Mountaintop mining: When government agencies need to be aggressive
More and more authoritative scientific studies are saying — categorically — that mountaintop mining is dangerous to people’s health and the environment, and Allen Hershkowitz at NRDC is calling for the government to take action. He calls for the National Research Council to look at these reports and issue its own opinion. Until that happens, he says that
the US EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Interior should implement a categorical moratorium on the issuance of new permits, regardless of a mine’s size or location.
If mountaintop mining is stopped, it will inevitably be called a sign of “aggressive government action.” On the other hand, stopping private companies from severing mountains in America’s last wildernesses would seem to be the perfect example of healthy conservatism.