Take Action: Protect Rivers from Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining!

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Ask your representative to co-sponsor the Clean Water Protection Act (H.R. 2169)

George Bush and his friends in the coal industry just won't let a bad idea die. As you know, the Bush administration recently announced plans to loosen environmental regulations and expand the destructive practice of mountaintop removal coal mining.

But that's just the latest of many attempts in a seven-year history to undo environmental protections and boost Big Coal's profits.

In 2002, the Bush administration rewrote clean water regulations allowing mining companies to dump debris from mountaintop removal mining directly into rivers and streams. This undermined the Clean Water Act, which had prevented mining companies from using waterways as waste disposal sites. To date more than 1,200 miles of rivers and streams have been buried and destroyed by debris from mountaintop removal coal mining.

Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey and Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut introduced a bill last spring that would reaffirm Clean Water Act protections prohibiting mining companies and other industries from dumping solid industrial wastes into the nation's waters. The bill has already picked up 60 sponsors, but it needs more!

Now you can make a difference by asking your representative to co-sponsor the Pallone-Shays Clean Water Protection Act, H.R. 2169.

Tell me more

Subject:

Dear [ Decision Maker ],

(Edit Letter Below)

I am writing to ask you to become a co-sponsor of the Clean Water Protection Act, H.R. 2169. This bill is critical for protecting the nation's waters from being polluted and buried by waste created during mountaintop removal coal mining. Mountaintop removal mining involves clear-cutting native hardwood forests, blowing up entire mountaintops, and dumping millions of tons of debris into nearby streams in order to get at coal seams that lie deep beneath the surface. Already, more than 1,000 miles of Appalachian streams have been destroyed by mountaintop removal mining operations.

For 25 years, the Clean Water Act (CWA) allowed for the granting of permits to place "fill material" into waters of the United States, provided that the primary purpose of the "filling" was not for waste disposal. As such, the CWA prohibited mountaintop removal operations from using the nation's waterways as waste disposal sites. That changed in 2002, when the Army Corps of Engineers, under the direction of the Bush administration and without congressional approval, altered its longstanding definition of "fill material" to include mining waste. This change accelerated the devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining and the destruction of more than 1,000 miles of Appalachian streams.

To stop this devastation of the nation's waterways, Representatives Frank Pallone and Christopher Shays have introduced the Clean Water Protection Act--a simple piece of legislation that restores the original intent of the Clean Water Act to clarify that fill material cannot be comprised of mining waste.

Passing this legislation would protect all the nation's rivers, streams, and lakes from being used as garbage dumps for mining waste. It would also help end the destruction of the Appalachian Mountains, home to our nation's most diverse forests and streams, the headwaters of the drinking water supply of many eastern cities, and a unique and valuable American culture that has endured for generations.

Please join scores of other representatives who have sponsored the Clean Water Protection Act. Thank you for your attention to this important issue.

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]

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