BREAKING: EPA halts over 100 new mountaintop removal mines

Terrific breaking news on the mountaintop removal front!

The Environmental Protection Agency is putting on hold hundreds of mountaintop coal-mining permits until it can evaluate the projects' impacts on streams and wetlands.

The decision was announced Tuesday by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson. It targets a controversial practice by coal mining companies that dump waste from mountaintop mining into streams and wetlands.

It could delay 150-250 permits being sought by companies wanting to begin blasting mountaintops to access coal.

Our friends at Power Past Coal have the full EPA statement. In a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers denying the two permits, the EPA wrote:

[T]hat the coal mines would likely cause water quality problems in streams below the mines, would cause significant degradation to streams buried by mining activities, and that proposed steps to offset these impacts are inadequate. EPA has recommended specific actions be taken to further avoid and reduce these harmful impacts and to improve mitigation.

Since we've been beating the drum pretty consistently in support of anti-mountaintop removal campaigns, this comes as excellent news. But there's still plenty to be done on this front. Our friends at iLoveMouintains.org have some next steps:

Call the White House and thank the administration for using sound science and common sense to put a hold on the permitting process. You can call the White House at 202-456-1111 or click here to be connected.

Help make the EPA’s decision permanent by telling Congress to pass the Clean Water Protection Act, which would outlaw the valley fills that the permitting process seeks to allow.

Spread the word about the disastrous effects of mountaintop removal coal mining by inviting your friends and family to join you at iLoveMountains.org.