EPA may have the final say on what the region does with coal

ABINGDON, Va. – Coal in Appalachia has always involved conflict, a kind of sacrifice of lives and land on an altar of progress. Development long has been driven by the lesser of two evils: the long-accepted belief that freezing in the dark is worse than mining damage.

Yet as technological advancements and environmental science play weightier roles in that balance – and mountaintop mining is increasingly under fire because of concerns about devastation to the landscape – Appalachia is finding itself between a rock and a hard place.

“Change has been a constant throughout the history of our coal industry,” U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., wrote in a newspaper column Dec. 4 as he called for less fear-mongering and more productive dialogue on the mountaintop mining debate.

“West Virginians can choose to anticipate change and adapt to it, or resist and be overrun by it,” wrote Byrd, a longtime coal industry supporter who shocked the state with his message. “One thing is clear. The time has arrived for the people of the Mountain State to think long and hard about which course they want to choose.”

Which is more important to the Appalachian region: the rugged landscape that has defined its history or the work that has sustained its generations? The decision rests in the hands of the federal government.

Greater regulation

As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency crafts new policy rules that will shape what is allowed while extracting coal from the Appalachian Mountains, four options seem possible:

* Keep the status quo: Changes to policy are minimal, and it’s business as usual for the coal industry in Appalachia.

* Restrict mining: Rewrite the permitting rules to better protect streams, adding tougher regulations for surface mining.

* End mountaintop mining: Eliminate permits for the creation of valley fills, which are needed for most surface mines to operate.

* Stop coal: Impose such strict regulations that deep mines as well as surface mines are made impossible or cost prohibitive to operate.

U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., said he’s concerned that the EPA’s decisions “could materially impair the ability of surface mining to continue in our region in a way that is profitable and meets the needs of our economy and our nation’s energy demands.”

Still, he said, he’s working to ensure Southwest Virginia’s voice is heard.

“I have been delivering a message that it is pointless to pursue dramatic changes in the law and procedures that would have the effect of undermining a vital part of our economy, particularly at a time when we need economic revitalization,” Boucher said. “I am hopeful that these concerns will be resolved in a way that does not adversely affect the economy of this region, and I’m working to try to get to this result.”

Even the environmentalists who want to see an end to mountaintop mining doubt that the EPA decisions will accomplish that goal.

“The moves that I’ve seen them make lately have not convinced me that they’re shutting down strip mining in the Appalachian region,” said Kathy Selvage, vice president of the Big Stone Gap-based group Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, which opposes mountaintop mining. “I do believe they are committed to clean water.”

A matter of water

Clean water, the piece of the regulatory pie that belongs to the EPA, has become a focal point of its action to effectively freeze all pending surface mine permits. But Matt Wasson, director of programs for the Boone, N.C.-based group Appalachian Voices, said the process will not stop surface mining.

“It sounds significant,” he said of Appalachia’s 14,000 surface mining jobs, “but I don’t think outside of just this region that that sort of hysteria that departs so far from reality is really going to carry a lot of weight.”

In testimony before a Senate subcommittee last summer, EPA official John “Randy” Pomponio acknowledged that coal matters to the U.S. economy. He also said environmental harm is done by permitted mines, and he stated a key focus that marks a change from past regulatory policy.

Pomponio said the issue that is most critical to future regulation is the cumulative effect of mining operations in a watershed.

Bill Bledsoe, executive director of the Virginia Mining Association, said one of two things could happen next: “At best, EPA and the coal industry will come to some agreement about what standards EPA will impose, and at worst, EPA will continue to struggle with where it wants to be and pretty much block permitting.”

Death by a thousand nicks

Kevin Crutchfield, chief executive officer of Virginia’s largest coal company, Abingdon-based Alpha Natural Resources, said a continued permitting bottleneck won’t hit the region hard overnight, but it will over the next couple of years.

“You’re constraining permits, which will ultimately mean the jobs that work out won’t have a permit to replace them,” Crutchfield said. “It will be more like death by a thousand nicks.”

Beyond employment, it also will impact economic development efforts, he said, because any permits that do make it through the system likely will be smaller and more restricted.

