ACTIVISTS SEE SENATE GAO REQUEST AS SIGNAL OF SUPPORT ON MINE WASTE

摘要

A bipartisan group of key senators is asking the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate EPA's role in a Department of Interior (DOI) proposed rule on the disposal of mining waste in streams, a move activists see as the first major signal that the Senate has concerns over the practice, which the environmentalists argue negatively effects water quality in Appalachian streams. In a June 20 letter, Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and environment panel member Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) ask GAO to investigate how EPA handled its preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the DOI's proposed revisions to its stream buffer rule covering mountaintop removal mining and valley fills.