202-289-1060
Sammy Castagna
2403 May Drive , Burlington, NC 27215 

November 17, 2007   4:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sammy Castagna
2403 May Drive
Burlington, NC 27215

202-289-1060
Vincent Brock
8377 Gregory Way , Beverly Hills, CA 90211 

November 17, 2007   4:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Vincent Brock
8377 Gregory Way
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

202-289-1060
Armen Carapetian
83 Rondel Pl , San Francisco, CA 94103 

November 17, 2007   4:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Armen Carapetian
83 Rondel Pl
San Francisco, CA 94103

202-289-1060
Nelson Meaker
23 Cromwell Drive , Orono, ME 04473 

November 17, 2007   4:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Nelson Meaker
23 Cromwell Drive
Orono, ME 04473

202-289-1060
Martha Fitzgerald
1925 Lake Marshall Drive , Gibsonia, PA 15044 

November 17, 2007   4:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Martha Fitzgerald
1925 Lake Marshall Drive
Gibsonia, PA 15044

202-289-1060
Rachel Zimmerman
320 Capri Arc , Las Cruces, NM 88005 

November 17, 2007   4:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Rachel Zimmerman
320 Capri Arc
Las Cruces, NM 88005

202-289-1060
Ann Rothschild
5825 S. Dorchester, #7W , Chicago, IL 60637 

November 17, 2007   4:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Ann Rothschild
5825 S. Dorchester, #7W
Chicago, IL 60637

202-289-1060
Stephanie Singer
130 Ackerman Ave , Ridgewood, NJ 07450 

November 17, 2007   4:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Singer
130 Ackerman Ave
Ridgewood, NJ 07450

202-289-1060
Suzanne Ruggles
PO Box 546 , Westhampton, NY 11977 

November 17, 2007   4:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Ruggles
PO Box 546
Westhampton, NY 11977

202-289-1060
Kellie Spellman
606 W. Beach Avenue Apt. A, Brigantine, NJ 08203 

November 17, 2007   4:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kellie Spellman
606 W. Beach Avenue
Apt. A
Brigantine, NJ 08203

202-289-1060
Anthony Mendousa
PO Box 126 , Dillon Beach, CA 94929 

November 17, 2007   4:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Anthony Mendousa
PO Box 126
Dillon Beach, CA 94929

202-289-1060
Patrick Roth
60867 St. Rd. 15 , Goshen, IN 46528 

November 17, 2007   4:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Patrick Roth
60867 St. Rd. 15
Goshen, IN 46528

202-289-1060
Erica Bear
10 Recreation Reserve , Blackwood,  3458 Australia

November 17, 2007   4:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Erica Bear
10 Recreation Reserve
Blackwood 3458

202-289-1060
Barbara Caton
P.O. Box 2175 2339 Cranesbill Place, Avila Beach, CA 93424 

November 17, 2007   4:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Barbara Caton
P.O. Box 2175
2339 Cranesbill Place
Avila Beach, CA 93424

202-289-1060
Timothy Mobley
1610 Neil Armstrong St. #312 , Montebello, CA 90640 

November 17, 2007   4:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Timothy Mobley
1610 Neil Armstrong St. #312
Montebello, CA 90640

202-289-1060
Susan Cooper
1116 Greencove Ln , Richardson, TX 75081 

November 17, 2007   4:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Susan Cooper
1116 Greencove Ln
Richardson, TX 75081

202-289-1060
Matthew Heath
3258 Waterview Court , Hayward, CA 94542-2125 

November 17, 2007   4:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Matthew Heath
3258 Waterview Court
Hayward, CA 94542-2125

202-289-1060
Brooke Bronson
962 Stanwix Rd. , Eagan, MN 55123 

November 17, 2007   4:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Brooke Bronson
962 Stanwix Rd.
Eagan, MN 55123

202-289-1060
Lisa Sheldon
7235 Buckboard Dr , Park City, UT 84098 

November 17, 2007   4:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Lisa Sheldon
7235 Buckboard Dr
Park City, UT 84098

202-289-1060
Dana White
1705 Archer Ct , Plymouth, MN 55447-2825 

November 17, 2007   4:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Dana White
1705 Archer Ct
Plymouth, MN 55447-2825

202-289-1060
Stephen Zollman
720 A 14th Street , San Francisco, CA 94114 

November 17, 2007   4:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Stephen Zollman
720 A 14th Street
San Francisco, CA 94114

202-289-1060
Brijesh Shah
384 E 15th Avenue , Columbus, OH 43201 

November 17, 2007   4:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Brijesh Shah
384 E 15th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43201

202-289-1060
KATE RAVENSTEIN
6984 E CAMINO DEL TORO , SAHUARITA, AZ 85629 

November 17, 2007   4:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

KATE RAVENSTEIN
6984 E CAMINO DEL TORO
SAHUARITA, AZ 85629

202-289-1060
Jim Allen
585 S Stewart Ave , Lombard, IL 60148 

November 17, 2007   4:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jim Allen
585 S Stewart Ave
Lombard, IL 60148

202-289-1060
Christine Wells
Po Box 730 , Arroyo Seco, NM 87514 

November 17, 2007   4:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Christine Wells
Po Box 730
Arroyo Seco, NM 87514

202-289-1060
Mandie Barry
5685 Kennard Rd. , Seville, OH 44273 

November 17, 2007   4:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Mandie Barry
5685 Kennard Rd.
Seville, OH 44273

202-289-1060
yuen lee
109 eldridge st, , new york, NY 10002 

November 17, 2007   4:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

yuen lee
109 eldridge st,
new york, NY 10002

202-289-1060
Denise Mason
10811 NE 215th CT , Vancouver, WA 09682 

November 17, 2007   4:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Denise Mason
10811 NE 215th CT
Vancouver, WA 09682

202-289-1060
Olivia Bradburn
14024 Albert Way , Gainesville, VA 20155 

November 17, 2007   4:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Olivia Bradburn
14024 Albert Way
Gainesville, VA 20155

202-289-1060
ashley hutchins
307 fabiola ave , lafayette, LA 70508 

November 17, 2007   4:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

ashley hutchins
307 fabiola ave
lafayette, LA 70508

202-289-1060
Scott Orr
4202 E Fowler Ave # 1224 , Tampa, FL 33620 

November 17, 2007   4:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Scott Orr
4202 E Fowler Ave # 1224
Tampa, FL 33620

202-289-1060
Lawrence Loosmore
2846 Pasteur Ave , Saint Louis, MO 63114 

November 17, 2007   4:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Lawrence Loosmore
2846 Pasteur Ave
Saint Louis, MO 63114

202-289-1060
Doug Berg
3000 5 Mile Rd NE , Grand Rapids, MI 49525 

November 17, 2007   4:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Doug Berg
3000 5 Mile Rd NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49525

202-289-1060
Tori A. Abbott
107 Locust Ln , Yorktown, VA 23693-4935 

November 17, 2007   4:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Tori A. Abbott
107 Locust Ln
Yorktown, VA 23693-4935

202-289-1060
Sara Bhakti
521 7th Ave , Kirkland, WA 98033 

November 17, 2007   4:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sara Bhakti
521 7th Ave
Kirkland, WA 98033

202-289-1060
John Brazner
 , Herring Cove,   

November 17, 2007   4:22 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

John Brazner
Herring Cove

202-289-1060
Maryagnes Moughan
89 Amsterdam Rd. , Rochester, NY 146101005 

November 17, 2007   4:22 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Maryagnes Moughan
89 Amsterdam Rd.
Rochester, NY 14610-1005

202-289-1060
Janie Davis
4605 Hartland Pkwy. , Lexington, KY 40515 

November 17, 2007   4:22 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Janie Davis
4605 Hartland Pkwy.
Lexington, KY 40515

202-289-1060
Idabelle Fosse
1139 55th Street , Oakland, CA 94608 

November 17, 2007   4:18 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Idabelle Fosse
1139 55th Street
Oakland, CA 94608

202-289-1060
Sue Christiansen
41 Valley Ave apt 7 , Iowa City, IA 52246 

November 17, 2007   4:18 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sue Christiansen
41 Valley Ave apt 7
Iowa City, IA 52246

202-289-1060
Amy Reilein
400 E. 71st St. Apt. 18G, New York, NY 10021 

November 17, 2007   4:18 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Amy Reilein
400 E. 71st St.
Apt. 18G
New York, NY 10021

202-289-1060
Laura Pyle
412 Waipoli Rd. , Kula, HI 96790 

November 17, 2007   4:18 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Laura Pyle
412 Waipoli Rd.
Kula, HI 96790

202-289-1060
Richard Taylor
18802 Evergreen Terrace , Saint Joseph, MO 64505 

November 17, 2007   4:18 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Richard Taylor
18802 Evergreen Terrace
Saint Joseph, MO 64505

202-289-1060
Esther Simon
66 N. Pease Road , Woodbridge, CT 065251624 

November 17, 2007   4:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Esther Simon
66 N. Pease Road
Woodbridge, CT 06525-1624

