Interior Issues ANPR to Reverse Bush Stream Buffer Zone Rule

And in the meantime is rolling out a broader oversight program increasing scrutiny of MTR

The Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) announced yesterday that it is publishing an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) on how to protect streams from the adverse impacts of surface mining for coal, including mountaintop removal mining (MTR). This rule will revise current regulations including the stream buffer zone rule that the Bush Administration put out at the last minute in December 2008. (You can read a prior post on the stream buffer zone rule here.) Although the ANPR has not yet been sent to the Federal Register, when it is (which OSM says will happen "shortly"), the ID number will be OSM-2009-0009.

This move fulfills a promise that Interior made to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia two weeks ago. (Again, see prior post.) Although folks in coal country are surely rejoicing that this is moving forward, when Interior made that promise, environmental groups decried the timetable as too slow.

Perhaps it will help that, as yesterday's press release explains, "While the new rule is being developed, Interior is taking immediate actions to strengthen protections for streams and communities in coal country, provide regulatory certainty for industry, and bolster OSM’s oversight and enforcement activities." Specifically, OSM has established a new practice under which "the review and approval of [Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act] SMCRA permits must be coordinated with reviews and authorizations required under the Clean Water Act. OSM will work with the Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency to coordinate these permitting processes and ensure effective and coordinated compliance with provisions of the Clean Water Act." An overview of these practices and actions can be read here.

You can read the AP's account of this development here, one from Environment News Sevice here, and AFP's, here. For a local take on the action, see the Charleston (WV) Gazette here. And for reaction from the mining community, you can read an article on Mineweb.com entitled "Obama Administration mountaintop mining siege targets state mining regulation."