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NFC: Fw: DEN Alert: Stop Disastrous Mountaintop Removal Mining!



DEN ALERT:
STOP DISASTROUS MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL MINING

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) are attempting to rewrite the Clean Water Act to 
severely threaten our nation's rivers, streams, wetlands and 
wildlife that live there. The rule change would overturn a recent 
court decision which found that the waste disposal practices 
associated with mountaintop removal coal mining violates the Clean 
Water Act. We need your help to stop mountaintop removal, an 
environmentally horrific mining technique uses explosives to tear 
away whole mountain peaks to get at coal deposits underneath. The 
debris is then bulldozed into the valleys below, completely burying 
forests, streams and fragile wildlife habitat. 

The Corps' proposal would allow mountaintop removal mining to 
continue by giving the agency new authority to allow polluting 
industries to dump mining waste directly into our nation's scenic 
rivers, mountain streams and fragile wetlands -- areas which provide 
habitat for wildlife and recreational and fishing opportunites for 
Americans. 

WHAT CAN YOU DO:

Please take a minute and send a free e-mail to the Army Corps of 
Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency and tell them 
that you do not support mountaintop removal mining and the dumping 
of waste into our waterways. Feel free to personalize the sample 
letter below. Your comments must be received NO LATER THAN MONDAY, 
JUNE 19, 2000.

INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB: 
If you have access to the web, simply click on the link below which 
will take you to the DEN Action Center web site:

 			 http://www.denaction.org 

INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA EMAIL: 
If you do not have web access, you can still respond to this alert. 
Simply, choose the "reply to sender" option on your email program. 
Be sure to include the original message in your reply. Then edit the 
message provided below or send it as is and press SEND. We will 
automatically add your name to the letter and send it to the correct 
e-mail address or fax number. You must include the whole letter in 
your response starting with "==START OF LETTER==" and ending with 
"==END OF LETTER==."  

We strongly encourage you to personalize your message by putting 
the message in your own words or adding personal thoughts. A 
personalized letter is viewed as more important than a computer-
generated one. However, hundreds of unedited letters will still 
have a large impact. Therefore, please reply even if you don't have 
time to personalize the letter.

==== START OF LETTER - ALERT 19 ==== DO NOT REMOVE THIS MARKER 

RE: Proposed Rule FR Doc. 00-9940

Dear federal water managers: 

I am extremely concerned about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and 
the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Proposed Revisions to 
the Clean Water Act definitions of "Fill Material" and "Discharge 
of Fill Material." I am opposed to the redifinition of "fill" 
material to encompass waste, which will give the Army Corps new 
authority to permit the dumping of mountaintop mining waste, and 
other kinds of solid waste, into our waterways.

This proposal will greatly undermine a federal court ruling that 
closed a loophole allowing the environmentally horrific practice of 
mountaintop removal mining. This controversial technique uses 
explosives to tear away whole peaks to get at coal deposits 
underneath. The debris is then bulldozed and dumped into the 
valleys below, completely burying forests and streams and wildlife 
habitat.

Now, you are attempting to rewrite the Clean Water Act's rules to 
allow the dumping of mountaintop mining waste, and many other kinds 
of waste into our waterways.  This would have disastrous implications 
for rivers, streams, wildlife, and communities all across the country. 
I urge you not to pursue such actions that will weaken the Clean 
Water Act and jeopardize our environment and local communities.  

Please accept my comments and make them part of the public record 
on this important matter.  

Sincerely, 

(your name and signature will automatically be added here)

==== END OF LETTER - ALERT 19 ==== DO NOT REMOVE THIS MARKER




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