2002-2002 Accomplishments
2000
Corporate campaign training initiated.
Power Plant Waste (PPW): To help protect water resources from the coal cycle, CCC secured $100,000 in funding for a two-year Power Plant Waste campaign and began work with Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC), other member groups, and allies to organize around the issue of power plant waste dumps. With the assistance from HEC a quarterly newsletter, Power Plant Waste, was distributed to over 1,200 people.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency completed a draft determination that would decide if federal safeguards should be required for the disposal of waste generated from the combustion of fossil. The EPA asserted that little information existed that demonstrated dangers posed by Coal Combustion Waste (CCW) or ecological damage resulting from disposal of the waste. Citizens Coal Council and Hoosier Environmental Council commissioned a study, Review of Global Adverse Environmental Impacts to Ground Water and Aquatic Ecosystems from Coal Combustion, by Virginia Tech University to assess the toxicity of CCW and the ecological damage that the EPA may hove overlooked.
The release of Laid to Waste: The dirty secret of combustion waste from America’s power plants by Citizens Coal Council, Hoosier Environmental Council and Clean Air Task Force.
2001-02
Hired field organizer. Worked Media campaigns.
Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit Reissuance: Kentucky Resource Council (KRC) commented critically on the proposal by the US Army Corps of Engineers to reissue “nationwide permits” authorizing a number of activities whose impacts on streams, rivers and wetlands are considered “minimal.” Many of the Councils comments are in specific opposition to continued authorization of Nationwide Permit 21, by which the Corps of Engineers avoids individual review of proposals to fill in streams and rivers with coal waste and overburden from mining operations.
Mine Permit Rescinded: The Illinois Department of Natural Resources rescinded permits for SilverCreek Construction Co.’s Bear Mine. The mine received a $99,000 economic development grant in 1999 and mining operations had already began on prime farmland when Citizens Organizing Project (COP) made a stink that SilverCreek had not applied for the needed NPDES permit and had failed to file the required farmland reclamation plan.
2002
In June, CCC and 14 other citizen and environmental groups sponsored a landmark event in the coal movement: the Citizens Coal Summit in Charleston, West Virginia. This summit explored the true cost of coal and for the first time in history, brought 200 activists on coal mining, power plant waste, air pollution, human health, and alternative energy together to understand and collaborate on eliminating the impacts of the full cycle of coal.
Sediment: In November, Kentucky Resources Council (KRC) filed the opening brief in the case of Citizens Coal Council & Kentucky Resources Council v. EPA. CCC and KRC are challenging the final EPA rule relaxing sediment controls for western coal mines, and the EPA rules implementing the 1987 “Rahall” amendment. The EPA rules undercut effective regulation of sediment loading from coal mines, replacing enforceable permit limits with “best management practices” that the agency itself admits are unenforceable and unpredictable.
Mountain Top Removal: Judge Haden II, District Court for the Southern District of W. Virginia in KFTC v ACE held that section 404 of the CWA does not allow filling streams with mine spoil materials. ACE appealed and unfortunately won in 2003.
Bragg v. Robertson: The W. VA. DEP, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the coal industry, and the United Mineworkers appealed to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court to overturn Judge Haden’s 1999 ruling in Bragg v. Robertson that stopped miners from filling streams with rock and dirt stripped off mountain tops. The 4th Circuit in 2001 did not rule on the merits, instead it ruled that the 11th Amendment denies federal courts jurisdiction over state agencies like the W. VA. DEP even though SMCRA specifically allows citizens lawsuits in federal courts against state agencies charged with mine permitting and regulation. The US Supreme Court in 2002 ignored the citizens’ appeal and let the 4th Circuit’s decision stand.
Sludge Impoundment Action: In response to a citizen complaint filed in May by the Harlan County Chapter of the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KTFC) and the Kentucky Resources Council (KRC), the federal Office of Surface Mining inspected the Harlan-Cumberland Coal Company Turkeypen Impoundment and issued a federal Notice of Violation requiring the company to cease pumping water and slurry into the coal waste impoundment. The order also required also the company to improve monitoring of the volume of water discharging from the underground mine, and that the company either obtains approval for the increased pool elevation or by September 10, 2002 have reduced the elevation to the approved level of 1738 feet.
Mining Permit Reversed: When Nally and Hamilton Coal Company began hauling coal on the narrow residential Colliers Creek Road in Partridge, KY, the community endured the noise, the fumes, the dust, the disruption of their lives on a daily basis. Rebecca Boggs had the courage to stand up for herself and her neighbors and demanded that the use of the road be stopped unless it was brought under a mining permit. The state Cabinet refused to take action based on a “public road” exemption that was struck down by a federal judge in 1985 as being inconsistent with the mining law. The federal Office of Surface Mining, which had failed to make Kentucky change their regulation, took no action.
