January, 28 2013, 03:13pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Liz Judge, Earthjustice, (202) 797-5237
Mary Cromer, Appalachian Citizens' Law Center, Inc., (606) 633-3929
Dan Radmacher, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, (540) 798-6683
Cindy Rank, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, (304) 924-5802
Eitan Bencuya, Sierra Club, (202) 495-3047
Vernon Haltom, Coal River Mountain Watch, (304) 952-4610
Judy Petersen, Kentucky Waterways Alliance, (270) 524-1774
Vivian Stockman, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, (304) 553-1962
Marley Green, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, (703) 409-6993
Casey Self, Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment, (703) 568-0736
Blair FitzGibbon, Waterkeeper Alliance, (202) 503-6141
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Groups Sue Interior Department for Failure to Protect Streams
Broad coalition back in court challenging unlawful rule issued by the Bush Administration
WASHINGTON
Today a broad coalition of citizen and environmental groups reopened litigation against the Department of Interior for its removal of a key protection for streams against mountaintop removal mining--the "Stream Buffer Zone Rule." The Bush administration removed this protection through a midnight rulemaking in 2008, and the Obama administration agreed the Bush administration's action was unlawful. But the Interior Department has since failed to undo the Bush administration's rulemaking by the deadline it agreed to.
The Bush administration repealed the 25-year-old Stream Buffer Zone Rule just before leaving office, permitting widespread dumping of mining waste in Appalachian waterways. In the early days of the Obama administration, the groups put the lawsuit on hold based on the administration's promise to replace the harmful Bush rule by 2012. Because the administration failed to live up to its agreement to revoke the Bush rule and issue a new stream protection rule, the groups are returning to court to restore protections for Appalachian communities and streams.
The following are statements from the groups involved in the lawsuit:
Earthjustice attorney Jennifer Chavez: "While the Interior Department misses its deadline and drags its feet on revoking the disastrous Bush rule and finally enforcing the surface mining law, Appalachian communities and families are suffering from the extreme pollution and destruction of mountaintop removal. The Obama Administration must not wait any longer to restore basic protections for waterways and families."
Kentucky Waterways Alliance (KY) executive director Judy Petersen: "We don't enter into this litigation lightly, but we know that dumping mining wastes into streams destroys the stream and has negative impacts for miles downstream. We were hopeful the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining and the Obama administration would do as promised and propose a rule change that would at least restore the rules in effect for decades. We can wait no longer while streams and the water that flows through our communities are destroyed and degraded."
Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (WV) organizer Maria Gunnoe: "We've waited four years, and we need the protection the buffer zone would give us, and we need it enforced. Regulators look the other way as the coal industry devours the region, blowing up more mountains, burying and poisoning more streams and depopulating more communities. There's more sickness and death in our communities, to the point that there is a community health emergency here in Appalachia. It's pitiful that we have to sue the administration to get them to stand up to the coal industry, to stand up for our streams, our health, and the health of our children."
West Virginia Highlands Conservancy (WV) mining committee chair Cindy Rank: "We cannot accept anything short of a rule that truly protects our irreplaceable headwater streams and the hydrologic regime that supports them. The 1983 Stream Buffer Zone Rule did just that by prohibiting activities that degrade the physical, biological and chemical nature of those streams. The 2008 Bush stream rule turned upside down that basic commitment to the health of our waters. Because the Obama Interior Department has failed to act, we're asking the court to take action."
Sierra Club environmental quality director Ed Hopkins: "We've been waiting for years, and there is no sign that the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining will do anything to protect streams from mining in the near future. We won't let them continue to stall while unfettered coal mining destroys streams and communities."
Waterkeeper Alliance executive director Marc Yaggi: "We are taking this legal action to protect everyone's right to clean water. Public health cannot continue to be sacrificed while agency politicos and bureaucrats delay crucial stream protections. There is too much at stake for families across Appalachia."
Coal River Mountain Watch (WV) executive director Vernon Haltom: "This administration has had more than enough time to institute a strong rule to protect our streams and communities. While mountaintop removal continues to pollute our air, water, and land and sicken our people, we don't have the luxury of waiting indefinitely for action."
Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (TN) committee chair Ann League: "The families and communities of Appalachia deserve better! The Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) and the Obama administration should be working to protect our health, homes, and citizens. OSMRE has put the well-being of Appalachia on the back burner for four years while they dither and delay. The communities must have protection of our streams to protect our families and homes."
Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards (VA) board member Judiana Clark: "During the Reagan administration, we had a stream buffer zone rule that could, if enforced, protect the health of our communities and the quality of our water from destructive surface mining. The Bush administration repealed that protection, and the Obama administration has taken too long to reinstate it. We can't wait any longer to regain protections that seemed sensible for decades."
Appalachian Citizens' Law Center (KY) attorney Mary Cromer: "Here in Central Appalachia, we've been waiting for the Obama administration to stop the filling of our headwater streams with mine waste. With more and more miles of streams being buried under rubble every year, we cannot continue to wait. We reinstate this action against OSMRE because the agency has failed its duty to protect the people of Central Appalachia from mine practices that are endangering our health and safety and poisoning our water."
