Ed Hopkins, a top Sierra Club official, said some of the projects that have now obtained the EPA's blessing "are as large and potentially destructive as the ones they objected to."
"It makes us wonder what standards -- if any -- the administration is using," Hopkins said.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, June 04, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 42 words Type of Material: Correction
Mountaintop mining: A headline on an article in Sunday's Section A said mining had been approved on mountain peaks. The Environmental Protection Agency said it wouldn't block the mining projects, but the final decision is up to the Army Corps of Engineers.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, June 07, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 44 words Type of Material: Correction
Mountaintop mining: A headline on an article in the May 31 Section A said mining had been approved on mountain peaks. The Environmental Protection Agency said it wouldn't block the mining projects, but the final decision is up to the Army Corps of Engineers.
EPA and White House officials say that about 200 proposed mining projects are under review and that the administration already had taken steps to break from Bush-era policies.
"We want to make informed decisions guided by science and the law, and a change in such a practice is not something that happens overnight," said Christine Glunz, a spokeswoman for the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
But after the EPA's initial announcement in March that it would conduct aggressive reviews, Manchin and Rahall took the coal industry's concerns to White House officials, including Emanuel and Nancy Sutley, who heads the Council on Environmental Quality.
Manchin said he told the White House that "we are looking for a balance between the environment and the economy, and they assured me that they will work with us to find that balance."
Environmentalists were stunned to learn from Rahall's office May 15 that the EPA had given its blessing to 42 out of the 48 mine projects it had reviewed so far -- including two dozen mountaintop removals.
The news came in a letter to Rahall from Michael Shapiro, the EPA's acting assistant administrator, who wrote, "I understand the importance of coal mining in Appalachia for jobs, the economy, and meeting the nation's energy needs."
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tom.hamburger@latimes.com
peter.wallsten@latimes.com