“It’s a really serious issue because a lot of what you’re seeing won’t exist in the future,” he said, referencing a mixed-use development park under construction on an 1,100-acre flattened mountaintop in Buchanan County. “All that redevelopment is going to go by the wayside because you won’t be able to get permits to do that kind of thing.”

Crutchfield said the permitting process as it stands now is unprecedented and unclear – and some of the new standards are troubling.

“Everybody’s getting called in to talk about their permits,” he said. “We know what we’re being asked to do, and those are steps we’re not willing to take.”

Technology can’t solve the problem of what to do with excess dirt and rock from the mine if a valley fill is not allowed, Crutchfield said, and with a difficult and uncertain regulatory climate, it won’t be surprising if some U.S. companies start to diversify by seeking opportunities outside the United States.

“It’s an exercise in logistics,” Crutchfield said. “It’s going to reach a point where it’s just no longer economical.”

Turning off the lights

National Mining Association spokeswoman Carol Raulston said there’s been no clear explanation from the EPA on the agency’s ultimate goal, but it’s very clear from the list of frozen fill permits that regulatory changes affect underground as well as surface mines.

All of Appalachia’s coal jobs are at risk, Raulston said.

“The people in the region are very concerned about their jobs, and that’s a very real concern,” she said.

Jason Bostic, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association, said the EPA understands that surface mining is legal.

“It was authorized by Congress specifically in 1977, so they can’t outright prohibit it,” Bostic said, “but what they can do is make the regulatory rules so complex and so burdensome that operators won’t invest there and coal production won’t come from the Appalachian basin anymore.”

Bostic also said the industry’s future will depend on the ability of elected leaders to control EPA bureaucrats and force them to respect the sovereignty of state regulatory programs.

“If the states don’t defend their ability to regulate the activities in their borders, then EPA will indeed hijack these programs,” Bostic said, “and you won’t be able to make a move until you get approval from someone in EPA, from somebody who’s never seen, been to or lived near a coal mine up a hollow in Appalachia.”

The federal government, Bostic said, “doesn’t have a good track record with trying to run things.”

Phillip Mullins, director of permitting and environmental affairs for Cumberland Resources, said, “They want to make it so hard that you’ll give up. If it happens, it will be chaotic, the cost of energy will skyrocket, unemployment will skyrocket and this end of the state will become a ghost town.”

“I hope politically at some point this is going to turn and people are going to say, ‘Wait a minute, this is insane,’ ” Mullins said.

Bledsoe said he doesn’t think the environmental movement will succeed in shutting down coal in Appalachia.

“Certain industries can be hurt, permits can be delayed and certain permits may never be issued,” Bledsoe said, “but the nation can’t do without electricity, and coal is the primary provider of electricity.”

Get it done

There is one thing on which the coal industry and environmentalists agree: Whatever the EPA is ultimately going to do, it should decide soon.

“On both sides, we’re really frustrated,” Wasson said. “The longer you stay on the fence the worse it gets.”

Ted Pile, spokesman for Alpha, said the delays make it impossible to make long-term plans.

“Unreasonable permitting delays have forced some operations to shut down, while others are laying off workers,” Pile said. “We need a clear and unambiguous permitting process to continue mining and help meet America’s energy needs and keep people employed.”

Selvage said people on both sides need to work together to come up with “a more holistic economy.”

“We are all former miners or miners’ sons and daughters, so we understand it,” she said. “There will be a time – or there should be a time – when miners and environmentalists sit across the table from one another … and try to determine what common ground we have.”

The region’s elected officials said they’d gladly welcome green jobs and other diverse industries, but that doesn’t mean Southwest Virginia – nor Appalachia – can give up its bread and butter.

“We’re going to do everything we can to fight with the Corps of Engineers and EPA who are trying to put us out of business,” state Sen. Phillip Puckett, D-Lebanon, declared to a crowded room at a legislative breakfast in November.

“Our message to the people who will listen is how do you plan to replace 50 percent of the generating capacity in this country if you’re going to shut down coal,” Puckett said. “This is not something you can sit on the sidelines about; it’ll be too late if you do. So if you haven’t been involved in the process, you need to be involved in the process immediately so we can protect the way of life and the economic viability of our region.”

dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701