Conflict over mountaintop removal

Conflict over stream destruction: Clinton

1998: Lawsuit filed by environmental lawyers against federal agencies (Army Corps of Engineers, EPA) claiming that mountaintop removal (and stream filling) violate Clean Water Act
1999: Federal judge rules in favor of environmental lawyers. Clinton administration, faced with potential shutdown of all mountaintop mining, agrees to negotiate ``fill rule'' agreement with industry to and to undertake a scientific review of environmental impacts
2000: Negotiations between EPA and industry stall. West Virginia coal industry joins Bush campaign, raises $275,000

Conflict over stream destruction: Bush

2001: Bush administration instructs EPA to redirect scientific review to focus on ``centralizing and streamlining coal-mine permitting,'' demands all proposals for limiting valley fills be removed
2002: Bush administration issues fill rule that sides entirely with industry
2004: Bush administration responds to further litigation on stream-fill by issuing a ``clarification'' that effectively re-writes the CWA

Conflict over stream destruction: Obama

2009: EPA attempts to implement more scientifically rigorous analysis of mountaintop-removal permits
January 2011: EPA vetoes CWA permit for (Arch Coal, Inc., second largest coal company in US, subsidiary) Mingo Logan Coal Company's Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County, West Virginia, nation's largest proposed mountaintop removal
October 2011: Federal judge prohibits EPA from subjecting stream-fill applications to more rigorous review
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