When a House subcommittee takes up a mining industry-backed bill at a hearing Friday, it will mark another episode in a highly partisan saga dating back at least to the George W. Bush Administration involving the dumping of waste from coal mines near streams. The bill, H.R. 2824, is sponsored by Reps. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, and Douglas Lamborn, R-Colo., both of whom count the mining industry among their top contributors, according to Influence Explorer.
Environmentalists charge the Bush-era rule repealed decades-old, though not well enforced, prohibitions on mining activities within 100 feet of streams. The mining industry backs the ...
Continue readingHouse passage of Cravaack land swap bill boosts freshman’s profile, fundraising
The Minnesota Education Investment and Employment Act would order the federal government to take 86,000 acres of state land inside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), part of the federally protected Superior National Forest, and give Minnesota a similar amount of federal-owned land just outside the wilderness--and its limits on develepment.
Continue readingWhen transparency can save lives
Dan Froomkin has a good write-up of the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) failure to release certain notes related... View Article
Continue readingMore on mining investigation transparency
Ken Ward, Jr. points to a statement by Sen. Jay Rockefeller calling for Senate hearings on the Upper Big Branch... View Article
Continue readingUpper Big Branch Mine Had Most Serious Citations Among Massey-owned W. Va. Mines
The Upper Big Branch Mine that suffered the most serious mining disaster since 1984 on Monday has received the most... View Article
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