoned mines (AML lands).
1998
Mountain Top Removal: West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, a CCC member group, and coal field residents filed Bragg v. Robertson in the US District Court, S.D. West Virginia to challenge mountain top removal coal mining.
CCC expanded issues to power plant waste (PPW), full cycle of coal, corporate campaigns and intense media training. 1998-2002: CCC won additional $65 million for AML cleanup.
1999
Mountaintop Removal Litigation: West Virginia US District Judge Charles Haden ruled in Bragg v. Robertson that the Surface Mine Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) and the Clean Water Act banned most valley fills and that new rules by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers allowing mines to ignore stream buffer zones (SBZs) and to fill streams with rock and dirt stripped off mountain tops violated the intent of Congress. Find the text of Bragg v. Robertson at http://www.wvsd.uscourts.gov/
CCC coordinated the defeat of Sen. Byrd’s “rider” designed to overturn Judge Haden’s ruling by weakening SMCRA and the CWA for the benefit of mining firms engaged in mountain top removal (MTR).
Valid Existing Rights: Kentucky Resource Council (KRC) drafted comments on the definition of “valid existing rights” (VER). The Department of Interior (DOI) defined valid existing rights narrowly, preventing mining close to homes, churches, cemeteries, public parks and wilderness areas. The National Mining Association (NMA) challenged the regulation and CCC joined other groups in the lawsuit to ensure that the DOI did not deliberately lose the case.
CCC won a new law (a “flea on passing dog amendment”) to protect homes and water from mining.
1993
Protecting Homes and Parks From Mining: The Kentucky Resource Council (KRC) worked with other groups in 1993 to counter a federal proposal to open up national parks and buffer zones around homes and cemeteries to underground and strip mining.
1994-95
Clean Streams: CCC and its members groups (most prominently the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy) convinced the Office of Surface Mining to create the Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative (ACSI) and won about $10 million a year for cleaning up acid mine drainage. Acid mine pollution is the greatest threat to water quality in Appalachia; ACSI aims to clean up acid mine drainage from abandoned mines and prevent further destruction from acid run-off.
SMCRA Enforcement: Citizens Coal Council (CCC) joined Navajo residents in filing a joint citizens’ complaint against Consolidated Coal (CONSOL), operating in Burnham, New Mexico. The complaint resulted in individual fines of $198,000 against each of its 18 directors for “knowing and willful” violation of SMCRA.
The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) was not enforcing SMCRA at mines in Arizona and New Mexico. In the mid-1990s CCC appealed two decisions to the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA). The ILBA appeals failed.
CCC hired full time staff in 1994 and incorporated as a 501(c) (3) in 1995.
1995-96
CCC defeated the attempt by the coal industry, state governments and the Clinton Administration to weaken SMCRA provisions on citizens’ rights and reclamation.
1997
Reclamation Enforcement: In a multi-year enforcement effort CCC actively participated in legal actions in the late 1990s against OSM for failure to take enforcement action against Appalachian coal operators over the failure of contract miners to reclaim. The cases involved mountaintop removal abuses, acid mine drainage, subsidence damage, and other reclamation failures. These actions resulted in performance of reclamation and the payment of more than $10,000,000 in civil penalties.
CCC had 30 member groups by the 20th anniversary of SMCRA in August of 1997. CCC started the “Jobs & Justice” campaign and obtained an additional $35 million for cleaning up abandoned mines (AML lands).
1998
Mountain Top Removal: West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, a CCC member group, and coal field residents filed Bragg v. Robertson in the US District Court, S.D. West Virginia to challenge mountain top removal coal mining.
CCC expanded issues to power plant waste (PPW), full cycle of coal, corporate campaigns and intense media training. 1998-2002: CCC won additional $65 million for AML cleanup.
1999
Mountaintop Removal Litigation: West Virginia US District Judge Charles Haden ruled in Bragg v. Robertson that the Surface Mine Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) and the Clean Water Act banned most valley fills and that new rules by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers allowing mines to ignore stream buffer zones (SBZs) and to fill streams with rock and dirt stripped off mountain tops violated the intent of Congress. Find the text of Bragg v. Robertson at http://www.wvsd.uscourts.gov/
CCC coordinated the defeat of Sen. Byrd’s “rider” designed to overturn Judge Haden’s ruling by weakening SMCRA and the CWA for the benefit of mining firms engaged in mountain top removal (MTR).
Valid Existing Rights: Kentucky Resource Council (KRC) drafted comments on the definition of “valid existing rights” (VER). The Department of Interior (DOI) defined valid existing rights narrowly, preventing mining close to homes, churches, cemeteries, public parks and wilderness areas. The National Mining Association (NMA) challenged the regulation and CCC joined other groups in the lawsuit to ensure that the DOI did not deliberately lose the case.