The industry argued that waste coal isn't high enough quality to meet the pollution standards. Environmental groups say the move is bad for public health.
They say miners are at particular risk: “They get dressed, travel down the elevator together…work in confined spaces, breathe the same air, operate the same equipment, and use the same shower facilities.”
In West Virginia, some are beginning to discuss life after coal. “We’re in it. We’re in the transition. It’s going to get worse before it gets better."
One reason: less coal mining means less money to clean up the 300,000 acres of abandoned mine lands and the 5,000 miles of waterways polluted from coal mining in the state.
One thing the report found was that the information system to track impacts dates back to the 1990s. Another finding is that coal companies are buying up land that they are mining under.
The study found an estimated 26,000 lives were saved by replacing coal with natural gas, but health impacts from fracking weren't considered in the study.
A new analysis of satellite imagery shows how a section of West Virginia with the most strip-mine damage from the coal industry is also the most susceptible to increased streamflow.
The rules include an extension for the closure of unlined coal ash lagoons. A recent study has shown more than 90% of these sites are leaking arsenic and other toxins at levels exceeding EPA health standards.
When it became clear that coal ash waste from a nearby power plant was making them sick, residents of one West Virginia town mobilized. But activists fear weakened regulations will make it harder for others to do the same.
