Biggest Step Ever on Mountaintop Removal & SEAC Helped It Happen!
Our organizing, pressure, and protests are making a difference!
Earlier today, the Environmental Protection Agency put all 79 of the Mountaintop Removal permits they were reviewing on temporary reprieve. This means that we are being heard and if we keep up the pressure on our government, WE CAN STOP MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL! This is the biggest step that the federal government has ever taken to halt the decimation of Appalachia's people, mountains, and economy.
Check out this protest that SEAC organized in Washington D.C. 1 month ago to demand an end to Mountaintop Removal at the EPA's national headquarters. Keep organizing in your community and we'll send out word when you can comment on this decision.
Our friends at Appalachian Voices released the following breakdown of what this recent decision means:
"The release of a list of 79 permits begins a 14-day countdown in which the EPA regional offices must respond to the EPA headquarters' recommendations. While we applaud the current decision by the EPA, these permits could still be approved.
The EPA's announcement is part of a coordination procedure outlined in a "memorandum of understanding" between the Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Interior to deal with a backlog of permits held up by litigation over the past few years. The EPA has promised a more stringent and transparent review of all mountaintop removal valley fill permit applications, and as of today they have delivered.
The EPA is requesting public comment during these 14 days and we need to send them the message loud and clear to stand firm. No more mountains or communities should be blasted off the map.
However, the EPA is not currently set up to receive these comments, so we will be sending you an alert early next week, providing the tools you need to thank the EPA and to make sure the regional offices keep these mountains and communities safe from mountaintop removal coal mining.
In the mean time, we have set up a new page on iLoveMountains.org where you can see the location and track of the status of the permits pending before the EPA. You can view the permit map and see videos of nearby communities threatened by mountaintop removal at:
