Landsat satellite data collected in 1987 and 2002 show (click to zoom) the growth of the Hobet-21 mountaintop mine in the Mud River watershed of West Virginia. The mine expanded across thousands of acres and produced one of the state’s longest valley fills when rock and dirt were placed into Connelly Branch. The center portion of the mine site had been partially reclaimed with grass (light green) as of 2002. [NASA images by Jesse Allen, based on data provided by the Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF).]

Nationwide permit (NWP) 21 was first issued in 1982, pursuant to section 404(e) of the Clean Water Act, to authorize structures, work, and discharges associated with surface coal mining activities, provided those activities were authorized by the Department of the Interior, Office of Surface Mining, or by states with approved programs under Title V of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA). Each time since 1982 that the Corps reissued its NWPs, it also reissued NWP 21, often with modifications that were made after considering comments received in response to the various proposals to reissue that NWP.

Since NWP 21 was first issued in 1982, surface coal mining practices have changed, and surface coal mining activities in the Appalachian region has become more prevalent and as such has resulted in greater environmental impacts. Mountaintop surface coal mining activities increased because many of the remaining coal seams in the Appalachian region were less accessible to non-surface coal mining techniques. Since the late 1990s, there have been increased concerns regarding the individual and cumulative adverse effects of those activities on the human environment and the natural resources in this region, including streams and other aquatic resources.

The wholesale use of NWP 21 to authorize surface coal mining waste discharges has resulted in adverse environmental impacts that may be more than minimal on a cumulative basis. For this reason, the Corps now believes that impacts of these activities on jurisdictional waters of the United States, particularly cumulative impacts, would be more appropriately evaluated through the individual permit process, which entails increased public and agency involvement, including an opportunity for public comment on individual projects.

Public Comments

In accordance with the suspension and modification procedures provided in the NWP regulations, public comment is invited, and a public hearing may be requested. After evaluating all comments pertaining to the proposed suspension and modification that are received in response to this notice and any public hearings, the Corps will publish its decisions concerning the NWP 21 suspension and modification in the Federal Register. If NWP 21 is suspended, the suspension would remain in effect until NWP 21 is modified or expires, or until the suspension is lifted.

Written comments, including requests for a public hearing, must be submitted on or before August 14, 2009.

You may submit comments, identified by docket number COE–2009–0032, by any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attn: CECW-CO (Attn: Ms. Desiree Hann), 441 G Street, NW., Washington, DC 20314–1000.
• Hand Delivery/Courier: Due to security requirements, the Corps cannot receive comments by hand delivery or courier.
• They will not accept e-mailed or faxed comments.

The Corp will post all comments on http://www.regulations.gov under docket number COE–2009–0032. Instructions: When submitting comments via http://www.regulations.gov, direct your comments to docket number COE–2009–0032. All comments received will be included in the public docket without change and may be made available on-line at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided, unless the commenter indicates that the comment includes information claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to be CBI, or otherwise protected, through regulations.gov or email.

The regulations.gov web site is an anonymous access system, which means they will not know your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment.

If you submit an electronic comment by sending a CD–ROM to Corps Headquarters, they recommend that you submit those comments via overnight mail to ensure timely receipt. The Corps also recommend that you include your name and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD–ROM you submit. If they cannot read your comment because of technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, then they may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic comments should avoid the use of any special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses.

For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov. All documents in the docket are listed. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, such as CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be publicly available only in hard copy form.

For more information

See the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Proposed Suspension and Modification of Nationwide Permit 21, or contact Ms. Desiree Hann or Mr. David Olson, Headquarters, Operations and Regulatory Community of Practice, Washington, DC. Ms. Hann can be reached at 202–761–4560 and Mr. Olson can be reached at 202–761–4922.

Editor’s note: Portions of the text in article have been taken from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers’ Proposed Suspension and Modification of Nationwide Permit 21, and wording may have been modified for our summary.

I’ve written Governor Bredesen and my other TN representatives opposing MTR. I’m proud to say that our Clarksville Senator, Rosalind Kurita, was ranked as one of the top three Tennessee senators for her voting record on protecting the environment. If you’d like to know how other Tennessee legislators voted on environmental issues in 2008 see http://www.tnconservationvoters.org/.

I first heard about MTR around 6 years ago from Dr. Joe Schiller, a Biology professor at APSU. He’s been educating people about this horrific practice and battling against it for many years. I’ve seen video and pictures of MTR but this will be the 1st time I’ll actually see this destruction in person. I’m a member of Save Our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM) and other organizations which oppose MTR.

United Mountain Defense, Mountain Justice and Three Rivers Earth First! ask you to march with us for Appalachia. This is a call from the Mountains of Tennessee to those who understand the value of a living forest, clean water and a place to call home. This is a call for you to take a Sunday out of your life to help preserve some of the oldest mountains on Earth.

National Coal is blowing up the three peaks of Zeb Mountain for the coal beneath even though there are other methods of mining that are less destructive and at the same time create more jobs for local residents. National Coal has a terrible record of over 50 violations on Zeb Mountain – including illegally mining through two streams. National Coal has wrecked the watershed of Zeb Mountain – and the New River Watershed is next if we don ’t stop them. There’s a story on Channel 5’s web site detailing some of these issues.

Email call (865) 689-2778 for more information. If you’d like to carpool with some other Clarksvillians, contact me at .