Republicans push against stream protection rule

OREANDA-NEWS. A House of Representatives subcommittee hearing today on stream protection rules highlighted the increasing focus on the coal industry as the Republican-controlled Congress challenges President Barack Obama's administration on a broad array of energy issues.

House Republicans are pushing the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) to delay implementation of an update to stream protection rules. A bill proposed by representative Alex Mooney (R-West Virginia), HR 1644, would order OSM to study the industry impact of its proposed rulemaking and prevents implementation of a new rule for one year after the completion of the study to allow for congressional, industry and public review.

The bill would increase transparency in rulemaking affecting coal mining and prevent OSM from exceeding its jurisdiction at the expense of other federal agencies and state mining authorities, representative Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado) said at the hearing of the energy and mineral resources subcommittee of the House Committee on Natural Resources. Lamborn chairs the subcommittee.

Current federal regulations on stream buffer zones, stream-channel diversions, excess spoil and coal mine waste date to 1983. President George W. Bush's administration in December 2008, just a month before Obama took office, put in place a new stream protection rule, relaxing restrictions on coal mining within 100ft (30m) of streams. OSM under the Obama administration revised the rule and proposed its own revision, but legal challenges and congressional intervention slowed that effort.

OSM says it plans to release an updated stream protection rule this spring. The agency declined to comment on the congressional activity associated with its rulemaking.

The Republican members of the subcommittee and the industry experts at the hearing, including National Mining Association president Hal Quinn and Interstate Mining Compact Commission's Russell Hunter, spoke in support of HR 1644 and noted that states effectively are managing stream protection rules.

But subcommittee ranking member Alan Lowenthal (D-California) and Indiana University School of Public Health professor Michael Hendryx blasted the bill, which they said will result in negative health effects for communities where mining occurs.

So-called mountaintop removal coal mining is the most controversial practice potentially affected by the rule. It was also the subject of most debate at today's hearing.

"The requirements established by the bill will distract from the reality that people are suffering from the negative effects of strip mining," Lowenthal said.

"Several studies linked health issues to mountaintop mining in rural regions but other studies linked them to other problems, such as poverty," Lamborn said.

HR 1644 requires publication of raw data and other information informing the OSM studies behind the new rules.

Hendryx said publication of raw data in OSM studies will deter participation in health research, because participants' personal information will become public knowledge.

Lamborn said the bill could be revised to protect confidentiality of personal data.

No mark-up is scheduled for the bill at the Natural Resources Committee and there is no equivalent bill on the Senate side.

Several other bills proposed since the Republicans have taken control of both houses of Congress this year are addressing issues of concern to the coal industry, including the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan that is expected to force gigawatts of coal-fired capacity off line.