LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Coal isn't king
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced recently that 79 proposed mountaintop removal permits violated the Clean Water Act. Forty-nine of them are in Kentucky. This decision marks an effort to restore the rule of law and serves as a reminder that for years destructive permits have been little more than rubber-stamped.
As the nation moves away from coal, Kentucky has the most pending mountaintop removal permits. It also has proposals for several more coal-fired power plants and coal ash dumps. Despite coal's reign, Kentucky's coal counties rank lower on poverty scales than others in the region where coal is not mined. Kentucky ranks second in the number of coal ash impoundments and has some of the highest asthma rates. Coal contributes to a number of premature deaths and increased rates of cancer.
The Corps of Engineers has until November to address the EPA's concerns. Science tells us these permits should not be issued. We cannot engineer our way out of problems such as heavy metal pollution and the inability to restore healthy function to streams buried under tons of rubble. Until the state Division of Water and EPA prevent the dumping of waste in waterways, Kentuckians' health and economy will suffer for the coal industry's gains. Over the next 60 days we can let EPA know we want an end to the dumping of waste in our waters.
Lauren McGrath
Lexington