The Alliance for Appalachia

PLEASE voice your concerns regarding Joseph Pizarchik’s nomination to be Director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) before it is too late!

Taking 5 minutes now could save years of anguish for communities struggling with the devastating impacts of coal mining. From Arizona to Montana, the Dakotas to Texas, Illinois to Pennsylvania, to Appalachia, if you believe that mountains and prairies are more than just overburden, streams are more than just dump sites, and people’s homes and water are more important than cheap megawatts, then you know there are better choices to head the OSMRE. The Senate confirmation vote for Joseph Pizarchik could occur within the next week — so it is absolutely crucial to ACT NOW.

Please send the email below – or better yet, write your own comments. A few personal words up front, will give your communication more weight. It is time for America to have a director at OSMRE who will break the culture of callousness and indifference toward citizens in America’s coal fields and be committed to rigorous enforcement of the law.

Step 1: Send the email below to these two addresses: Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar: Thomas_Strickland@ios.doi.gov . Senator Jeff Bingaman, Chairman Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee: sam_fowler@energy.senate.gov .

Step 2: Send the email to your Senator using this link: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Step 3: Send this email on to your friends and family.

Working together, we can transform OSMRE into an agency it was established to be, balancing coal extraction with protection and stewardship, but only with the right leaders!

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Thomas_Strickland@ios.doi.gov, sam_fowler@energy.senate.gov

Hello,

I am very concerned about President Obama’s choice to nominate Joseph Pizarchik for Director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE). With Mr. Pizarchik as legal council to Pennsylvania’s mining program, and then Director of the Bureau of Mining and Reclamation in the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP), citizens have suffered from a bureaucratic indifference toward meeting the purposes of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA).

Three foundational purposes behind the passage of SMCRA in 1977 were to “establish a nationwide program to protect society and the environment from the adverse effects of surface coal mining operations” to “assure the rights of landowners” and “protect the environment.”

Now, 32 years later, nationwide standards have never been established; the environment is being destroyed at accelerating rates; and, to the detriment of society at a cost this and future generations will be unable to bear. In reality, coal producers are being allowed to use lower environmental standards to profit often under the disguise of producing some alleged “benefit” at the expense of our health, environment and society. Painfully, Mr. Pizarchik has aggressively exhibited every bit of that bureaucratic indifference which has led to this distortion of the original intent of the law.

A 2007 independent review of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s own monitoring data has revealed that 10 of 15 mine sites where coal ash has been “beneficially used” are contaminating surface and groundwater.
In a consensus report, National Research Council scientists concluded that Mr. Pizarchik’s program of alleged “beneficial use” of coal ash in mines did not use safeguards needed for this practice.
A federal court ruled Mr. Pizarchik’s bonding program failed SMCRA’s bonding requirements to prevent water pollution.
Mr. Pizarchik attempted to prevent citizens from obtaining probative information under the Freedom of Information Act.
Mr. Pizarchik was involved in amending regulations under Pennsylvania’s Coal Refuse Disposal Control Act to allow variances to fill valleys with coal processing waste which have obliterated dozens of miles of Pennsylvania streams.
Mr. Pizarchik’s long wall mining policy has devastated homes, destroyed streams and water supplies and violated the rights of landowners.

For the reasons stated above and more, I respectfully suggest that the OSMRE needs someone who will break the mold of indifference to landowner rights and environmental damage and “protect society and the environment from the adverse effects of surface coal mining operations.” I fear that Mr. Pizarchik does not fulfill these ideals — and citizens deserve an OSMRE Director who is committed to enforcing the law and protecting citizens.

Sincerely,