For Additional Information:
(202) 463-2610
Carol Raulston

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 6, 2002

UPDATED ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY AND DETAILED SCIENTIFIC
ANALYSIS PROVIDE IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON VALLEY
FILLS NOT CONSIDERED BY SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE

"With expert studies showing properly constructed valley fills are consistent with water quality standards and that nearly 16,000 jobs are at stake if fills are unavailable to surface mining operations, we are deeply disturbed today's Senate hearing focuses on the personal views of a young musician rather than on facts collected by acknowledged experts who have devoted years to the subject ," National Mining Association President Jack Gerard said today. "New data confirming the devastating economic consequences of a court-imposed ban on valley fill permits and a thorough analysis of the available scientific information on their operation provide important findings the Senate should consider."

An updated study of the economic impact of Judge Charles Haden's most recent decision enjoining the Army Corps of Engineers from issuing new valley fill permits at coal mining operations confirms that nearly 16,000 people will lose their jobs in West Virginia alone. The job loss is projected to occur over the next five years as existing permits expire. Further, economic output in the state will be reduced by more than 4 percent. (By comparison, the U.S. has not experienced an equivalent reduction in output since WW II.)

The local impacts in coal mining communities will amount to a "depression," according to the study's two authors, Professors Mark Burton and Michael Hicks of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. But the full impacts will be statewide, with funding for K-12 education particularly hard hit due to the loss of tax and other state revenues normally generated from coal mining.

The Burton/Hicks study is an update of previous research conducted by the authors at the request of the West Virginia legislature and independent of the mining industry. It takes a conservative view of the scope of the Haden decision-applying it only to surface mining operations. Further, the analysis looks only at the consequences for West Virginia, rather than for the full geographic area that may be most immediately affected by Judge Haden's decision, which also includes Kentucky, Virginia and parts of Ohio. Burton and Hicks indicated that if the Haden decision ultimately applies to all mining operations needing a valley fill permit, the economic effects would be "much more severe, much more extreme."

Additional studies on the impact of valley fills on receiving streams conducted by two West Virginia-based environmental engineering/consulting firms, concluded that the "mining activities in these watersheds have not adversely impacted the surface water quality or benthic populations [aquatic insects] below mountaintop mining operations within the studied watersheds."

The water quality testing and analytical data performed by Sturm Environmental Services, Inc. and Standard Laboratories, Inc. was conducted in accordance with state and federal regulatory requirements and protocols over a period of approximately 16 years.

A separate study conducted by Potesta & Associates over two years and in parallel with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Environmental Assessment of Surface Mining Methods, resulted in similar and consistent findings. (The Potesta study was peer reviewed on findings and statistical design by faculty members of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute.)

The Potesta study found that while there are soil disturbances resulting from mining operations (including valley fills) that contribute to accelerated weathering of materials, this weathering action is indistinguishable from what occurs in residential development, agriculture or forestry and is consistent with water quality standards.

Today's oversight hearing was held by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's Subcommittee on Clean Air, Wetlands and Climate Change, chaired by Senator Joseph Lieberman (CT-D). Appearing as a Majority witness was Kevin Scott Richardson, a member of the pop-music group the Backstreet Boys.

"While we endorse every American's right to appear before the Senate of the United States, the thousands of people whose jobs depend on the availability of carefully constructed valley fills for mining operations in Central Appalachia deserve no less than a thoughtful consideration of relevant economic, technical and environmental facts. In large part-and with the exception of the witnesses appearing on behalf of federal, state and local government-they were denied that opportunity today," Gerard emphasized, "when the Committee chose to invite a 'media circus' rather than additional experts."

For additional background on the Haden decision, construction methods for valley fills and reclamation of fills and mine sites, please see www.nma.org.