Groups oppose move to force Tennessee taxpayers to shoulder costly burden of permitting, regulating coal mining

NASHVILLE, TENN. — Once again, in hopes of propping up the fading coal mining industry in Tennessee, a few state Representatives and Senators are proposing that state regulators take over primary permitting responsibility for surface coal mining.

These permitting activities have been handled by the federal Office of Surface Mining  Reclamation Enforcement since 1984, which is better for Tennesseans because that agency, unlike TDEC, is subject to the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

 The bill, SB 0686, will be heard by the full Senate today. It was originally introduced as a study of how Tennessee could assume surface mining permitting responsibilities, but then amended to force the state to assume these responsibilities, even though the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation doesn't want to do it.

In response to this bill, Scott Banbury, conservation program coordinator for the

Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club, released the following statement:

“TDEC taking over surface coal mine permitting would not only be bad for the environment, but operating this permitting program could cost Tennessee taxpayers more than $2 million dollars every year. And while the coal industry claims that these costs would be offset by increased permit fees and severance taxes, the reality is that coal mining in Tennessee has been declining for years and there’s not enough coal mining here to support or justify an effective program.

 “Taking over this program would require hiring expert hydrologists, geologists, field inspectors and others to create a whole new bureaucracy that would replicate the staff already in place at the Office of Surface Mining’s Knoxville field office.

“And reality is that the slow death of Tennessee coal mining is not due to regulation, but from the steadily declining use of coal: the Office of Surface Mining has issued 22 permits to strip mine coal here, but none of these permits are active because there’s simply no market for the coal.”

Darrel Coker, member of Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment, added:

 "Giving primacy to the state is not in the best interest if the residents of Tennessee, or the plethora of flora and fauna that call the forests of Tennessee their home. TDEC lacks the capacity to implement the coal mining program in Tennessee. In its existing program regulating surface water discharges from coal mines, TDEC has not taken enforcement action against a single coal mine in more than 2.5 years. And Tennessee is already behind on cleaning up the mess left by past coal mining and can’t take on the additional costs that this program would bring.

 “SB 0686 is a bad deal for Tennessee: we don’t want it, we can’t afford it and we don’t need it.”

Dana Wright, interim executive director of the Tennessee Clean Water Network, added:

“Tennessee taxpayers should not have to foot the bill to keep a dying industry on life support. Surface mining of coal in Tennessee provides neither a significant amount of energy, nor employment. According to the U.S. Energy Information Association, there were only 135 people employed in surface mining of coal in Tennessee in 2013, and coal mining represented just 0.24 percent of jobs in Claiborne County, which is Tennessee’s top coal producing county.”

Matt Hepler, water quality scientist and community organizer with Appalachian Voices, added:

 "Coal production has been falling in the Southern Appalachian coalfields and the state of Tennessee for the past decade. It is no where near the level of production it had when the state last regulated the industry. This move is going to be costly to the Tennessee taxpayer."

Sandra Goss, executive director of Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, added:

 “It’s not fiscally prudent to undertake coal mining permitting and enforcement when a federal agency is already performing this service. Tennesseans expect our leaders to watch the state’s finances.”