Tell the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection not to exempt coal mines from water quality standards!
West Virginia’s Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) is accepting public comments on a proposed rule change that would allow coal mines not to comply with all of the state’s water quality standards.
At a time when mine pollution needs to stop, the WVDEP should be strengthening the state’s water quality standards instead of severely weakening them.
Under current state law, coal mines must comply with water pollution limits required by their permits and also with the state’s overall water quality standards. But under the proposed rule change, coal mines would only be required to comply with the water pollution limits specific to their permit, even though permits often do not cover all of the pollutants covered by state water quality standards.
Send a letter to the WVDEP to stop this proposal in its tracks.
