Testimony of Mr. Kevin Richardson
President and Founder of the Just Within Reach Foundation
Before the
Senate Committee on
Environment and Public Works
Sub-committee on
Clean Air, Climate Change and Wetlands
Respectfully submitted
June 6, 2002
Mr. Chairman, Honorable Committee members, guests� I�m
here today to talk about the systematic destruction of one
of the most beautiful, productive
and historic regions of our country � my home state of
Kentucky, the mountains of West Virginia and Tennessee, and
the other areas of Appalachia where the
practice of mountaintop coal mining has taken over.
In the midst of their giant lakes of coal sludge that
sometimes burst without warning, their constant dynamiting
that shakes homes from their foundations,
their transformation of forested mountain ranges into flat,
gravel-covered moonscapes, and their contamination of well
water and aquifers, coal companies engage in
the practice of �valley fill� � our reason for being here
today.
For years, the Corps of Engineers has routinely issued
permits to coal companies in the Southeast and Appalachia,
allowing them to fill valleys and
waterways with �overburden� from their mountaintop-removal
coal extraction operations. Overburden, along with coal
sludge, are the byproducts of extracting
and washing coal, before shipping it to electric generating
plants around the country. EPA officials, residents living
in the shadows of the mines and citizen groups
have questioned the validity and legality of the Corp�s
decision to issue such permits -- permits for an activity
that dumps mining waste into the region�s streams,
rivers and valleys. Hundreds of millions of tons of
industrial mining byproduct are pushed into the valleys
surrounding coal extraction sites, to date, burying over
1,500 miles of headwater streams in West Virginia and my
home state. Valley fills destroy the spawning grounds that
support our recreational fishing industry, they
contaminate our drinking water and they trash our thriving
tourist industry that relies on the natural beauty of our
area.
In April, a Federal District Court judge finally
brought some needed attention to this issue by ruling that
the Corps� practice of issuing valley fill permits
violates Congress� intent in the Clean Water Act and its
restrictions on using waterways for industrial waste
disposal. The Administration�s recent attempt to
circumvent the Clean Water Act by rewriting the rules to
define coal extraction waste as �fill� is a nice gesture to
their friends in the industry. But it clearly exceeds
the Administration�s legal authority granted under the Act.
Such a gesture cannot alter the meaning of the LAW. I urge
you to make this clear to the President and
his agencies.
The bottom line is that we have an industry that has
thrived, not from honest business practices in a free
market, but from passing its real costs to the people
of Appalachia and the rest of the United States� with
subsidies in the form of illegal permits from the Corps of
Engineers and other agencies that are supposed to
protect us. Ending the practice of valley fills and making
coal companies manage their industrial waste like any other
industry is not about hugging trees and
worshipping mountains. It�s about making coal compete for
our energy dollar on an equal playing field with natural
gas, hydroelectric, solar and wind. It�s about
recognizing that WE own the streams and rivers of this
country and that WE own the fish and other resources in
those waterways. Destroying the rivers, the
fisheries, the forests and the mountains through
irresponsible coal extraction, as well as the coal-produced
acid rain deposition in your home state, Mr. Chairman, is
no different than kicking down the doors of our homes and
walking out with an armful of our valuables � theft is
theft.
I am not a scientist, but I do know what I�ve seen on
flights over the coalfields. The historic resources that
sustained Daniel Boone, the original Cherokees
and generations of mountain people are being converted on a
mammoth scale into flat, lifeless plateaus. The first time
I flew over the area at 5,000 feet, I thought I
would see a few scarred peaks. Instead, I saw the entire
horizon filled with mountains with their tops blown off,
huge lakes of toxic sludge and piles of waste filling
every valley around the mines.
I came here today to bring attention to an
Administration policy and a Corps of Engineers practice on
valley fills that is completely misguided and gives no
consideration to the lives of generations to come. When I
move back home to raise a family on my farm in Kentucky, I
want my kids to be able to fish and swim in
the same places I grew up. I ask you, our leaders, to look
beyond the political clout of the coal lobby and do what�s
right for the forgotten Appalachian region.
In closing, I would like to personally invite each of
you to take a flight with me over the coalfields and see
firsthand how our future is being robbed.
Mr. Chairman, I thank you for your invitation to speak
before the committee and your willingness to bring this
difficult issue to light.