The Appalachia Restoration Act

The Appalachia Restoration Act is a bill in the U.S. Senate which will sharply reduce mountaintop removal coal mining and protect clean drinking water for many of our nation's cities. It will protect the quality of life for Appalachian coalfield residents who face frequent catastrophic flooding and pollution or loss of drinking water as a result of mountaintop removal coal mining.

From the east coast, to the west coast, to the states where it's taking place, Americans want an end to mountaintop removal coal mining. Building on that momentum, and with a friendlier administration and Congress, we have a real chance to pass the Appalachia Restoration Act in the 112th Congress. Please contact your Senators today and ask them to become a cosponsor!

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The most effective way to build support for the Appalachia Restoration Act is by sending a hand written, supportive letter to your Representative in the House. For the fastest response to your letter, we recommend sending it to a district office.

Although it's less effective, you can also use our free automated dialing tool to call their office, or send them an email with our new webform.

Regardless of how you contact your Senators, here are some important points to make:

The Appalachia Restoration Act is meant to protect, not bury, our rivers and streams.
To date, more than 500 of the world's most ancient mountains have been leveled.
EPA estimates that by 2010 a total of 1.4 millions acres of Appalachia's mountains will have been destroyed.
Across the Appalachian coalfields, more than 2,000 miles of streams are now buried and destroyed by mountaintop removal.
The Appalachia Restoration Act is necessary to protect clean drinking water for many of our nation's cities.
The Appalachia Restoration Act is also necessary to protect the quality of life and economic security for Appalachian coalfield residents who face frequent catastrophic flooding, pollution, and loss of drinking water as a result of mountaintop removal.

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In-depth

In 1977, The Clean Water Act was enacted by Congress to "restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters." For 25 years, the Clean Water Act (CWA) allowed for the granting of permits to place "fill material" into waters of the United States, provided that the primary purpose of the "filling" was not for waste disposal. As such, the CWA prohibited mountaintop removal operations from using the nation's waterways as waste disposal sites.

That changed in 2002, when the Army Corps of Engineers, under the direction of the Bush administration and without congressional approval, altered its longstanding definition of "fill material" to include mining waste. This change accelerated the devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining and the destruction of more than 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams. More than 400,000 acres in West Virginia alone have been leveled, and the EPA Estimates that by the end of the decade a total of 1.4 million acres of Appalachia's mountains and hardwood forests will be destroyed by mountain removal mining, which is an area the size of of Delaware.

On March 26th, 2009, in response to the Army Corps' rule change, The Appalachia Restoration Act was introduced into the House of Representatives by Senator Bob Cardin (D-MD) and Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN). It finished the 11th Congress with 12 cosponsors.

For more information contact Appalachian Voices at 828-262-1500 or www.appvoices.org.