On August 9, 2002, a hearing officer for the state Office of Administrative Hearings issued a Report and Recommendation in her favor, requiring that the state use a test that focused on the extent of and damage from coal-related use of the road as well as public use. On September, 2002, Natural Resources Cabinet Secretary James Bickford adopted the recommendation of the Hearing Officer that the state agency must consider the extent of and damage from coal-related use of the road as well as public use, when determining whether a coal company whether the use of a public road for coal haulage by the company requires obtaining a permit for that road. The decision clarified that for any future decision on whether to require a road to be permitted (and which in turn would require waivers from each resident within 300-feet of the road), the agency must consider the coal-related use and impacts on the road rather then focusing on the amount of public use.
Cumulative Hydrologic Impact Assessments (CHIA): CCC joined Ohio River Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) and others in litigation to challenge how West Virginia performed cumulative hydrologic impact assessments (CHIA), required by SMCRA to prevent harm to a watershed by multiple coal operations, none of which would cause damage standing alone. Appellate courts in 2005 and 2006 upheld the trial court decision for the environmental groups.
Applicant Violator Enforcement: On behalf of Kentucky Resources Council, Inc. and Citizens Coal Council, Attorney Walt Morris submitted comments opposing a proposal by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (“OSM”) to allow applicants for mining permits to conceal from regulators and the public the identities of persons who have the actual ability to determine the manner in which the permit applicant will conduct mining operations. The OSM proposal would hamper the decision making process of regulatory authorities on whether to deny permits to corporations that own other corporations currently in violation of environmental laws.
Subsidence: CCC won a court decision protecting homes and historic places from subsidence.
SMCRA, § 1272(e), prohibits “surface coal mining operations” in national parks and other protected areas. Contrary to OSM’s interpretation, CCC and the National Trust for Historic Preservation argued that § 1272(e) also prohibits subsidence and underground mining activities that may cause subsidence under or adjacent to schools, churches, homes, cemeteries, and other surface features. The District Court in the District of Columbia decided for CCC in 2002. OSM and NMA appealed and the US Court of Appeals (DC) upheld OSM’s regulation. The Supreme Court refused to hear CCC’s appeal in 2004.
Griles Exposed: In September, The Washington Post wrote a front-page exposé on Steven Griles, the Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior that described his conflicts of interest and many meetings with the coal industry. The reporter relied on CCC’s extensive research, in cooperation with Friends of the Earth. CCC publicly demanded that Griles resign from the Bush Administration. On May 30, 2003, Now with Bill Moyers exposed Griles corruption. Congress ordered an investigation into Griles’ activities and Vanity Fair, published a 13-page report on Griles and the Department of the Interior in its September 2003, 20th Anniversary issue. Griles resigned his government post in January 2005 and was sentenced in June 2007 for lying about his role in the Abramoff scandal.
Corporate campaign training initiated.
Power Plant Waste (PPW): To help protect water resources from the coal cycle, CCC secured $100,000 in funding for a two-year Power Plant Waste campaign and began work with Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC), other member groups, and allies to organize around the issue of power plant waste dumps. With the assistance from HEC a quarterly newsletter, Power Plant Waste, was distributed to over 1,200 people.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency completed a draft determination that would decide if federal safeguards should be required for the disposal of waste generated from the combustion of fossil. The EPA asserted that little information existed that demonstrated dangers posed by Coal Combustion Waste (CCW) or ecological damage resulting from disposal of the waste. Citizens Coal Council and Hoosier Environmental Council commissioned a study, Review of Global Adverse Environmental Impacts to Ground Water and Aquatic Ecosystems from Coal Combustion, by Virginia Tech University to assess the toxicity of CCW and the ecological damage that the EPA may hove overlooked.
The release of Laid to Waste: The dirty secret of combustion waste from America’s power plants by Citizens Coal Council, Hoosier Environmental Council and Clean Air Task Force.
2001-02
Hired field organizer. Worked Media campaigns.
Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit Reissuance: Kentucky Resource Council (KRC) commented critically on the proposal by the US Army Corps of Engineers to reissue “nationwide permits” authorizing a number of activities whose impacts on streams, rivers and wetlands are considered “minimal.” Many of the Councils comments are in specific opposition to continued authorization of Nationwide Permit 21, by which the Corps of Engineers avoids individual review of proposals to fill in streams and rivers with coal waste and overburden from mining operations.
Mine Permit Rescinded: The Illinois Department of Natural Resources rescinded permits for SilverCreek Construction Co.’s Bear Mine. The mine received a $99,000 economic development grant in 1999 and mining operations had already began on prime farmland when Citizens Organizing Project (COP) made a stink that SilverCreek had not applied for the needed NPDES permit and had failed to file the required farmland reclamation plan.
2002
In June, CCC and 14 other citizen and environmental groups sponsored a landmark event in the coal movement: the Citizens Coal Summit in Charleston, West Virginia. This summit explored the true cost of coal and for the first time in history, brought 200 activists on coal mining, power plant waste, air pollution, human health, and alternative energy together to understand and collaborate on eliminating the impacts of the full cycle of coal.