Background Information:
The "Stream Buffer Zone Rule," adopted under the Reagan administration in 1983, was designed to protect Appalachian streams from harmful practices used in surface coal mining. This regulation prohibited surface coal mining activities from disturbing areas within 100 feet of streams.
On December 2, 2008, as President Bush was preparing to leave office, his Department of Interior signed off on a controversial 11th-hour Office of Surface Mining repeal of the Stream Buffer Zone Rule. The repeal of this important protection cleared the way for an even greater expansion of mountaintop removal mining--the process of mining coal by blasting off the tops of mountains, and bulldozing the crumbled peaks into adjoining valleys, containing vital Appalachian waterways.
The Bush repeal of the Stream Buffer Zone Rule allowed coal companies to place massive valley fills and waste impoundments directly into streams--thereby removing the "buffer" from the Buffer Zone Rule, destroying streams and contaminating ecosystems on which local communities depend.
Based on EPA estimates, mountaintop removal mining has destroyed or harmed 2,400 miles of Appalachian streams to date.
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Supreme Court Urged to 'Rule Quickly' After Trump Immunity Arguments
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After about three hours of oral arguments Thursday on former President Donald Trump's immunity claims, legal experts and democracy defenders urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule swiftly, with just over six months until the November election.
Trump—the presumptive Republican candidate to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden, despite his 88 felony charges in four ongoing criminal cases—is arguing that presidential immunity should protect him from federal charges for trying to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden, which culminated in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Justices across the ideological spectrum didn't seem inclined to support Trump's broad immunity claims—which critics have said "reflect a misreading of constitutional text and history as well as this court's precedent." However, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) shared examples of what it would mean if they did.
"Trump could sell pardons, ambassadorships, and other official benefits to his wealthy donors, members of his clubs, or cronies who helped him commit other crimes," CREW warned. "Trump could sell nuclear codes and government secrets to help pay back crippling debts."
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After warning that a president could also order the occupation or closure of the Capitol or high court to prevent actions against him, CREW concluded that "the Supreme Court never should have taken this appeal up in the first place. They should rule quickly and shut these ludicrous claims down for good."
The organization was far from alone in demanding a quick decision from the nation's highest court.
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In Bush v. Gore, the case that decided the 2000 election, the high court issued a related stay on December 9, heard oral arguments on December 11, and issued a final decision on December 12.
On Thursday, the arguments "got away from the central question: Is a former president immune from criminal prosecution if he tried to overthrow a presidential election, using private means and the power of his office to do so?" the Brennan Center noted. "The answer is simple: No."
"It is not an 'official act' to try to overthrow the peaceful transfer of power or the Constitution, even if you conspire with other government officials to do it or use the Oval Office phone," the center said. "Trump's attorney was pushing the court to come up with a sea change in the law. That's unnecessary and a delay tactic that will hurt the pursuit of justice in this case."
In a departure from previous claims, Trump's attorney, D. John Sauer, "appeared to agree with Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution, that there are some allegations in the indictment that do not involve 'official acts' of the president," NBC Newsreported, noting questions from liberal Justice Elena Kagan and conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee.
Barrett summarized various allegations from the indictment and in three cases—involving dishonest election claims, false allegations of fraud, and fake electors—Sauer conceded that Trump's alleged conduct sounded private, suggesting that a more narrow case against the ex-president that excluded any potential official acts could proceed.
Due to Trump attorney's concessions in Supreme Court oral argument, there's now a very clear path for DOJ's case to go forward.\n\nIt'd be a travesty for Justices to delay matters further.\n\nJustice Amy Coney Barrett got Trump attorney to concede core allegations are private acts.\u2b07\ufe0f— (@)
According to NBC:
Matthew Seligman, a lawyer and a fellow at the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School who filed a brief backing prosecutors, said Sauer's concessions highlight that Trump is "not immune for the vast majority of the conduct alleged in the indictment."
Ultimately, he said, the case will go to trial "absent some external intervention—like Trump ordering [the Justice Department] to drop the charges" after having won the election.
At the same time, Sauer's backtracking might have little consequence from an electoral perspective. Further delay in a trial, which Sauer is close to achieving, is a form of victory in itself.
Slate's Mark Joseph Stern pointed out that when Barrett similarly questioned Michael Dreeben, the U.S. Department of Justice lawyer arguing the case for Smith, it seemed like they "were trying to work out some compromise wherein the trial court could distinguish between official and unofficial acts, then instruct the jury not to impose criminal liability on the former."
"It was fascinating to watch Barrett nodding along as Dreeben pitched a compromise that would largely preserve Smith's January 6 prosecution but limit what the jury could hear, or at least consider," Stern added. "That, though, would take months to suss out in the trial court. More delays!"
Stern and other experts signaled that the decision likely comes down to Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, with the three liberals seemingly supporting the prosecution of Trump and the other four conservatives suggesting it is unconstitutional.
People for the American Way president Svante Myrick said in a statement that "today's argument brought both good and bad news. It was chilling to hear Donald Trump's lawyer say that staging a military coup could be considered part of a president's official duties."
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