Before the blasting begins, and long after the blasting stops, mountaintop removal poisons water in Appalachian communities.
Countless families have fought to protect their homes and land from dangerous mining pollution that flows into the nearby streams, contaminating the watershed and well water for drinking. Inaction from the state to protect communities and families leaves them with little choice but to abandon their homes and the land they love.
Luckily when the states fail to protect the health of Appalachia families and communities, the EPA still can.
Tell the EPA to act on its own science and issue a legally binding water quality conductivity standard to protect streams and communities in Appalachia from mountaintop removal mining pollution.
Appalachia is locked to bad water by the inaction of state regulators. They have failed time and time again to protect the health of Appalachian streams and communities shouldering the heavy costs of mountaintop removal coal mining. EPA has the key to unlock a brighter, healthier, and more prosperous future for Appalachia.
I urge the EPA to issue a new regulation setting federal numeric water quality standards on conductivity to protect streams and communities in Appalachia from mountaintop removal mining pollution. For far too long, under the lax enforcement of the states, coal operators have been dumping mine waste into the headwaters of the streams that sustain wildlife and provide drinking water for Appalachian communities.
EPA and independent scientists have repeatedly documented that waters downstream of mountaintop removal sites are harmed by high levels of conductivity pollution. In 2010 EPA issued a guidance to protect Appalachian streams. A guidance is non-binding and states have shown repeatedly they are unable to enforce the provisions under the Clean Water Act and the coal industry cannot police itself.
[Your comments here]
It is time for the EPA to step in where the states have failed. EPA is authorized under the Clean Water Act to bring relief to Appalachians by creating a legally binding and permanent numeric conductivity rule. EPA can unlock Appalachia from dirty water and the heavy costs associated with mountaintop removal. Help us all have a healthy and prosperous future.
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