Also, environmentalists refused to drop separate allegations in their lawsuit against the state Division of Environmental Protection. Those allegations charge that DEP ignores various permit requirements, such as stream buffer zones and a mandate that land flattened by mountaintop removal be reclaimed for use by factories, shopping malls or public parks. Those portions of the lawsuit will be litigated later this year. Rank said the settlement is far from the end of the mountaintop removal controversy. When the Legislature comes to town next week, mountaintop removal will be among the top issues.
Some citizen groups plan to continue to press for a ban on mountaintop removal.
Others want further limits on blasting, or the repeal of a bill lessening the requirements for mitigating for streams buried by valley fills. In the end, Rank said, citizens will have to keep a close watch on state and federal regulators if the settlement is to do any good. The only thing that will make this work is that kind of commitment. How good a step it is depends on the resources and the resolve that are available at the agencies involved. We need a lot of vigilance on the part of the people who are already stretched thin.