Sediment: In November, Kentucky Resources Council (KRC) filed the opening brief in the case of Citizens Coal Council & Kentucky Resources Council v. EPA. CCC and KRC are challenging the final EPA rule relaxing sediment controls for western coal mines, and the EPA rules implementing the 1987 “Rahall” amendment. The EPA rules undercut effective regulation of sediment loading from coal mines, replacing enforceable permit limits with “best management practices” that the agency itself admits are unenforceable and unpredictable.
Mountain Top Removal: Judge Haden II, District Court for the Southern District of W. Virginia in KFTC v ACE held that section 404 of the CWA does not allow filling streams with mine spoil materials. ACE appealed and unfortunately won in 2003.
Bragg v. Robertson: The W. VA. DEP, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the coal industry, and the United Mineworkers appealed to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court to overturn Judge Haden’s 1999 ruling in Bragg v. Robertson that stopped miners from filling streams with rock and dirt stripped off mountain tops. The 4th Circuit in 2001 did not rule on the merits, instead it ruled that the 11th Amendment denies federal courts jurisdiction over state agencies like the W. VA. DEP even though SMCRA specifically allows citizens lawsuits in federal courts against state agencies charged with mine permitting and regulation. The US Supreme Court in 2002 ignored the citizens’ appeal and let the 4th Circuit’s decision stand.
Sludge Impoundment Action: In response to a citizen complaint filed in May by the Harlan County Chapter of the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KTFC) and the Kentucky Resources Council (KRC), the federal Office of Surface Mining inspected the Harlan-Cumberland Coal Company Turkeypen Impoundment and issued a federal Notice of Violation requiring the company to cease pumping water and slurry into the coal waste impoundment. The order also required also the company to improve monitoring of the volume of water discharging from the underground mine, and that the company either obtains approval for the increased pool elevation or by September 10, 2002 have reduced the elevation to the approved level of 1738 feet.
Mining Permit Reversed: When Nally and Hamilton Coal Company began hauling coal on the narrow residential Colliers Creek Road in Partridge, KY, the community endured the noise, the fumes, the dust, the disruption of their lives on a daily basis. Rebecca Boggs had the courage to stand up for herself and her neighbors and demanded that the use of the road be stopped unless it was brought under a mining permit. The state Cabinet refused to take action based on a “public road” exemption that was struck down by a federal judge in 1985 as being inconsistent with the mining law. The federal Office of Surface Mining, which had failed to make Kentucky change their regulation, took no action.
On August 9, 2002, a hearing officer for the state Office of Administrative Hearings issued a Report and Recommendation in her favor, requiring that the state use a test that focused on the extent of and damage from coal-related use of the road as well as public use. On September, 2002, Natural Resources Cabinet Secretary James Bickford adopted the recommendation of the Hearing Officer that the state agency must consider the extent of and damage from coal-related use of the road as well as public use, when determining whether a coal company whether the use of a public road for coal haulage by the company requires obtaining a permit for that road. The decision clarified that for any future decision on whether to require a road to be permitted (and which in turn would require waivers from each resident within 300-feet of the road), the agency must consider the coal-related use and impacts on the road rather then focusing on the amount of public use.
Cumulative Hydrologic Impact Assessments (CHIA): CCC joined Ohio River Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) and others in litigation to challenge how West Virginia performed cumulative hydrologic impact assessments (CHIA), required by SMCRA to prevent harm to a watershed by multiple coal operations, none of which would cause damage standing alone. Appellate courts in 2005 and 2006 upheld the trial court decision for the environmental groups.
Applicant Violator Enforcement: On behalf of Kentucky Resources Council, Inc. and Citizens Coal Council, Attorney Walt Morris submitted comments opposing a proposal by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (“OSM”) to allow applicants for mining permits to conceal from regulators and the public the identities of persons who have the actual ability to determine the manner in which the permit applicant will conduct mining operations. The OSM proposal would hamper the decision making process of regulatory authorities on whether to deny permits to corporations that own other corporations currently in violation of environmental laws.
Subsidence: CCC won a court decision protecting homes and historic places from subsidence.
SMCRA, § 1272(e), prohibits “surface coal mining operations” in national parks and other protected areas. Contrary to OSM’s interpretation, CCC and the National Trust for Historic Preservation argued that § 1272(e) also prohibits subsidence and underground mining activities that may cause subsidence under or adjacent to schools, churches, homes, cemeteries, and other surface features. The District Court in the District of Columbia decided for CCC in 2002. OSM and NMA appealed and the US Court of Appeals (DC) upheld OSM’s regulation. The Supreme Court refused to hear CCC’s appeal in 2004.
Griles Exposed: In September, The Washington Post wrote a front-page exposé on Steven Griles, the Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior that described his conflicts of interest and many meetings with the coal industry. The reporter relied on CCC’s extensive research, in cooperation with Friends of the Earth. CCC publicly demanded that Griles resign from the Bush Administration. On May 30, 2003, Now with Bill Moyers exposed Griles corruption. Congress ordered an investigation into Griles’ activities and Vanity Fair, published a 13-page report on Griles and the Department of the Interior in its September 2003, 20th Anniversary issue. Griles resigned his government post in January 2005 and was sentenced in June 2007 for lying about his role in the Abramoff scandal.