202-289-1060
Jeff Mason
41 Hilltop Circle , Lincroft, NJ 07738 

November 17, 2007   4:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jeff Mason
41 Hilltop Circle
Lincroft, NJ 07738

202-289-1060
Greta huizenga
1322 N. Dearborn , Chicago, IL 60610 

November 17, 2007   4:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Greta huizenga
1322 N. Dearborn
Chicago, IL 60610

202-289-1060
Judith Marvin
1075 Hardscrabble Ln , Lewisburg, PA 17837-8062 

November 17, 2007   4:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Judith Marvin
1075 Hardscrabble Ln
Lewisburg, PA 17837-8062

202-289-1060
Patricia Savage
PO Box 100 , Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546 

November 17, 2007   4:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Patricia Savage
PO Box 100
Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546

202-289-1060
Silvija Kemeraite
- -, Siauliai,  - Lithuania

November 17, 2007   4:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Silvija Kemeraite
-
-
Siauliai -

202-289-1060
Tracy O'Quinn
1010 N. Avenue C , Elgin, TX 78621 

November 17, 2007   4:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Tracy O'Quinn
1010 N. Avenue C
Elgin, TX 78621

202-289-1060
holy holily holian
pob 4664 , arcata, CA 95518-4664 

November 17, 2007   4:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.
kind

Sincerely,

holy holily holian
pob 4664
arcata, CA 95518-4664

202-289-1060
JOHN PAVEL
355 MILL ROCK ROAD , HAMDEN, CT 06517 

November 17, 2007   4:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

JOHN PAVEL
355 MILL ROCK ROAD
HAMDEN, CT 06517

202-289-1060
Janis Zane
420 Ivy Lane , Glen Mills, PA 19342 

November 17, 2007   4:01 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Janis Zane
420 Ivy Lane
Glen Mills, PA 19342

202-289-1060
Cathy Keathley
2151 SW 41st Ln , Gainesville, FL 32608 

November 17, 2007   4:01 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Cathy Keathley
2151 SW 41st Ln
Gainesville, FL 32608

202-289-1060
Lena Sturgis
8 Griscom Ln. , Woodbury, NJ 08096 

November 17, 2007   4:01 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Lena Sturgis
8 Griscom Ln.
Woodbury, NJ 08096

202-289-1060
Jo Morriss
4985 Meadow Run Dr , Hilliard, OH 43026 

November 17, 2007   4:01 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jo Morriss
4985 Meadow Run Dr
Hilliard, OH 43026

202-289-1060
Robert Peter
PO Box 3635 , Telluride, CO 81435 

November 17, 2007   4:01 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Robert Peter
PO Box 3635
Telluride, CO 81435

202-289-1060
Ted Fisk
314 Meadow Green Drive , Naperville, IL 60565 

November 17, 2007   4:01 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Ted Fisk
314 Meadow Green Drive
Naperville, IL 60565

202-289-1060
Charlotte Reid
50 Weddle Way , Christiansburg, VA 240731018 

November 17, 2007   4:01 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Charlotte Reid
50 Weddle Way
Christiansburg, VA 24073-1018

202-289-1060
Caroline Alm
5 Brookwood Lane , Norton, MA 02766 

November 17, 2007   4:01 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Caroline Alm
5 Brookwood Lane
Norton, MA 02766

202-289-1060
Sharon Robinet
14421 Salem , Redford, MI 48239 

November 17, 2007   4:01 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sharon Robinet
14421 Salem
Redford, MI 48239

202-289-1060
Daniel Soto
913 Rosinia ct. , Orlando, FL 32828 

November 17, 2007   3:49 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Daniel Soto
913 Rosinia ct.
Orlando, FL 32828

202-289-1060
Seth H. Snapp
2214 H St , Bellingham, WA 98225 

November 17, 2007   3:49 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Seth H. Snapp
2214 H St
Bellingham, WA 98225

202-289-1060
Barbara Rudziecka
3837 Turtle Run Blvd Apt 2532, Coral Springs, FL 33067 

November 17, 2007   3:48 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Barbara Rudziecka
3837 Turtle Run Blvd
Apt 2532
Coral Springs, FL 33067

202-289-1060
Patrick O'Keeffe
11814 SE 222nd Ct , Kent, WA 98031-9641 

November 17, 2007   3:48 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Patrick O'Keeffe
11814 SE 222nd Ct
Kent, WA 98031-9641

202-289-1060
Virginia Allgaier
1449 Valley Rd. Apt. 111, Stirling, NJ 07980 

November 17, 2007   3:48 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Virginia Allgaier
1449 Valley Rd.
Apt. 111
Stirling, NJ 07980

202-289-1060
Ann Edelman
6585 Red Coach Lane , Reynoldsburg, OH 43068 

November 17, 2007   3:48 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Ann Edelman
6585 Red Coach Lane
Reynoldsburg, OH 43068

202-289-1060
Mary Bettuchy
6065 GreenVillage Rd. , Chambersburg, PA 17202 

November 17, 2007   3:48 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Mary Bettuchy
6065 GreenVillage Rd.
Chambersburg, PA 17202

202-289-1060
M. A. Dickson
PO Box 7 , Deer Isle, ME 04627 

November 17, 2007   3:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

M. A. Dickson
PO Box 7
Deer Isle, ME 04627

202-289-1060
M Wahosi
246 Bremerton Blvd West , Bremerton, WA 98312 

November 17, 2007   3:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

M Wahosi
246 Bremerton Blvd West
Bremerton, WA 98312

202-289-1060
Tessa Brunton
71 Forrest Terrace , Fairfax, CA 94110 

November 17, 2007   3:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Tessa Brunton
71 Forrest Terrace
Fairfax, CA 94110

202-289-1060
Todd O'Buckley
Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies 3027 Thurston Bowles Bldg., CB 7178, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7178 

November 17, 2007   3:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Todd O'Buckley
Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies
3027 Thurston Bowles Bldg., CB 7178
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7178

202-289-1060
Mark Harris
560 E South Temple #202 , Salt Lake CIty, UT 84102 

November 17, 2007   3:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Mark Harris
560 E South Temple #202
Salt Lake CIty, UT 84102

202-289-1060
marc clark
6935 142nd ct ne , redmond, WA 98052 

November 17, 2007   3:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

marc clark
6935 142nd ct ne
redmond, WA 98052

202-289-1060
J Brent
1977 N. Olden Ave #212 , Trenton, NJ 08618 

November 17, 2007   3:34 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

J Brent
1977 N. Olden Ave #212
Trenton, NJ 08618

202-289-1060
Jasmin Phua
6109 Little Foxes Run , Columbia, MD 21045 

November 17, 2007   3:34 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jasmin Phua
6109 Little Foxes Run
Columbia, MD 21045

202-289-1060
Catherine Harrison
310 Cedar Dr S , Surfside Beach, SC 29575 

November 17, 2007   3:34 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Catherine Harrison
310 Cedar Dr S
Surfside Beach, SC 29575

202-289-1060
Paul Nieermeier
251 W Manchester Ave , Playa Del Rey, CA 90293 

November 17, 2007   3:34 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Paul Nieermeier
251 W Manchester Ave
Playa Del Rey, CA 90293

202-289-1060
Nina Foushee
2017 N Tucson Blvd , Tucson, AZ 85716 

November 17, 2007   3:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Nina Foushee
2017 N Tucson Blvd
Tucson, AZ 85716

202-289-1060
Sally Bentz
4603 Anza St , San Francisco, CA 94121 

November 17, 2007   3:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sally Bentz
4603 Anza St
San Francisco, CA 94121

202-289-1060
Michelle Schwartz
3924 Ave. T , Brooklyn, NY 11234 

November 17, 2007   3:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Michelle Schwartz
3924 Ave. T
Brooklyn, NY 11234

202-289-1060
Andrew Pounds
1718 Eastbrook road , New Castle, PA 16101 

November 17, 2007   3:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Andrew Pounds
1718 Eastbrook road
New Castle, PA 16101

202-289-1060
Joshua Wallman
410 East 6th St , NYC, NY 10009 

November 17, 2007   3:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Joshua Wallman
410 East 6th St
NYC, NY 10009

202-289-1060
Tere M. Meyer
10 Brigton Ct. , Safety Harbor, FL 34695 

November 17, 2007   3:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Tere M. Meyer
10 Brigton Ct.
Safety Harbor, FL 34695

202-289-1060
Delores Steele
104 Marcy Ave. , Brooklyn, NY 11211 

November 17, 2007   3:22 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Delores Steele
104 Marcy Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211

202-289-1060
Kathleen Mortensen
539 Shadywood Lane , Elk Grove Village, IL 60007 

November 17, 2007   3:22 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Mortensen
539 Shadywood Lane
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007

202-289-1060
Bill Rigby
515 Commanche Trail , Wheeling, IL 60090 

November 17, 2007   3:22 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Bill Rigby
515 Commanche Trail
Wheeling, IL 60090

202-289-1060
Judy Epstein
3449 Garfield Ave. South , Minneapolis, MN 55408 

November 17, 2007   3:22 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I am writing to urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste.  

Do you realize the repercussions of this dangerous proposal?  It would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.  

I do not mean to be patronising here, but take a moment and think about it now...  Do you really want your children and grandchildren to be harmed by the pollution that would accumulate from this?

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Judy Epstein
3449 Garfield Ave. South
Minneapolis, MN 55408

202-289-1060
Stacey Fingerle
1512 Hunter Lane , Clearwater, FL 33764 

November 17, 2007   3:22 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Stacey Fingerle
1512 Hunter Lane
Clearwater, FL 33764

202-289-1060
Maryellen Redish
671 S. Riverside Dr. #6 , Palm Springs, CA 92264 

November 17, 2007   3:22 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Maryellen Redish
671 S. Riverside Dr. #6
Palm Springs, CA 92264

202-289-1060
Krista Batterson
14 Rio Vista Cir , Durango, CO 81301 

November 17, 2007   3:22 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Krista Batterson
14 Rio Vista Cir
Durango, CO 81301

202-289-1060
Kelmie Blake
PO Box 944 , Port Angeles, WA 98362 

November 17, 2007   3:22 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kelmie Blake
PO Box 944
Port Angeles, WA 98362

202-289-1060
Mark Hulett
14720 Mcintosh Ln SE , Tenino, WA 98589 

November 17, 2007   3:22 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Mark Hulett
14720 Mcintosh Ln SE
Tenino, WA 98589

202-289-1060
Isabel Lallemand
21, rue Henri Sellier , Bourges,  18000 France

November 17, 2007   3:14 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Isabel Lallemand
21, rue Henri Sellier
Bourges 18000

202-289-1060
Susan Gries
4034 NE 13th Ave , Portland, OR 97212 

November 17, 2007   3:14 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Susan Gries
4034 NE 13th Ave
Portland, OR 97212

202-289-1060
Lauren Albarella
40 3rd Place , Brooklyn, NY 11231 

November 17, 2007   3:14 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Lauren Albarella
40 3rd Place
Brooklyn, NY 11231

202-289-1060
Carol Burton
4107 McGee , Kansas City, MO 64111 

November 17, 2007   3:14 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Carol Burton
4107 McGee
Kansas City, MO 64111

202-289-1060
Gina Cronin
2265 4th street , east meadow, NY 11554 

November 17, 2007   3:14 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Gina Cronin
2265 4th street
east meadow, NY 11554

202-289-1060
Geoffrey Gibbons
5712 Tanagerlake Rd. , Lithia, FL 33547-5869 

November 17, 2007   3:07 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

It is unconscionable that you would allow greater destruction & pollution to streams and the environment when we are all much more knowledgable about the terrible consequences of such behavior. We should be seeking & employing ways to sustain our natural resources, not destroy them.                                                      I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Geoffrey Gibbons
5712 Tanagerlake Rd.
Lithia, FL 33547-5869

202-289-1060
Angelica Cox
P.O. Box 62292 , Boulder City, NV 89006 

November 17, 2007   3:07 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Angelica Cox
P.O. Box 62292
Boulder City, NV 89006

202-289-1060
Alexia Cloutier
222 Glen Drive , Sausalito, CA 94965 

November 17, 2007   3:07 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Alexia Cloutier
222 Glen Drive
Sausalito, CA 94965

202-289-1060
Frank Leeds
46 Marion Lane , Eugene, OR 97404 

November 17, 2007   3:07 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Frank Leeds
46 Marion Lane
Eugene, OR 97404

202-289-1060
M. Wire
P.O. Box 602 , Boulder Creek, CA 95006 

November 17, 2007   3:07 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

M. Wire
P.O. Box 602
Boulder Creek, CA 95006

202-289-1060
laura li
1016 strout band , silver spring, MD 20901 

November 17, 2007   3:07 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

laura li
1016 strout band
silver spring, MD 20901

202-289-1060
valerie sanchez
44112 , Fontana, CA 92337 

November 17, 2007   3:07 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

valerie sanchez
44112
Fontana, CA 92337

202-289-1060
Melanie Cook
1625 Kennedy Causeway PH7 , North Bay Village, FL 33141 

November 17, 2007   3:07 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Melanie Cook
1625 Kennedy Causeway PH7
North Bay Village, FL 33141

202-289-1060
Anne Hedberg
7 Heather Way , Golden, CO 804012046 

November 17, 2007   3:02 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Anne Hedberg
7 Heather Way
Golden, CO 80401-2046

202-289-1060
Roberta Miller
148 Merrybrook Dr. , Havertown, PA 19083 

November 17, 2007   3:02 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Roberta Miller
148 Merrybrook Dr.
Havertown, PA 19083

202-289-1060
Brita Sauer
138 Beadel St. , Brooklyn, NY 11222 

November 17, 2007   3:02 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Brita Sauer
138 Beadel St.
Brooklyn, NY 11222

202-289-1060
Ruth Sander
508 W. Mill St , Ukiah, CA 95482 

November 17, 2007   3:02 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Ruth Sander
508 W. Mill St
Ukiah, CA 95482

202-289-1060
Christin Gunel
40 chemin de la vuette, THORENS-GLIERES,  74570 France

November 17, 2007   3:02 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Christin Gunel
40
chemin de la vuette
THORENS-GLIERES 74570

202-289-1060
Matthew Tilford
Bucknell University 701 Moore Avenue Box C3691, Lewisburg, PA 17837 

November 17, 2007   3:02 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Matthew Tilford
Bucknell University
701 Moore Avenue Box C3691
Lewisburg, PA 17837

202-289-1060
katerina Xepapa
kallikratous 29 , Athens,  17563 Greece

November 17, 2007   3:02 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

katerina Xepapa
kallikratous 29
Athens 17563

202-289-1060
Regina McCormack
22 Chestnut Street , Binghamton, NY 13905 

November 17, 2007   3:02 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Regina McCormack
22 Chestnut Street
Binghamton, NY 13905

202-289-1060
Madelyn Rosen
8170 Manitoba St. Unit 1, Playa Del Rey, CA 90293 

November 17, 2007   3:02 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Madelyn Rosen
8170 Manitoba St.
Unit 1
Playa Del Rey, CA 90293

202-289-1060
Terrance Hutchinson
21305 Conklin Court , California City, CA 93505 

November 17, 2007   3:02 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Terrance Hutchinson
21305 Conklin Court
California City, CA 93505

202-289-1060
Sophia Nam
165 Bennett Avenue 4L, New York, NY 10040 

November 17, 2007   2:54 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sophia Nam
165 Bennett Avenue
4L
New York, NY 10040

202-289-1060
Annie McCombs
P.O. Box 50269 , Kalamazoo, MI 49005-0269 

November 17, 2007   2:54 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Annie McCombs
P.O. Box 50269
Kalamazoo, MI 49005-0269

202-289-1060
Marcia Spann
7269 E. Manzanita Drive , Scottsdale, AZ 85258 

November 17, 2007   2:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Marcia Spann
7269 E. Manzanita Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85258

202-289-1060
Bob Aegerter
370 Sudden Vly , Bellingham, WA 98229 

November 17, 2007   2:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Bob Aegerter
370 Sudden Vly
Bellingham, WA 98229

202-289-1060
Ben Heymann
140 Eastwood Rd , Fairfield, CT 06825 

November 17, 2007   2:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Ben Heymann
140 Eastwood Rd
Fairfield, CT 06825

202-289-1060
Charles Huffman
Rt. 2 Box 290 , Lewisburg, WV 24901 

November 17, 2007   2:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Charles Huffman
Rt. 2 Box 290
Lewisburg, WV 24901

202-289-1060
Geri Smith
3095 Caminito Sagunto , Del Mar, CA 92014-3934 

November 17, 2007   2:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Geri Smith
3095 Caminito Sagunto
Del Mar, CA 92014-3934

202-289-1060
Riley Shirey
230 NE Juniper St , Issaquah, WA 98027 

November 17, 2007   2:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Riley Shirey
230 NE Juniper St
Issaquah, WA 98027

202-289-1060
Shielding Cournoyer
145 Cross Road , Holyoke, MA 01040 

November 17, 2007   2:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Shielding Cournoyer
145 Cross Road
Holyoke, MA 01040

202-289-1060
Karen Solberg
3108 #2 Lost Creek Road , Anaconda, MT 59711 

November 17, 2007   2:53 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

As someone who lives in an area heavily impacted by 100's of years of copper mining, I know the impacts that relaxing any standards can have.  Our area is one of the largest superfund sites in the nation (Anaconda-Butte,Montana) and it once was a beautiful valley.  Look at it on Google Earth- the triangular waste area it looks like a moonscape and covers 1000's of acres. The Clark Fork River was heavily impacted by tailings  transported downstream from the sites.  There is massive cleanup underway at a cost of millions, maybe even billions of dollars.  The time and effort on behalf of the communities involved has impacted everything about them- we are battling for the communities to survive the impacts of these decisions.  They are economically depressed and under the thumb of those that are responsible for the clean up.

Please consider what the mpacts of your decisions will have on the future generations of these communities.  Make good decisions now and hold the companies to the highest standards. 

Sincerely,

Karen Solberg
3108 #2 Lost Creek Road
Anaconda, MT 59711

202-289-1060
Pat Jones
64338 Penny Rd. , Coos bay, OR 97420 

November 17, 2007   2:45 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Pat Jones
64338 Penny Rd.
Coos bay, OR 97420

202-289-1060
Michael Ribblet
225 sequoia ct , latrobe, PA 15650 

November 17, 2007   2:45 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Michael Ribblet
225 sequoia ct
latrobe, PA 15650

202-289-1060
John Hogan
7812 La Fiesta Drive , Buena Park, CA 90620 

November 17, 2007   2:45 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

John Hogan
7812 La Fiesta Drive
Buena Park, CA 90620

202-289-1060
Maria Ciafre
1902 Fowler Road , Folcroft, PA 19032 

November 17, 2007   2:45 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Maria Ciafre
1902 Fowler Road
Folcroft, PA 19032

202-289-1060
Tina Smith
10683 SW River Drive , Tigard, OR 97224 

November 17, 2007   2:45 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Tina Smith
10683 SW River Drive
Tigard, OR 97224

202-289-1060
andrew pine
922 e. 4th street , tucson, AZ 85719 

November 17, 2007   2:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

andrew pine
922 e. 4th street
tucson, AZ 85719

202-289-1060
Stoyka Chipchakova
13 Mart Str. No.8 , Sofia,  1000 Bulgaria

November 17, 2007   2:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Stoyka Chipchakova
13 Mart Str. No.8
Sofia 1000

202-289-1060
Shaun Thomas
5115 Totten Ct. NWd , Olympia, WA 98502 

November 17, 2007   2:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Shaun Thomas
5115 Totten Ct. NWd
Olympia, WA 98502

202-289-1060
christina coughlan
 , ddo,   

November 17, 2007   2:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

christina coughlan
ddo

202-289-1060
Tim Stroud
1520 S. Bryan , Amarillo, TX 79102 

November 17, 2007   2:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Tim Stroud
1520 S. Bryan
Amarillo, TX 79102

202-289-1060
gino dipierro
52 sharps lane , Trenton, NJ 08610 

November 17, 2007   2:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

gino dipierro
52 sharps lane
Trenton, NJ 08610

202-289-1060
Ben Sanders
715 Plum Hollow , Hot Springs, AR 71913 

November 17, 2007   2:39 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Ben Sanders
715 Plum Hollow
Hot Springs, AR 71913

202-289-1060
gale steelman
pob 3305 , Weaverville, CA 96093 

November 17, 2007   2:39 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

gale steelman
pob 3305
Weaverville, CA 96093

202-289-1060
Edgar Miller
810 Terrace Dr , Los Altos, CA 94024-6626 

November 17, 2007   2:35 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Edgar Miller
810 Terrace Dr
Los Altos, CA 94024-6626

202-289-1060
Scott Eidem
1606 Peachwood Dr. , San Jose, CA 95132 

November 17, 2007   2:35 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Scott Eidem
1606 Peachwood Dr.
San Jose, CA 95132

202-289-1060
Jess Bird
943 1/2 Woodlawn St , Scranton, PA 18509 

November 17, 2007   2:35 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jess Bird
943 1/2 Woodlawn St
Scranton, PA 18509

202-289-1060
Jen Schnabel
903 5th St NE , Rochester, MN 55906 

November 17, 2007   2:35 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jen Schnabel
903 5th St NE
Rochester, MN 55906

202-289-1060
Brie-anne Roberts
10810 Cobblecreek Way , Missouri City, TX 77459 

November 17, 2007   2:35 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Brie-anne Roberts
10810 Cobblecreek Way
Missouri City, TX 77459

202-289-1060
Dorinda Scott
1809 Treadwell Street , Austin, TX 78704 

November 17, 2007   2:35 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Dorinda Scott
1809 Treadwell Street
Austin, TX 78704

202-289-1060
Kate Harper
7608 Wooddale Way , Citrus Heights, CA 95610 

November 17, 2007   2:35 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kate Harper
7608 Wooddale Way
Citrus Heights, CA 95610

202-289-1060
Karen Schmeltekopf
1305 St. Andrews , San Angelo, TX 76904 

November 17, 2007   2:35 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Karen Schmeltekopf
1305 St. Andrews
San Angelo, TX 76904

202-289-1060
barry truman
8413 spada road , snohomish, WA 98290 

November 17, 2007   2:29 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

ONCE AGAIN, I HAVE TO RUB MY EYES. 

IS IT REALLY NECESSARY  FOR US TO  WRITE LETTERS TO ENCOURAGE THE GOVERNMENT NOT TO FOUL THE ENVIRONMENT FOR THE CONVENIENCE OF MINING COMPANIES?  IT'S EMBARASSING AND SAD.  IF ANYTHING, THESE BUFFER ZONES SHOULD BE ENLARGED. 

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

barry truman
8413 spada road
snohomish, WA 98290

202-289-1060
Meg Rosenfeld
1236 6th Avenue #3 , San Francisco, CA 94122 

November 17, 2007   2:29 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Meg Rosenfeld
1236 6th Avenue #3
San Francisco, CA 94122

202-289-1060
penelope johnstone
p.o. box 2882 , oakhurst, CA 93644-2882 

November 17, 2007   2:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

penelope johnstone
p.o. box 2882
oakhurst, CA 93644-2882

202-289-1060
Rima Robinson
315 E Mountain Dr , Santa Barbara, CA 93108 

November 17, 2007   2:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Rima Robinson
315 E Mountain Dr
Santa Barbara, CA 93108

202-289-1060
Pamela Smith
225 East 149th Street 19f, Bronx, NY 10451 

November 17, 2007   2:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Pamela Smith
225 East 149th Street
19f
Bronx, NY 10451

202-289-1060
Nicole Gelb
40 Newbury Street , Somerville, MA 02144 

November 17, 2007   2:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Nicole Gelb
40 Newbury Street
Somerville, MA 02144

202-289-1060
María Fernanda R. Alvarez
Barrio Jardin , Santa Rosa,  6300 Argentina

November 17, 2007   2:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

María Fernanda R. Alvarez
Barrio Jardin
Santa Rosa 6300

202-289-1060
Daniel Tagliarina
1 Eastwood Rd. , Storrs Mansfield, CT 06268 

November 17, 2007   2:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Daniel Tagliarina
1 Eastwood Rd.
Storrs Mansfield, CT 06268

202-289-1060
Peter Cox
Heuvel 96 , lommel,  3920 Belgium

November 17, 2007   2:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Peter Cox
Heuvel 96
lommel 3920

202-289-1060
A.G. Bring
115 w 82 st , NYC, NY 10024 

November 17, 2007   2:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

A.G. Bring
115 w 82 st
NYC, NY 10024

202-289-1060
jim kirkpatrick
999 bookcliff ave k5 , grand junction, CO 81501 

November 17, 2007   2:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

jim kirkpatrick
999 bookcliff ave k5
grand junction, CO 81501

202-289-1060
Suzanne Christy
PO Box 911 253 Hemlock Rd, Albrightsville, PA 18210 

November 17, 2007   2:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Christy
PO Box 911
253 Hemlock Rd
Albrightsville, PA 18210

202-289-1060
Kaye Beiswanger
2130 Como Avenue #206 , Saint Paul, MN 55108 

November 17, 2007   2:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kaye Beiswanger
2130 Como Avenue #206
Saint Paul, MN 55108

202-289-1060
Sarah Perry
114 Debra Drive , Stafford, VA 22556 

November 17, 2007   2:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sarah Perry
114 Debra Drive
Stafford, VA 22556

202-289-1060
Hannah Reinhart
3856 Flora Pl , Saint Louis, MO 63110 

November 17, 2007   2:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Hannah Reinhart
3856 Flora Pl
Saint Louis, MO 63110

202-289-1060
Gregory Simmons
1748 Kimberly Drive , Marietta, GA 30008 

November 17, 2007   2:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Gregory Simmons
1748 Kimberly Drive
Marietta, GA 30008

202-289-1060
Mercedes Harris
324608 Georgia Tech Station , Atlanta, GA 30317 

November 17, 2007   2:21 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Mercedes Harris
324608 Georgia Tech Station
Atlanta, GA 30317

202-289-1060
Damon Franke
723 Leontine St. , New Orleans, LA 70115 

November 17, 2007   2:21 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Damon Franke
723 Leontine St.
New Orleans, LA 70115

202-289-1060
Leslie Winston
600 Central Avenue #54 , Riverside, CA 92507 

November 17, 2007   2:21 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Leslie Winston
600 Central Avenue #54
Riverside, CA 92507

202-289-1060
Erich McNaughton
11611 SE 34th Ave , Milwaukie, OR 97222 

November 17, 2007   2:21 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Erich McNaughton
11611 SE 34th Ave
Milwaukie, OR 97222

202-289-1060
Denise Nearing
3209 Virginia Ave , Fort Pierce, FL 34981 

November 17, 2007   2:21 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Denise Nearing
3209 Virginia Ave
Fort Pierce, FL 34981

202-289-1060
Ann Sajecki
4840 E. Ft. Lowell Rd. , Tucson, AZ 85712 

November 17, 2007   2:21 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Ann Sajecki
4840 E. Ft. Lowell Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85712

202-289-1060
Noreen Wedman
P.O. Box 95272 , Seattle, WA 98145 

November 17, 2007   2:21 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices. IF THEY CAN'T DO IT CLEANLY, WITHOUT POLLUTING, MINING COMPANIES SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED MINE. PERIOD.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Noreen Wedman
P.O. Box 95272
Seattle, WA 98145

202-289-1060
James Moore
PO Box 877878 , Wasilla, AK 99687 

November 17, 2007   2:21 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

James Moore
PO Box 877878
Wasilla, AK 99687

202-289-1060
Nancy Wiens
247 Bret Harte Road , San Rafael, CA 949015107 

November 17, 2007   2:21 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Nancy Wiens
247 Bret Harte Road
San Rafael, CA 94901-5107

202-289-1060
logan raming
4527 s. wallace lane , salt lake city, UT 84117 

November 17, 2007   2:14 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

logan raming
4527 s. wallace lane
salt lake city, UT 84117

202-289-1060
Julie Du Bois
8352 Starkland Ave. , Canoga Park, CA 91304 

November 17, 2007   2:14 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Julie Du Bois
8352 Starkland Ave.
Canoga Park, CA 91304

202-289-1060
Charlene Graham
101 E 14th Ave #28 , Ellensburg, WA 98926 

November 17, 2007   2:14 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Charlene Graham
101 E 14th Ave #28
Ellensburg, WA 98926

202-289-1060
Roger Santerre
10 Canaan Rd. , New Paltz, NY 12561 

November 17, 2007   2:14 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Roger Santerre
10 Canaan Rd.
New Paltz, NY 12561

202-289-1060
Melissa Smith
3259 Springwood Hills Rd. , Stockbridge, GA 30281 

November 17, 2007   2:14 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Melissa Smith
3259 Springwood Hills Rd.
Stockbridge, GA 30281

202-289-1060
Cynthia King
15210 Yvonne Dr , Morgan Hill, CA 95037 

November 17, 2007   2:14 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Cynthia King
15210 Yvonne Dr
Morgan Hill, CA 95037

202-289-1060
Teresa Mueller
2059 Friendly St , Eugene, OR 97405 

November 17, 2007   2:14 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Yes, Americans can make do with less, so ask us to do without those extra mining products, but DON'T leave us with filthy water and degraded natural landscapes!

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Teresa Mueller
2059 Friendly St
Eugene, OR 97405

202-289-1060
Barbara Quintana
P.O. Box 28 , Soulsbyville, CA 95372 

November 17, 2007   2:06 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Barbara Quintana
P.O. Box 28
Soulsbyville, CA 95372

202-289-1060
Janet Rees
1400 Saiz Rd. , Bloomfield, NM 87413 

November 17, 2007   2:06 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

The Office of Surface Mining should not change the stream buffer zone rule by making it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. I believe that this proposal would result in the destruction of what are termed headwater streams that are sources of drinking water and that are used for fishing and recreation. The proposal counters the Clean Water Act as well as other laws and would mark a return to historically destructive mining practices. With the impacts of a growing population and ever increasing industrialization, we cannot afford to return to the destructive mining practices of the past.

It is unconscionable that you are considering rule changes would allow more of the kind of activity where mining companies, particularly those using mountaintop removal, will be permitted to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining wastes such as sludge. I understand that your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of central Appalachian streams have already been covered by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region have been damaged by mining activities such as waste disposal between 1992 and 2002. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. 

Instead of doing away with the 1983 buffer zone rule which was designed to protect natural streams from these direct mining impacts, the Office of Surface Mining should instead strictly enforce the 1983 rule. I find it appalling and pure madness that mountaintop removal mining is reported to have flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at such extreme cost to America's water. Our country's headwater streams must continue to be protected from this kind of devastation rather than losing existing protections as proposed by this zone rule change.

I ask you to give up your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Janet Rees
1400 Saiz Rd.
Bloomfield, NM 87413

202-289-1060
charles Connor
8400 Edinger Ave , Huntington Beach, CA 92647 

November 17, 2007   2:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

charles Connor
8400 Edinger Ave
Huntington Beach, CA 92647

202-289-1060
Peter Pilot
315 NE 10th St , Gainesville, FL 32601 

November 17, 2007   2:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Peter Pilot
315 NE 10th St
Gainesville, FL 32601

202-289-1060
Tamara Carpenter
932 Wheaton , Kalamazoo, MI 49008 

November 17, 2007   2:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Tamara Carpenter
932 Wheaton
Kalamazoo, MI 49008

202-289-1060
M Sage
1126 Cordova St # 3 , Pasadena, CA 91106 

November 17, 2007   2:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

M Sage
1126 Cordova St # 3
Pasadena, CA 91106

202-289-1060
Dedborah Welker
1258 D St. , Springfield, OR 97477 

November 17, 2007   2:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Dedborah Welker
1258 D St.
Springfield, OR 97477

202-289-1060
monica kirsch
4919 kenson dr , san jose, CA 95124 

November 17, 2007   2:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

monica kirsch
4919 kenson dr
san jose, CA 95124

202-289-1060
Samantha Roming
13088 S. Dowling , College Station, TX 77845-6806 

November 17, 2007   2:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Samantha Roming
13088 S. Dowling
College Station, TX 77845-6806

202-289-1060
Keiko Ishida
1520 Jackson Avenue , Saint Louis, MO 63130 

November 17, 2007   2:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Keiko Ishida
1520 Jackson Avenue
Saint Louis, MO 63130

202-289-1060
Gretta Sowyrda
37 Woodside Ave. , East Aurora,, NY 14052 

November 17, 2007   2:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Gretta Sowyrda
37 Woodside Ave.
East Aurora,, NY 14052

202-289-1060
Sue Goodell
2140 Via Mar Valle , Del Mar, CA 92014 

November 17, 2007   2:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sue Goodell
2140 Via Mar Valle
Del Mar, CA 92014

202-289-1060
Vernon Mogensen
47-42 Vernon Blvd. , Long Island City, NY 11101 

November 17, 2007   2:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Vernon Mogensen
47-42 Vernon Blvd.
Long Island City, NY 11101

202-289-1060
Melissa Hall
331 S Pacific Ave Apt 3 , Pittsburgh, PA 15224 

November 17, 2007   2:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Melissa Hall
331 S Pacific Ave Apt 3
Pittsburgh, PA 15224

202-289-1060
Michael Girasoli
1221 Elm Terrace , Rahway, NJ 07065-1837 

November 17, 2007   1:54 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Michael Girasoli
1221 Elm Terrace
Rahway, NJ 07065-1837

202-289-1060
Judy Dunn
PO Box 1612 , Raceland, LA 70394 

November 17, 2007   1:54 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Judy Dunn
PO Box 1612
Raceland, LA 70394

202-289-1060
R Saxton
532 Warren St , Albany, NY 12208 

November 17, 2007   1:54 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

R Saxton
532 Warren St
Albany, NY 12208

202-289-1060
Maria Servellon
293 Meridian St , East Boston, MA 02128 

November 17, 2007   1:54 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Maria Servellon
293 Meridian St
East Boston, MA 02128

202-289-1060
Glenna Davolt
6131 N. Desert Willow Dr. , Tucson, AZ 85743 

November 17, 2007   1:54 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Glenna Davolt
6131 N. Desert Willow Dr.
Tucson, AZ 85743

202-289-1060
Ann Searing
483 Canton Ave , Milton, MA 02186-3217 

November 17, 2007   1:54 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Ann Searing
483 Canton Ave
Milton, MA 02186-3217

202-289-1060
Phyllis Berger
21655 Sonoma Ct. , Boca Raton, FL 33433 

November 17, 2007   1:54 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Phyllis Berger
21655 Sonoma Ct.
Boca Raton, FL 33433

202-289-1060
Vic Bostock
17 Cliveden Green , Nottingham, CA 91001 

November 17, 2007   1:54 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Vic Bostock
17 Cliveden Green
Nottingham, CA 91001

202-289-1060
Sarah Elliott
747 Dayton Drive , Carmel, IN 46033 

November 17, 2007   1:50 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sarah Elliott
747 Dayton Drive
Carmel, IN 46033

202-289-1060
Leslie Brey
207 Cherry Drive , Satellite Beach, FL 32937 

November 17, 2007   1:50 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Leslie Brey
207 Cherry Drive
Satellite Beach, FL 32937

202-289-1060
Sandi Johnson
2 Portofino Dr Ste 803 , Pensacola Beach, FL 32561 

November 17, 2007   1:50 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sandi Johnson
2 Portofino Dr Ste 803
Pensacola Beach, FL 32561

202-289-1060
Sharon Barefoot
401 14th St. SW#11 #11, Albuquerque, NM 87102 

November 17, 2007   1:50 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sharon Barefoot
401 14th St. SW
#11
#11
Albuquerque, NM 87102

202-289-1060
Jonathan Woodside
75 Smith Hall , Hickam AFB, CA 91016 

November 17, 2007   1:50 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Woodside
75 Smith Hall
Hickam AFB, CA 91016

202-289-1060
Stephen Paylor
232 E Spring Ave , Ardmore, PA 19003 

November 17, 2007   1:50 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Stephen Paylor
232 E Spring Ave
Ardmore, PA 19003

202-289-1060
Brenda Batcheldor
3819 Callow Road , Lake Stevens, WA 98258 

November 17, 2007   1:50 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Brenda Batcheldor
3819 Callow Road
Lake Stevens, WA 98258

202-289-1060
Lou Ferraro
613 23rd ST , Virginia Beach, VA 23451 

November 17, 2007   1:50 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I am writing to inform you that, as a constituent, I am very concerned about this issue. 

