Industry Attacks On EPA Mining Limits Could Inform Data Quality Challenge

摘要

The mining industry is stepping up its attacks on two draft scientific reports that EPA is using to set strict water quality limits for mountaintop mining, with industry releasing more than 100 pages of legal and scientific analysis criticizing the reports that could inform a future Data Quality Act challenge (DQA) over the limits.rnThe National Mining Association (NMA) submitted the analysis in Sept. 3 comments to EPA, broadly attacking the reports that EPA uses to justify its approach of instructing permit reviewers to a strict conductivity benchmark as a criteria for issuing Clean Water Act (CWA) permits for mines. The use of conductivity - a measure of salinity - has drawn criticism from industry and others who say it is an "arbitrary" benchmark.