Congress to take up mountaintop removal

In August the Bush administration moved to make it easier for the coal industry to engage in an outrageous, outdated practice known as “mountaintop removal.”

In West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio and other states, coal companies literally blast the tops off of mountains in order to get at seams of coal, dumping the debris into nearby lakes and streams. The administration’s rule change would make it far more difficult to challenge mountaintop removal in court under the Clean Water Act.

Many Environment North Carolina members objected to the plans. We’re lobbying members of Congress to overturn the rule change. So far, Reps. George Butterfield, Bradley Miller, David Price, Heath Shuler and Melvin Watt have joined 107 other members of Congress in agreeing to co-sponsor the measure.

The effects of mountaintop removal mining near Whitesville, W. Va.

New standards needed to reduce overfishing

In the South Atlantic, approximately one in three of all federally managed fish stocks for which there is adequate information are overfished, according to a new report released by Environment North Carolina, “Net Loss: Overfishing off the South Atlantic Coast.”

Many of these threatened fish are a popular part of Low Country seafood culture and their numbers are depleting so fast that their populations cannot rebound. According to the American Sportfishing Association, recreational fishing generated $4.7 billion dollars in 2001 (adjusting for inflation), including the economic multiplier effect of expenses like hotel rooms and restaurant meals, accounting for almost 45,000 jobs.

Environment North Carolina is pushing for regulations that are science-based and strongly-enforced, to control commercial fishing in our coastal waters. If the limits on the amount of fish caught are exceeded, there must be consequences for the fishery, such as closure for the remainder of the season or lower annual catch limits in the next season to make up for the overage.