Charleston, WV-- This week, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt made the decision to approve the state of West Virginia’s attempt to delay by as much as 9 years its duty to set maximum pollution limits (“Total Maximum Daily Loads” or TMDLS) for 467 of the state’s most precious waterways and streams.
These streams have already been identified as “biologically impaired,” 177 of which are impaired by “ionic toxicity,” often measured as conductivity pollution, much of which is the result of mountaintop removal coal mining. Earlier this year, a federal district court in West Virginia had ordered EPA to respond to West Virginia’s action, in a lawsuit brought by Sierra Club, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, and the West Virginia Rivers Coalition.
The groups whose lawsuit compelled EPA’s review of West Virginia’s actions are represented by attorneys with Appalachian Mountain Advocates.
In response, Jim Kotcon, Chapter Chair for Sierra Club’s West Virginia Chapter, released the following statement:
“We are disappointed with EPA’s decision and its continued failure to make sure that the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) does its job. EPA should have assumed responsibility itself for setting pollution limits for these streams. Instead, it has allowed DEP to continue sheltering the polluters on these streams for up to nine more years, at the expense of the communities that depend on clean water. We are still analyzing the decision and considering next steps, but we want these streams cleaned up now!
“One thing is clear, however: Under Scott Pruitt, the EPA is refusing to recognize its own science and abdicating responsibility for protecting streams that continue to be poisoned by conductivity pollution from mountaintop removal mining, including mines that supposedly have already been reclaimed. Instead of enforcing the law, as a regulatory agency should, Pruitt is an accomplice of the coal industry that doesn't care about the West Virginia communities that depend on these clean streams.”