However, PLEASE DO NOT SEND A PAPER REPLY VIA PRINTED MATERIAL. 

Not only is this a waste of paper and tax dollars, but it leads me to believe you do not actually read these email messages and simply send out an automated form letter. I do not ask for a formal reply on your letterhead. Whereas a reply via email would be most appreciated and an ideal way to conserve resources.  Thank You

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Lou Ferraro
613 23rd ST
Virginia Beach, VA 23451

202-289-1060
janis farmer
4878 jersey walnut grove rd , covington, GA 30014 

November 17, 2007   1:50 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

janis farmer
4878 jersey walnut grove rd
covington, GA 30014

202-289-1060
Karin Andrea Santis Donoso
Las Malvas 280 depto 1101 , Santiago,  7580011 Chile

November 17, 2007   1:44 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Karin Andrea Santis Donoso
Las Malvas 280 depto 1101
Santiago 7580011

202-289-1060
Julie Larson
506 Juniper Drive , North Aurora, IL 60542 

November 17, 2007   1:44 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Julie Larson
506 Juniper Drive
North Aurora, IL 60542

202-289-1060
J. Huston
60th St. , Oakland, CA 94609 

November 17, 2007   1:44 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

J. Huston
60th St.
Oakland, CA 94609

202-289-1060
Richard Heller
68 York Street, Apt 3 , Lambertville, NJ 08530 

November 17, 2007   1:44 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Richard Heller
68 York Street, Apt 3
Lambertville, NJ 08530

202-289-1060
Bryan Paul
2331 Wacassa Dr. , Geneva, FL 32732 

November 17, 2007   1:44 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Bryan Paul
2331 Wacassa Dr.
Geneva, FL 32732

202-289-1060
Staci Stanton
707 West Jefferson , Knoxville, IA 50138 

November 17, 2007   1:44 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Staci Stanton
707 West Jefferson
Knoxville, IA 50138

202-289-1060
Kristi Annecone
1683 Almond Blossom Lane , San Jose, CA 95124 

November 17, 2007   1:44 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kristi Annecone
1683 Almond Blossom Lane
San Jose, CA 95124

202-289-1060
Linda Crist
15905 Bent Tree Forest #2083, Dallas, TX 75248 

November 17, 2007   1:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Linda Crist
15905 Bent Tree Forest
#2083
Dallas, TX 75248

202-289-1060
Jen Agatone
459 Mountain Rd , Boyertown, PA 19512 

November 17, 2007   1:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jen Agatone
459 Mountain Rd
Boyertown, PA 19512

202-289-1060
Adam Parez
2128 Speed Avenue , Louisville, KY 40205 

November 17, 2007   1:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Adam Parez
2128 Speed Avenue
Louisville, KY 40205

202-289-1060
Cheryl Dare
1081 Court #810A , Memphis, TN 38104-2126 

November 17, 2007   1:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Cheryl Dare
1081 Court #810A
Memphis, TN 38104-2126

202-289-1060
Mary Wiebe
499 Sydney Avenue , Winnipeg, MB R2K 1C2 Canada

November 17, 2007   1:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Mary Wiebe
499 Sydney Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R2K 1C2

202-289-1060
tori rumbaugh
1154 don alberto ln. , san jacinto, CA 92582 

November 17, 2007   1:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

tori rumbaugh
1154 don alberto ln.
san jacinto, CA 92582

202-289-1060
Cindy A. Greer
1601 18th Ave. , Sterling, IL 61081 

November 17, 2007   1:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Cindy A. Greer
1601 18th Ave.
Sterling, IL 61081

202-289-1060
Ben Goodin
Box 5 , Coaldale, CO 81222 

November 17, 2007   1:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Ben Goodin
Box 5
Coaldale, CO 81222

202-289-1060
SUSAN CONWAY
20 FEDERAL COURT , GAITHERSBURG, MD 20877 

November 17, 2007   1:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

SUSAN CONWAY
20 FEDERAL COURT
GAITHERSBURG, MD 20877

202-289-1060
Jerry Poe
1119 Fernway Road , Chattanooga, TN 374051409 

November 17, 2007   1:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jerry Poe
1119 Fernway Road
Chattanooga, TN 37405-1409

202-289-1060
gaile carr
1821 eddy dr , mtshasta, CA 96067 

November 17, 2007   1:40 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

gaile carr
1821 eddy dr
mtshasta, CA 96067

202-289-1060
Vanessa Smith
170 Mulligan Rd. , Caledonia, ON N3W 2G9 Canada

November 17, 2007   1:32 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Vanessa Smith
170 Mulligan Rd.
Caledonia, ON N3W 2G9

202-289-1060
Mark Curtiss
3975 Capital heights Ave. , Baton Rouge, LA 70806 

November 17, 2007   1:32 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Mark Curtiss
3975 Capital heights Ave.
Baton Rouge, LA 70806

202-289-1060
Julio Berlingeri
5049 S. Michigan Ct. , Littleton, CO 80123 

November 17, 2007   1:32 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Julio Berlingeri
5049 S. Michigan Ct.
Littleton, CO 80123

202-289-1060
Arlen Kleinsasser
58 Belden St , Falls Village, CT 06031 

November 17, 2007   1:32 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Arlen Kleinsasser
58 Belden St
Falls Village, CT 06031

202-289-1060
Sarah Alba
1321 25th St , Sacramento, CA 95816 

November 17, 2007   1:32 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sarah Alba
1321 25th St
Sacramento, CA 95816

202-289-1060
Shannon Wright
420 Keithwood Ct , Richmond, VA 23236 

November 17, 2007   1:32 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Shannon Wright
420 Keithwood Ct
Richmond, VA 23236

202-289-1060
Gene and Carolyn Vereen
5703 Woodside Avenue , myrtle beach, SC 29577-2247 

November 17, 2007   1:32 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Gene and Carolyn Vereen
5703 Woodside Avenue
myrtle beach, SC 29577-2247

202-289-1060
Matthew Read
1109 Nolan Ln , Cordova, TN 38018 

November 17, 2007   1:32 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Matthew Read
1109 Nolan Ln
Cordova, TN 38018

202-289-1060
Chuck Ricevuto
Box 615 , Oroville, WA 98844 

November 17, 2007   1:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Chuck Ricevuto
Box 615
Oroville, WA 98844

202-289-1060
Scott Alberts
2902 Bright St. , Port Saint Lucie, FL 34953 

November 17, 2007   1:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Scott Alberts
2902 Bright St.
Port Saint Lucie, FL 34953

202-289-1060
Gina Griffith
737 Colman St , Altadena, CA 91001 

November 17, 2007   1:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Gina Griffith
737 Colman St
Altadena, CA 91001

202-289-1060
Charles Byrne
510 W. Springfield Avenue, Apt. B , Champaign, IL 61820 

November 17, 2007   1:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Charles Byrne
510 W. Springfield Avenue, Apt. B
Champaign, IL 61820

202-289-1060
Daniel Constable
618 Lessly Place , Davis, CA 95616 

November 17, 2007   1:28 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Daniel Constable
618 Lessly Place
Davis, CA 95616

202-289-1060
Lila Flagler
6737 E. Camino Principal, #C , Tucson, AZ 85715 

November 17, 2007   1:26 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Lila Flagler
6737 E. Camino Principal, #C
Tucson, AZ 85715

202-289-1060
Anita Valdez
800 N Country Club Rd , Tucson, AZ 85716 

November 17, 2007   1:26 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Anita Valdez
800 N Country Club Rd
Tucson, AZ 85716

202-289-1060
Sandra Conder
7232 E. Nopal Ave. , Mesa, AZ 85209 

November 17, 2007   1:26 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I don't have children, so go ahead and relax the stream buffer zone rule.

I live in Arizona where one can drive for miles enjoying the wonders of leveled mountaintops and ever-expanding valleys called open pits.  I have lived in the Pacific Northwest where once it was impossible to see the forest for the trees until clearcutting came along.  Now, one can't see either, but one can see further.

