iLoveMountains.org

This is part of an email that I received today:

Dear Barbara,

Dumping mine waste into a valley fill on Kayford Mountain, WV

When the Bush Administration proposed gutting the "Stream Buffer Zone Rule" -- a regulation that has prevented surface mining within 100 feet of our nation's streams for decades -- people like you responded in force. More than 75,000 comments were submitted to the Bush Administration, asking that the regulation be left intact.

The Bush administration overrode public opinion, however, and gutted the rule anyway -- handing a parting gift to Big Coal before it left office.

Now, we urgently need the Obama administration to reverse this rule and protect our nation's streams from being buried by mining waste from mountaintop removal coal mining.

Unfortunately, the Office of Surface Mining, Reclaimation, and Enforcement has proposed waiting until 2011 to begin making changes to the Stream Buffer Zone Rule.

Waiting an entire year is unacceptable -- we are losing streams in Appalachia every day. Waiting another year means that many more miles of Appalachian streams -- the headwaters of streams that provide the drinking water supplies of many eastern cities -- will be forever buried.

The Office of Surface Mining, Reclaimation, and Enforcement is accepting comments until December 30th on its proposal to delay addressing Stream Buffer Zone Rule changes for another year. Can you take just a moment today, and tell them that waiting a year is unacceptable?

Click here to submit your comments today.

There is not a lot more time to submit your comment. This is an issue vital to the health and safety of so many people, and to out environment. Please click on the link and let your voice be heard.