Aquatic Ecosystem Enhancement at Mountaintop Mining Sites精品.pdf

Aquatic Ecosystem Enhancement at Mountaintop Mining Sites About the Mountaintop Mining/Valley Fill Environmental Impact Statement The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), U.S. Office of Surface Mining (OSM), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), in cooperation with the State of West Virginia, are preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on a proposal to consider developing agency policies, guidance, and coordinated agency decision making processes to minimize, to the maximum extent practicable, the adverse environmental effects to waters of the United States and to fish and wildlife resources from mountain top mining operations, and to environmental resources that could be affected by the size and location of fill material in valley fill sites. The draft EIS will be released for public comment during the summer of 2000. The final EIS is slated for completion by January 2001. Early in 1998, the four Federal agencies now involved in the EIS formed a work group and agreed on a series of priority areas where more information and analysis would assist them in regulating the effects of valley fills associated with mining operations. Study plans were adopted and funded for undertaking valley fill inventories in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Virginia; for assessing the stability of valley fills; and for assessing the potential for downstream flooding from these mining operations. The agencies also placed priority on studying the impacts of valley fills on aquatic habitat; on surveying and evaluating mitigation practices being employed in West Virginia and neighboring Appalachian Coalfield States; and on evaluating how to better coordinate the Federal regulatory programs. These studies were underway or in the planning stages when the Bragg v. Roberston settlement agreement was reached. With the decision to prepare an EIS, the