30th anniversary of Surface Mining and Coal Reclamation Act

Coal mining is probably the most divisive industry in West Virginia, with the possible exception of gambling. About 30 years ago, President Carter signed the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.

Here is how The Associated Press described the law and its effects, as published in The Herald-Dispatch this past Friday:

The law was supposed to strike a balance between coal production and environmental protection — and yet, countless Americans in Appalachia and in the West, where surface mining is predominant, have horror stories about the bulldozers and blasting next door.

Coal chiefs generally view the law as largely successful, but have a few complaints of their own. They say the implementation of the law has resulted in federal micromanagement, too many rule changes and an overly complex permit system in an industry that provides power to half the nation.

U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., one of the original framers of the act, said the essence of the law — to dovetail coal production with the needs of the coalfield environment — is as valid today as it was 30 years ago. But he added the act has been plagued by haphazard implementation and enforcement.”

Back before the 1977 law, strip mining scarred thousands of acres of Appalachia. Lawrence County, Ohio, had its share of unreclaimed sites. Based on the law of the time, the areas were considered reclaimed or active. But a mining company could walk away, leaving acre after acre stripped of vegetation and topsoil and claim the mine was still active as long as a rusting, useless piece of heavy machinery sat there. At least, that's what the Soil Conservation Service agent told me on a driving tour of those sites.

In at least one place in Lawrence County, a creek was so filled with soil that had eroded from a mine site that the creekbed filled with silt and water actually ran over a wood-deck bridge. I saw it myself. Please don't ask me what road or what bridge. It was so long ago, and I have forgotten.

All that and more was what the 1977 law was supposed to correct.

And then came mountaintop removal mining, the most controversial method of mining coal that Appalachia has seen. Never before had mining companies altered the landscape so much as they level the tops of mountains and filled in valleys in their quest to recover as much coal as possible.

It comes down to production vs. environment. For many places in Appalachia, people need both. If you take coal out of the economy of several southern West Virginia counties -- Boone, Logan, Mingo, Wyoming and McDowell come to mind -- you might as well fence the area off and designate it as a nature preserve.

Rahall is right on one point. Enforcement is a problem. But it's more. Coal is one of those things we can't live with and we can't live without. As long as there's coal to mine, we'll always have to find a balance we can live with, even if we can barely accept it. And when the coal is gone, we'll have to deal with the environmental damage and no way to pay for cleaning it up.