I once lived in western Pennsylvania, a charming example of the aftermath of lenient mining practices.

I grew up on the coast of Maine where we occasionally ate lobsters even though they were 30 cents a pound.  Last summer I could afford to eat my fill at $6.00 a pound courtesy of a lobsterman neighbor, so I must be better off.  

Natural resources are infinite, aren't they?

I guess my friends' children will find out.

Sincerely,

Sandra Conder
7232 E. Nopal Ave.
Mesa, AZ 85209

202-289-1060
Laura Robinson
25 Collinwood Road , Maplewood, NJ 07040 

November 17, 2007   1:25 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Laura Robinson
25 Collinwood Road
Maplewood, NJ 07040

202-289-1060
jenifer rubin
2127 frederick ave , kalamazoo, MI 49008 

November 17, 2007   1:25 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

jenifer rubin
2127 frederick ave
kalamazoo, MI 49008

202-289-1060
Allison Murphy
138 Viking Way Apt A2, Brockport, NY 14420 

November 17, 2007   1:25 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Allison Murphy
138 Viking Way
Apt A2
Brockport, NY 14420

202-289-1060
Maggie Preston
 , North Bay,   

November 17, 2007   1:25 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Maggie Preston
North Bay

202-289-1060
Aleksandar Ivanov
6912 66 str , Glendale, NY 11385 

November 17, 2007   1:25 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Aleksandar Ivanov
6912 66 str
Glendale, NY 11385

202-289-1060
James Thomas
6642 Trotter Dr , Huntington Beach, CA 92648-1540 

November 17, 2007   1:25 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

James Thomas
6642 Trotter Dr
Huntington Beach, CA 92648-1540

202-289-1060
Joanne Seiff
736 E. 11th Ave. , Bowling Green, KY 42101 

November 17, 2007   1:25 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Joanne Seiff
736 E. 11th Ave.
Bowling Green, KY 42101

202-289-1060
Joel Zulauf
1312 1/2 S. Walnut St. , Springfield, IL 62704 

November 17, 2007   1:20 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Joel Zulauf
1312 1/2 S. Walnut St.
Springfield, IL 62704

202-289-1060
Dorothea L. Cappadona
23 Watch Way , Huntington, NY 11743 

November 17, 2007   1:20 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Dorothea L. Cappadona
23 Watch Way
Huntington, NY 11743

202-289-1060
Matthew Franck
119 Livingston Ave Apt 5G , New Brunswick, NJ 089012456 

November 17, 2007   1:20 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Matthew Franck
119 Livingston Ave Apt 5G
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-2456

202-289-1060
Jeanne Whitley
6381 Reubens dr , Huntington Beach, CA 92647 

November 17, 2007   1:20 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jeanne Whitley
6381 Reubens dr
Huntington Beach, CA 92647

202-289-1060
Stephen Prine
19784 E Baker Place , Aurora, CO 80013 

November 17, 2007   1:20 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Stephen Prine
19784 E Baker Place
Aurora, CO 80013

202-289-1060
Shyam Bhakta
1502 Huntington Ln. , Cleveland Heights, OH 44118/1539 

November 17, 2007   1:19 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Shyam Bhakta
1502 Huntington Ln.
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118/1539

202-289-1060
Carrie Thomas
6642 Trotter Dr , Huntington Beach, CA 92648 

November 17, 2007   1:19 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Carrie Thomas
6642 Trotter Dr
Huntington Beach, CA 92648

202-289-1060
Jenny Holland
919 N Fairfield Ave , Chicago, IL 60622 

November 17, 2007   1:19 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jenny Holland
919 N Fairfield Ave
Chicago, IL 60622

202-289-1060
Shankar Gallery
1840  Violet St , Boulder, CO 80304 

November 17, 2007   1:15 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Shankar Gallery
1840  Violet St
Boulder, CO 80304

202-289-1060
Kasra Kamooneh
1471  15th Street  #7 , San Francisco, CA 94103 

November 17, 2007   1:15 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kasra Kamooneh
1471  15th Street  #7
San Francisco, CA 94103

202-289-1060
Suzanna Sterling
499 Oak Manor Drive , Fairfax, CA 94930 

November 17, 2007   1:15 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Suzanna Sterling
499 Oak Manor Drive
Fairfax, CA 94930

202-289-1060
Brian Edelstein
920 Oak Drive , Glencoe, IL 60022 

November 17, 2007   1:15 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Brian Edelstein
920 Oak Drive
Glencoe, IL 60022

202-289-1060
John Mundahl
12942W County Road oo , Hayward, WI 54843 

November 17, 2007   1:15 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

John Mundahl
12942W County Road oo
Hayward, WI 54843

202-289-1060
Kamal Prasad
2845 Bowen St , Graton, CA 95444 

November 17, 2007   1:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kamal Prasad
2845 Bowen St
Graton, CA 95444

202-289-1060
Michael Cook
1635 Cohassett Ave , Lakewood, OH 44107 

November 17, 2007   1:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Michael Cook
1635 Cohassett Ave
Lakewood, OH 44107

202-289-1060
Katherine Richards
3939 Madison Ave Apt 150 , North Highlands, CA 95660 

November 17, 2007   1:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Katherine Richards
3939 Madison Ave Apt 150
North Highlands, CA 95660

202-289-1060
Dave Campbell
412 W Mountain Ave , Fort Collins, CO 80521 

November 17, 2007   1:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Dave Campbell
412 W Mountain Ave
Fort Collins, CO 80521

202-289-1060
Glenna Juilfs
5391 State Hwy 276 W , Royse City, TX 751895223 

November 17, 2007   1:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Glenna Juilfs
5391 State Hwy 276 W
Royse City, TX 75189-5223

202-289-1060
Brent Gotsch
PO Box 332 86 Knight Road, Grahamsville, NY 12740 

November 17, 2007   1:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Brent Gotsch
PO Box 332
86 Knight Road
Grahamsville, NY 12740

202-289-1060
Elizabeth Mauney
119 N Piedmont Ave , Kings Mountain, NC 28086-3028 

November 17, 2007   1:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Mauney
119 N Piedmont Ave
Kings Mountain, NC 28086-3028

202-289-1060
Nancy Whiting
1502 Water St , Columbia, PA 17512 

November 17, 2007   1:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Nancy Whiting
1502 Water St
Columbia, PA 17512

202-289-1060
Aaron McGarry
254 Chase Rd , Thompson, CT 06277-2803 

November 17, 2007   1:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Aaron McGarry
254 Chase Rd
Thompson, CT 06277-2803

202-289-1060
Bill Riley
962 Diamond St. , San Diego, CA 921092505 

November 17, 2007   1:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Bill Riley
962 Diamond St.
San Diego, CA 92109-2505

202-289-1060
Alexa White
17856 Vanowen St. , Reseda, CA 91335 

November 17, 2007   1:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Alexa White
17856 Vanowen St.
Reseda, CA 91335

202-289-1060
Ely Freedman
PO Box 136 , La Mesa, CA 91944 

November 17, 2007   1:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Ely Freedman
PO Box 136
La Mesa, CA 91944

202-289-1060
Janet Hoover
12591 Scandia St , Garden Grove, CA 92845 

November 17, 2007   1:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Janet Hoover
12591 Scandia St
Garden Grove, CA 92845

202-289-1060
meleina mayhew
2313 teviot street , los angeles, CA 90039 

November 17, 2007   1:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

meleina mayhew
2313 teviot street
los angeles, CA 90039

202-289-1060
Peggy Graham
1524 Oriole Avenue , Sunnyvale, CA 94087-4940 

November 17, 2007   1:10 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Peggy Graham
1524 Oriole Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94087-4940

202-289-1060
Thilak Kariyawasam
No 546/3 Wata mawatha Gangodawila,, Nugegoda,  2100 Sri Lanka

November 17, 2007   1:02 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Thilak Kariyawasam
No 546/3 Wata mawatha
Gangodawila,
Nugegoda 2100

202-289-1060
Ondine Eaton
342 N Orange grove Ave , Los Angeles, CA 90036 

November 17, 2007   1:02 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Ondine Eaton
342 N Orange grove Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036

202-289-1060
June McCandless
2010 NE Clackamas St , Portland, OR 97232-1517 

November 17, 2007   1:02 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

June McCandless
2010 NE Clackamas St
Portland, OR 97232-1517

202-289-1060
Marissa Gomez
P.O. Box 572 , Danville, IL 61834 

November 17, 2007   1:02 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Marissa Gomez
P.O. Box 572
Danville, IL 61834

202-289-1060
Barbara Green
17078 Hall rd , Clatskanie, OR 97016 

November 17, 2007   1:02 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Barbara Green
17078 Hall rd
Clatskanie, OR 97016

202-289-1060
Rebecca Boyle Douglas
62 Willowbrook Lane , Canterbury, CT 06331 

November 17, 2007   1:00 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Boyle Douglas
62 Willowbrook Lane
Canterbury, CT 06331

