Stop Me Before I Vote Again

... the nation's most sedate and compliant environmental organization, is shocked:

Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it would sign off on a Clean Water Act permit for Patriot Coal Corp.'s Hobet 45 mountaintop removal coal mine in Lincoln County, West Virginia.

"The Obama administration rings in the new year by allowing coal companies to bury more miles of streams," said Joan Mulhern, senior legislative counsel for Earthjustice. "There is no excuse for approving this permit when the science is clear that mountaintop removal coal mining permanently destroys streams. The administration claims to be making progress on mountaintop removal, but in reality they are still following the flawed policies put in place by the Bush administration.

Needless to say, that rather trenchant second paragraph was buried at the end of the Sierrans' communique. One also gets a slightly sour laugh at the implication that George Bush is responsible for mountaintop-removal mining, which has been going on for decades and enjoyed a huge expansion during the Clinton years.