The Environment Protection Agency in the U.S. is may have to adhere to a deadline of 60 days for mining permit approvals if some law makers have their way. U.S. Reps. Hal Rogers of Kentucky and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia have brought in a Mining Jobs Protection Act into the House that will help protect Appalachian coal miners.
The House bill seeks to give the Environment Protection Agency up to 60 days to accept or reject the permit applications from mining companies. This is similar to a bill that was filed in the Senate last week by U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma. The purpose of the bill is to cut down on the indefinite waiting time currently faced by mining companies for mining permits.
Hal Rogers said that continued and arbitrary delays in the permitting process are threatening to put our people out of work. He added that with unemployment hovering at 9 percent, our job-creating industries need regulatory certainty. Not more of EPA's aggressive and overzealous strangulation by regulation.
Shelley Moore Capito said that she was pushing back hard on the EPA's attempts to legislate through regulation. Holding permits in limbo, or worse - vetoing existing ones - threatens the mining industry and the millions of people it employs she added.
Under the Obama administration the EPA has been accused of using the clear waters act to advance an anti coal vendetta by holding up or revoking mining permits for open coal mines. However environmentalists defend the EPA saying that impact of the mines on adjacent communities must be studied.