Obama Administration Curtails Mountaintop Mining

Consider this regulation of an environmentally-destructive practice:

The Obama administration on Thursday imposed strict new environmental guidelines that are expected to sharply curtail "mountaintop" coal mining, a controversial practice that has enriched Appalachia's economy while rearranging its topography....

It was hailed by environmentalists but condemned by coal industry officials, who said it would render a technique that generates about 10 percent of U.S. coal largely impractical. 

At "mountaintop removal" mines, which are unique to Appalachian states, miners blast the peaks off mountains to reach coal seams inside and then pile vast quantities of rubble in surrounding valleys. Under the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, hundreds of such sites received federal permits. 

But on Thursday, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said those "valley fills" will be curtailed. She cited new scientific evidence showing that when rainwater is filtered through the jumbles of rock, it emerges imbued with toxins, poisoning small mountain streams. 

Now compare it to his executive order which lifted the "ceremonial ban on hypothetical oil reserves." This is why you know the Obama Administration is not conservadem - the actions they take tend to be liberal, while they try to neutralize conservative opposition using rhetoric.

Will the "progressive" bloggers who freaked out about the oil exploration thing credit Obama for this? Not fucking likely.* And that's why I'm glad no one listens to "progressive" bloggers.

* - okay, maybe John Cole will, because he's not a total asshole who can't remember what happened or what he said about it from one day to the next.

Comments

[G. S. Bahuaud]

If anyone thinks mountain blasting is bad, then Google "Fort McMurray" or "Alberta tar sands". The amount of green house gasses generated, the damage to the environment, and the waste of fresh water is outrageous. Yet, politics, and the almighty dollar rule the way.