Obama Backtracks on Mountaintop Mining

Coal industry lobbyists appear to have valuable access to White House officials, and they’re using it to expand mountaintop mining in the Appalachians, according to an article in The Los Angeles Times [1].

[2]Naturally, environmentalists are disappointed. But their concern is not solely over the environmental impact of mountaintop mining, which involves blasting the tops off mountains, scraping away coal deposits, and dumping a portion of the debris into nearby valleys and streams. Political integrity is at stake too, as President Obama has spoken out against mountaintop mining, and his administration has pledged to curb its practice. The LA Times explains:

Shortly after his inauguration, Obama won praise from the green lobby for taking a skeptical view of the mining process. And in March the EPA announced it would review the mountaintop projects, breaking from the Bush administration's practice of granting permits with little or no scrutiny.

[…]

Soon afterward, the [EPA] in effect blocked six major pending mountaintop removal projects in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. 

Additionally, the Obama administration is trying to reverse [3] one of the Bush administration’s midnight regulations [4]that had weakened restrictions on where the debris from mountaintop mining can be dumped.

But then, the Obama administration reversed course and approved at least two dozen mountaintop mining projects, according to the LA Times. To boot, the reversal appears to have come at the behest of the coal industry:

Coal advocates have solicited help from officials as high up as White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. And the issue has sparked contentious debates within the administration, including one shouting match in which top officials from two government agencies were heard pounding their fists on the table, according to sources briefed on the meeting who requested anonymity when discussing White House dealings. 

The Times goes on to describe the lobbying effort as “a series of White House meetings with coal companies and advocates including [West Virginia Democrat Rep. Nick] Rahall and Democratic West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III.

Two points: First, it’s disappointing to see that the coal industry and its political allies hold so much sway inside the Obama White House. Weren’t we all promised that the days of special interest lobbying had come to an end?

Second, where is the transparency? Who are the coal company representatives visiting the White House, and who are they visiting with? Weren’t we also promised an end to shadowy decision making?

OMB Watch has repeatedly asked the administration to disclose communications between and among agencies, the White House, and non-governmental parties, including meeting summaries. (See here [5]and here [6]for examples.) While the Office of Management and Budget is still in the process of reforming the regulatory process, this story proves why more aggressive disclosure requirements are necessary.

Photo by Flickr user NRDC media [7], used under a Creative Commons license.