The Environment Protection Agency under the Obama Government has cancelled the mining permit for a coal mine in Logan County.
This follows pre election promises made by President Obama. Arch Coal owns the huge Spruce Mine No. 1 located in West Virginia. The permit was issued 4 years ago to Arch Coal.
The company has been providing 16% of America’s coal supply since and the move to cancel the permit has brought forth sharp reactions from democrats in the state. Senator Jay Rockefeller wrote a letter to the President expressing his outrage at the EPA veto of the rigorously reviewed and lawfully issued permit of the mine.
Senator Joe Manchin speared the EPA with the statement that it does not matter if the company did everything right and followed all the rules. Why? Because the EPA will just changes the rules as per Senator Manchin.
The EPA is using the Clean Water Act to justify the cancellation of the mountain top mining. The use of heavy explosives to expose seams of coal in the ridges will cause damage to the topography of the region and jeopardize the health of Appalachian communities and clean water on which they depend.
However the main outrage is about the $250 million that the company had invested in the mining operation and of the 215 mining jobs and 300 support services jobs that will be lost to Logan County in the time of economic distress.