I’m also suspicious of the EPA’s science. The Agency refuses to base its decision-making on the evidence at hand. What they’ve got is good data that saline effluent from valley fills is inimical to sensitive macrobenthic invertebrates, the mayfly in particular. However, total species richness doesn’t seem to decrease; rather it’s re-arranged. To be sure, EPT abundance and richness is a metric of water quality…but how extensive are the effects? The EPA claims that birds, salamanders, fish, etc. are being harmed by this effluent, despite there being no evidence of this. Does the absence of the mayfly indicate a decrease in water quality? Or does it merely indicate a decrease in mayflies? I haven’t seen any compelling evidence that it’s anything but the latter. And, in the spirit of striking a balance, that’s a trade-off I’m willing to accept. More importantly, it’s a tradeoff that West Virginians overwhelmingly seem to accept, if their representatives in state government accurately reflect their will.

Finally, mountaintop removal mining is of course very political. Environmental groups HATE it. With that in mind, it seems to me that the Agency was looking for a reason, any reason, to crackdown on the practice.