Bloomberg's Jim Efstathiou Jr. writes about the threat the mayfly posses to mountaintop removal coal mining in the East. The Bloomberg reporter writes that applicants for new mines must show that they won't cause pollution that will adversely affect the mayfly. (Above.) Efstathiou writes: "That puts at risk about $3 billion a year in coal that operators led by Massey Energy Co. and International Coal Group Inc. extract in Appalachia, said Kevin Book, an analyst at ClearView Energy Partners LLC. Without fresh permits to dump debris, mines may shut by 2012 in states such as West Virginia, he said. 

'The future of mountaintop mining looks bleak,' Book, who is based in Washington, said in an interview. 'Ripping off mountaintops gets cheap clean coal, but there’s no way to do it without environmental impacts.'"

Deepmining coal adds from $3 to $10 a ton to production costs. Mountaintop removal accounts for 6 percent of U.S. coal production. And ending mountaintop mining in Appalachia would remove 70 million tons a year from the market, increasing the demand for western coal. "More than 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometers) of creeks and streams have been buried by mining debris in Appalachia from surface-mining techniques, including mountaintop removal, the EPA said in 2005," Efstathiou wrote.

The EPA for the first time has held up mountaintop mining permits because of potential harm to the mayfly.

The Danes' shift to renewable, local energy sources have revitalized former textile towns and turned blacksmiths into wind-power entrepreneurs.

The big news late Friday afternoon was that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it had moved to veto the Clean Water Act permit for the largest mountaintop removal mine in West Virginia history — and the largest MTR mine in Appalachia. As readers of the Yonder know, coal companies using this technique cut off the tops of mountains down to the coal and then push the leftover rock and soil down into the valleys below. As usual, our go-to guy for this coverage is Ken Ward Jr. of the Charleston Gazette.

Environmentalists and landowners in West Virginia have been protesting MTR mines for years, claiming they ruin streams and landscapes. They've been battling this mine since '98. Arch Coal's Spruce Mine would have buried more than seven miles of West Virginia streams, according to an EPA press release. It also would have employed hundreds of miners. That has set up a debate about the environment and employment among everyone involved: the federal government, West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts, the coal industry and the courts.

Arch Coal was "shocked that EPA would take such an action in light of the strong support for the Spruce permit voiced by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers" and West Virginia. Gov. Manchin said, "To say that I am mad would be an understatement." Environmental groups have been pressing the Obama administration to be stronger in opposing MTR mines. They apparently have gotten their wish. Now we'll wait to see how this plays politically in a state that Obama lost by 13 percentage points in 2008. 

The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that the Obama administration "moved to curtail the practice of mountaintop mining to extract coal, angering mining companies that said the move threatens thousands of jobs." The Environmental Protection Agency announced that it had held up 79 permit applications for mountaintop removal projects. Yonder readers will remember that coal companies in the eastern mountains now remove the entire tops of mountains to take the coal underneath, pushing the tops of the hills into the valleys and streams below. The EPA said these 79 permits may violate the federal Clean Water Act. "Each of them, as currently proposed, is likely to result in significant harm to water quality and the environment," the EPA said in a statement Wednesday.

The National Mining Association said the EPA's ruling will discourage new mining investment. "If they're not intending to damage the coal industry, then they've made an enormous miscalculation," said Luke Popovich, a NMA spokesman. Blocking mountaintop mining has become a major issue in West Virginia, pitting landowners and environmentalists against coal companies and the United Mine Workers.