House Natural Resources Committee Reports Water Rights, Environmental Bills Favorably

摘要

The House Natural Resources Committee favorably reported a water rights bill and three environmental management bills to the floor, one of which would implement a controversial 2008 rule for disposing of coal waste near streams. The committee Nov. 14 favorably reported on H.R. 2824, an amendment to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act which would require states to implement a stream buffer protection rule issued on Dec. 12, 2008. That action, taken in the final weeks of the Bush presidency, loosened requirements of a 1983 rule which had prohibited depositing waste or coal ash within 100 feet of a stream.