Safe at the top: New EPA policy will make it harder to mine for coal by blasting the tops off of mountains.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—It’s hard to keep track of all the legislation, regulation, proposals, and policy changes that are happening these days that could affect environmental and personal health. Which is why, starting this week, Rodale.com brings you this recurring rudown of some of the policy stories we’re following.

EPA Restricts Mountaintop Removal Coal Permits
This week proved eventful for opponents of mountaintop-removal coal mining, a particularly devastating type of mining that involves blasting the tops off mountains (and clear-cutting valuable forests) to reveal seams of coal beneath them. The remnants of the blasts, often millions of tons of rock, dirt, and vegetation, are then dumped into valleys, where they bury streams, dry up drinking-water wells and raise risk of flooding. On Tuesday, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lisa Jackson wrote two letters of warning to the Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for handing out Clean Water Act permits to mountaintop-mining operations that impact waterways. Referring specifically to two projects in West Virginia and Kentucky, she expressed “considerable concern regarding the environmental impact these projects would have on fragile habitats and streams.” Under the Clean Water Act, the EPA is required to review all permits submitted by the Corps, and Jackson’s letters stated that the agency intends to review other permits that may have been rushed through, thanks to a recent relaxation of environmental review standards. This is perhaps the most vocal stance the EPA has taken on the issue. However, the agency is still allowing mining companies with existing permits to dump mine waste in valleys and streams.

Appalachia Restoration Act
A second victory for mountaintop-removal mining opponents came from Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) the day after Jackson’s memo. The two senators introduced the Appalachia Restoration Act (S. 696), a bill that would amend the Clean Water Act to prevent the dumping of mining blasts into nearby rivers and streams. With these restrictions on dumping, the bill would ultimately make mountaintop-removal mining impossible. You can ask your senators and representatives in Congress to support the Act by e-mailing them the letter written at ilovemountains.org.

Water Quality Investment Act
A little over 2 weeks ago, the House passed the Water Quality Investment Act, which provides $19.4 billion in funding to improve wastewater treatment infrastructure and other types of water quality. Part of that funding will go to municipal governments to develop “green infrastructure,” such as permeable pavement, rain gardens, and vegetated medians, to help divert storm runoff and prevent rainwater overflows that can carry pollutants into rivers and waterways. The bill was amended to also require the EPA to study the presence of pharmaceuticals and personal-care product chemicals in the nation’s waterways, and to come up with recommendations on how to properly dispose of pharmaceuticals. (Currently, there are no laws banning hospitals from flushing pills down the toilet, the most common way drugs are disposed of.)

Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act
Finally this week, a bill banning the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in farm-raised animals was reintroduced in both the House and the Senate. The bill, supported by the American Medical Association and other environmental and health advocacy groups, would require animal producers to stop routine use of antibiotics. The American Farm Bureau, an industry group, has opposed the bill, claiming that farmers currently use antibiotics only to treat sick animals. But consumer-health advocates disagree, claiming that antibiotics are more likely used as growth promoters than for disease. Overuse of these antibiotics may be contributing to the problem of antibiotic resistance, the rise of germs that are hard to kill with standard medication. Numerous studies have shown that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are common in large-scale concentrated animal-feeding operations (or CAFOs). Independent tests have revealed that raw chicken from farms that do not use antibiotics have lower levels of antibiotic-resistant strains of campylobacter bacteria than raw chicken from farms that use antibiotics.

Make your voice heard on these issues: Go to www.senate.gov or www.house.gov to get in touch with your elected officials.