EPA shuts down one of the largest Coal Mines in U.S.

Here we go. We better stock up on firewood. With oil reaching over $100.00 a barrel this has to be a great move in helping out the employment and energy problem we have today. This will test the new congress, and we will soon discover the amount of backbone in  de-funding the EPA until they stop wrecking our economy. Newer methods are needed, but to shut the mine  now sets the predicate for more mine shutdowns to come. Any business can be shut down and put out of business after enormous investment. No one in energy will want to invest in new projects.

“It’s a horrible message that … [EPA can] go back and re-review and potentially veto any mining permit that has been issued,” said Chris Hamilton, the president of the West Virginia Coal Association. “So it completely erodes any stability or predictability that the industry has, which has been very little in the last 24 months to begin with.”
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In a statement today, the EPA announced that it was revoking the waste disposal permit at a mountain top mine because of concerns that the waste was polluting nearby Appalachian rivers. The decision effectively shuts down one of the largest mines in the U.S.

It is the first time in the agency’s 40-year history that it has canceled a federal water permit for a project after it was issued.

The EPA noted in its own press release that it was asserting a rarely used authority:

EPA has used this Clean Water Act authority in just 12 circumstances since 1972 and reserves this authority for only unacceptable cases. This permit was first proposed in the 1990s and has been held up in the courts ever since.

Green groups applauded the decision but many in Congress, including West Virginia’s Democratic senators Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin, are not happy. However the real heat may come from the House. In a statement e-mailed to reporters, Issa said:

At a time when permanent, full-time job creation is our nation’s top priority, you really have to question the wisdom of institutionalizing a process that puts the job creators in the untenable position of knowing that the EPA, at any time, can interject and prevent operations from moving forward after all the appropriate permits have been obtained. This is the type of action that is cultivating a climate of uncertainty that will ultimately result in more businesses going under and Americans being unemployed longer.

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