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Monday, July 8, 2013
Guardians Presses Case Against Coal Mine Pollution
Latest Data Confirms Clean Air, Climate at Risk from Illegal EPA Action
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 437-7663
Washington—As reports continue to show that coal mines nationwide annually release millions of tons of dangerous air pollution, WildEarth Guardians late last week stepped up efforts to overturn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to let the problem persist.
“While our clean air and our climate suffer, the Environmental Protection Agency is turning its back,” said Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians’ Climate and Energy Program Director. “Not only does this endanger America, it’s illegal, to boot.”
Coal mines nationwide release a host of harmful air pollutants, including particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. Of significant concern, however, is coal mine methane pollution. As a greenhouse gas, methane is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency released industry-reported greenhouse gas emissions for 2012. The data shows that nationally, coal mines release the equivalent of 28 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, as much as 8 coal-fired power plants. Mines in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Colorado, and Virginia are among the gassiest in the nation.
Much of this methane is released from underground mines that drill wells above coal seams and vent millions of cubic feet of gas daily. This practice is especially prevalent in the western states of Colorado and Utah. Click here to view pictures of methane drainage wells and venting in western Colorado.
In an opening brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the second most powerful court in the nation, WildEarth Guardians challenged the Environmental Protection Agency’s refusal to curtail this harmful pollution under the Clean Air Act. Earlier this year, the Agency rejected a petition filed by Guardians to finally protect Americans from methane and other harmful air pollutants from coal mines.
In its denial, the Agency did not disagree that coal mines release dangerous air pollution, but rather asserted that the matter was not a priority. This, despite a call from President Obama earlier this year “to make sure that we’re not seeing methane emissions” in the U.S.
“Although we disagree that the health and well-being of American communities, of our global climate, and our economy are not priorities, the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision simply flouts the Clean Air Act,” said Nichols. “Putting cynical politics ahead of sound science doesn’t just violate the trust and confidence of Americans, it also violates the Clean Air Act.”
Far from being a costly greenhouse gas to control, the Environmental Protection Agency reports there are numerous technologies and practices to control methane from coal mines (see, for example, the Agency’s report on opportunities to reduce ventilation methane).
The denial also set back efforts to curtail other harmful air pollutants from coal mining, including nitrogen dioxide emissions associated with blasting at strip mines and particulate matter emissions. In the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana, the largest coal producing region in the nation, blasting at strip mines produces more nitrogen oxide emissions than the region’s coal-fired power plants. Often, blasting produces toxic orange clouds of nitrogen oxides.
Guardians’ opening brief challenges the Environmental Protection Agency’s denial as contrary to the Clean Air Act, in part arguing that the Act does not allow the Agency to use bureaucratic convenience as an excuse to avoid regulating harmful air pollutants. A ruling is expected in 2014.
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