Government Agencies

U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. (2008). Statement of Senator Enzi on the Lieberman-Warner Bill. Washington, D.C.

The Committee on Environment and Public Works features articles, blogs, and news on environmental justice progress in the United States. The Statement of Senator Enzi on the Lieberman-Warner bill is an interesting argument posed for Congress against the bill which has set restrictions on industries' pollution emissions. Senator Enzi discusses coal mining in Wyoming, and how the process differs from Appalachia's coal mining. Senator Enzi argues that coal mining in the west is not as destructive as it is in the east because of the different land types, and that its should be banned in the east, but allowed in the west after important evaluations are made. This statement from Senator Lieberman under the Committee on Environment and Public Works would be useful to a researcher because it provides a comparison between coal mining in two different areas and a perspective that differs from most. A researcher could develop possible solutions with this information as to how environmental health can exist in a coal mining world. More importantly, a researcher can discover further into where certain important officials stand on the issue of mountain top removal strip coal mining. 

U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. (2008). Overview: About the Committee. Washington D.C.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has considered, reported, and overseen some of the most important environmental legislation ever enacted by Congress. The legislation they oversee can be described in the following major areas: energy resources and development including regulation, conservation, petroleum reserves and appliance standards, nuclear energy, etc. The committee has worked with mountaintop removal issues in regulating the amount of coal mined from the area, and the processes used. The committee strives to balance the relationship between coal extraction and the surrounding natural resources affected by the mining. This agency would be a useful source for a researcher because it's a very neutral, very official committee that strives to maintain balance for both parties involved in the mountaintop removal issue. A researcher can gain a very balanced and very realistic idea of what the coal industry is striving for and what environmental organizations are striving for when given an agency that strives to protect both.

Government Documents

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2000). West Virginia Regulatory Program. (Vol. 65 No. 161).

This government document, produced by the EPA is an amendment to the West Virginia Regulatory Program under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. The amendment includes changes to West Virginia's regulations for mountaintop removal practices, making mountaintop removal practices more consequential for the coal industry. Some of the stipulations include restoring destroyed land and receiving proper documentation from landowners for permission to mine. This document would be very useful to researchers because it's pretty much the "meat and potatoes" of how environmental activist groups are fighting the coal industry. The document is legal proof of where the coal industry, environmental groups and the government stand. Reviewing this document not only provides the researcher with the laws in place for coal miners to follow, but how they have broken those rules in their practices.

U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service. (2005). Land Reclamation Toxic Discharge Control. (No.) Code 455.

This government document, produced by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, pertains to the control of acid or otherwise toxic, aqueous discharge from abandoned coal mines or waste produced from coal strip mining practices. The purpose of the stipulation is to improve water quality and other destructive consequences of coal strip mining and mountaintop removal methods. The document outlines how these regulations will be implemented and what they will entail for the coal industry. This document would be useful to a researcher because it allows the researcher to see more affects of mountaintop removal, specifically with water quality, and can see where government agencies, like the Natural Resources Conservation Service have entered the battle against mountaintop removal. Documents like these not only give the researcher a sense of the legal processes behind environmental battles, but more of a knowledge and familiarity with the government agencies that initiate the laws and codes.