Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
taintop coal mining. In this practice, tops of mountains are blasted away to reveal sub-
terranean coal seams. Under the controversial “fill rule,” the fractured rock waste, which
can be toxic, is often bulldozed into local rivers, killing fish and making the water un-
drinkable.
Early in her tenure at EPA, Jackson approved over two dozen permits for mountain-
top coal mining that were holdovers from the Bush administration. Environmentalists
were aghast. “This mining is devastating Appalachia,” declared Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ,
Riverkeeper's chief prosecuting attorney. “Everyone expected Obama to do something
about it. Instead they're saying, 'We're going to let this happen.' “
A year later, Jackson admitted those quick approvals were a mistake. “In hindsight,
I certainly wish we could have gone through a longer process,” she told RollingStone.
In the meantime, she had put seventy-nine permits for mountaintop removal on hold,
pending a review to ensure that each complied with the Clean Water Act. In an un-
precedented move, the EPA revoked a permit for the Spruce No. 1 Mine , Appalachia's
largest mountaintop-removal operation, which had sought permission to destroy seven
miles of West Virginia streams.
In her first year on the job, Jackson seemed to find her footing in Washington, and water
quality emerged as an important theme for her. She declared that enforcement of the
Clean Water Act was “a priority,” while acknowledging that the EPA had fallen “short of
this administration's expectations …. The time is long overdue for EPA to reexamine its
approach.”
She vowed the agency would establish strict new benchmarks for state regulators,
compel companies to submit electronic pollution records so violations could more eas-
ily be detected, and target enforcement of the most egregious contamination cases. Jack-
son said that EPA regulators would refocus on nonpoint polluters, such as CAFO feed-
lots, mines, wastewater treatment plants, and building sites. Jackson also worked with
Congress on legislation to require chemical manufacturers to prove that their com-
pounds are safe before they enter the environment, saying, “Safety standards … should
rest on industry.” The EPA targeted 104 chemicals for regulation under the Safe Drink-
ing Water Act, a move that would more than double the 91 toxic substances currently
regulated.
In 2010, Jackson announced a new strategy to limit contaminants in drinking water.
Instead of assessing pollutants one by one, as in the past, the EPA said it intends to ad-
dress contaminants in groups, promote new treatment techniques, use multiple statutes
to protect water supplies, and build better state and local partnerships.
Despite these promising efforts, resistance to environmental regulation remains
strong. The agriculture industry, for example, worried that tougher regulations would
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