202-289-1060
Leslie Sheridan
473 Church St , Sonoma, CA 95476 

November 17, 2007   1:00 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Leslie Sheridan
473 Church St
Sonoma, CA 95476

202-289-1060
Jennifer Wilcox
86 Perry St , New York, NY 10014 

November 17, 2007   1:00 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Wilcox
86 Perry St
New York, NY 10014

202-289-1060
Paul Yoder
P.O. Box 1616 , Cuba, NM 87013 

November 17, 2007   1:00 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Paul Yoder
P.O. Box 1616
Cuba, NM 87013

202-289-1060
Renee Sousa
4902 Avoca Street , Los Angeles, CA 90041-3106 

November 17, 2007   1:00 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Renee Sousa
4902 Avoca Street
Los Angeles, CA 90041-3106

202-289-1060
Vail Anderson
27 N Rolling Rd , Baltimore, MD 21228-4849 

November 17, 2007   1:00 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Vail Anderson
27 N Rolling Rd
Baltimore, MD 21228-4849

202-289-1060
Kitrina Lisiewski
270 Federal Road , Monroe Township, NJ 088315945 

November 17, 2007   1:00 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kitrina Lisiewski
270 Federal Road
Monroe Township, NJ 08831-5945

202-289-1060
Lola Schappell
P.O. Box 1466 , Cornelius, NC 28031 

November 17, 2007   1:00 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Lola Schappell
P.O. Box 1466
Cornelius, NC 28031

202-289-1060
Karen Orchard
722 Upper Third St , Kellogg, ID 83837 

November 17, 2007   1:00 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Karen Orchard
722 Upper Third St
Kellogg, ID 83837

202-289-1060
Jeffrey Freiberg
4183 Glen Meadow Dr , Norcross, GA 30092 

November 17, 2007   1:00 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Freiberg
4183 Glen Meadow Dr
Norcross, GA 30092

202-289-1060
Laura Coyle
9105 NE 29th St , Ankeny, IA 50021 

November 17, 2007   1:00 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Laura Coyle
9105 NE 29th St
Ankeny, IA 50021

202-289-1060
annalisa osterhout
8124 cicero mills road , cicero, NY 13039 

November 17, 2007   1:00 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

annalisa osterhout
8124 cicero mills road
cicero, NY 13039

202-289-1060
Christopher Duran
4902 N Amherst St , Portland, OR 97203 

November 17, 2007   12:51 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Christopher Duran
4902 N Amherst St
Portland, OR 97203

202-289-1060
Ryan Hartery
5184 Merle St. , Las Vegas, NV 89119 

November 17, 2007   12:51 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Ryan Hartery
5184 Merle St.
Las Vegas, NV 89119

202-289-1060
Cameron Stark
801 Locust Place Apt. 2194W, Albuquerque, NM 87102 

November 17, 2007   12:51 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Cameron Stark
801 Locust Place
Apt. 2194W
Albuquerque, NM 87102

202-289-1060
Robert Glenn San Socie
4450 Timber Hollow Way , Jacksonville, FL 32224 

November 17, 2007   12:47 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Robert Glenn San Socie
4450 Timber Hollow Way
Jacksonville, FL 32224

202-289-1060
Joyce Wilke
9267 1/2 Olive St , Fontana, CA 92335 

November 17, 2007   12:47 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Joyce Wilke
9267 1/2 Olive St
Fontana, CA 92335

202-289-1060
Mary Dulgeroff
600 Stevens Dr. #302, Pittsburgh, PA 15237 

November 17, 2007   12:47 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

Please, these never ending back door attacks on the environment by this amoral and unethical administration must stop.  There has to be ONE person somewhere in the repressive, regressive, INTERMINABLE Butcher administration that has the backbone to stand up and say enough.  We have done enough damage, we have given big business enough breaks, we have destoyed as much of this country as we should.  We have left enough work for the next ten generations to clean up our mess.  We have done enough to go down in history as the most environmentally unfriendly administration in the history of the US.  I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Mary Dulgeroff
600 Stevens Dr.
#302
Pittsburgh, PA 15237

202-289-1060
Todd Crowder
21 Waters Ave , Nashville, TN 37206 

November 17, 2007   12:47 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Todd Crowder
21 Waters Ave
Nashville, TN 37206

202-289-1060
Gary Baxter
4841 W Sandra Ter , Glendale, AZ 85306 

November 17, 2007   12:47 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Gary Baxter
4841 W Sandra Ter
Glendale, AZ 85306

202-289-1060
Amy Kim
1246 W Rosewood Ct , Chandler, AZ 85224 

November 17, 2007   12:47 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Amy Kim
1246 W Rosewood Ct
Chandler, AZ 85224

202-289-1060
Brook Tollard
1217 Michigan St , Oshkosh, WI 54902-6439 

November 17, 2007   12:47 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Brook Tollard
1217 Michigan St
Oshkosh, WI 54902-6439

202-289-1060
Maggie Duncan
2501 W. 36th St. , Tucson, AZ 85713 

November 17, 2007   12:47 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Maggie Duncan
2501 W. 36th St.
Tucson, AZ 85713

202-289-1060
Joe Bernstein
511 West 232nd Street #E1 , Bronx, NY 104633554 

November 17, 2007   12:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Joe Bernstein
511 West 232nd Street #E1
Bronx, NY 10463-3554

202-289-1060
Kelly Edinger
9835 Occidental Ave S , Seattle, WA 98108 

November 17, 2007   12:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kelly Edinger
9835 Occidental Ave S
Seattle, WA 98108

202-289-1060
larry kubli
332 River Rd , Collegeville, PA 19426-3026 

November 17, 2007   12:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

larry kubli
332 River Rd
Collegeville, PA 19426-3026

202-289-1060
Geno Rossi
1191 Simms Ave. , Henderson, NV 89074 

November 17, 2007   12:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Geno Rossi
1191 Simms Ave.
Henderson, NV 89074

202-289-1060
Edward Mapes
4903 Carolina Circle , McKinney, TX 75071 

November 17, 2007   12:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Edward Mapes
4903 Carolina Circle
McKinney, TX 75071

202-289-1060
Sarah F. Melcher
153 Beechwood Ave. , Torrington, CT 06790 

November 17, 2007   12:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I'm incredulous that I have to write a letter like this! Have we learned nothing about the need to preserve streams and other waterways? I am writing to STRONGLY urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sarah F. Melcher
153 Beechwood Ave.
Torrington, CT 06790

202-289-1060
Hugh Schmittle
2216 Hyde Lane , Bowie, MD 20716-1147 

November 17, 2007   12:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Hugh Schmittle
2216 Hyde Lane
Bowie, MD 20716-1147

202-289-1060
Cathy O'Leary Carey
17696 Cumana terrace , San Diego, CA 921281814 

November 17, 2007   12:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Cathy O'Leary Carey
17696 Cumana terrace
San Diego, CA 92128-1814

202-289-1060
Sharon Pennington
191 Die Road , Magnolia, KY 42757 

November 17, 2007   12:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sharon Pennington
191 Die Road
Magnolia, KY 42757

202-289-1060
Elizabeth Gonzales
18 Gregory Place , Oakland, CA 94602 

November 17, 2007   12:42 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Gonzales
18 Gregory Place
Oakland, CA 94602

202-289-1060
Robert M. Rocco
12554 Indianapolis St. , Los Angeles, CA 90066 

November 17, 2007   12:37 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Robert M. Rocco
12554 Indianapolis St.
Los Angeles, CA 90066

202-289-1060
Tor Gilbo
456 W Whipp Rd. , Dayton, OH 45459 

November 17, 2007   12:37 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Tor Gilbo
456 W Whipp Rd.
Dayton, OH 45459

202-289-1060
Charlotte Melichar
2210 Penfield Lane , Bowie, MD 20716 

November 17, 2007   12:37 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

Hi, Mr. Wahlquist!  I'm a volunteer at the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge, which as you know is part of your Interior department, and I'm sending along the message below to request that you follow its recommendations to safeguard our streams.  Thanks very much for your work on these issues!

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Charlotte Melichar
2210 Penfield Lane
Bowie, MD 20716

202-289-1060
Katie Thomas
9129 Mallard Circle , Sandy, UT 84093 

November 17, 2007   12:37 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Katie Thomas
9129 Mallard Circle
Sandy, UT 84093

202-289-1060
Valerie Jordan
3703 S 7th St , Tacoma, WA 98405 

November 17, 2007   12:37 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Valerie Jordan
3703 S 7th St
Tacoma, WA 98405

202-289-1060
Kimberly Huey
154 S 12th St , Indiana, PA 15701-2623 

November 17, 2007   12:37 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kimberly Huey
154 S 12th St
Indiana, PA 15701-2623

202-289-1060
Joi Grabowski
1844 7th Ave Apt 207 , Oakland, CA 94606 

November 17, 2007   12:37 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Joi Grabowski
1844 7th Ave Apt 207
Oakland, CA 94606

202-289-1060
kayde sherlock
 , vancouver,   

November 17, 2007   12:37 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

kayde sherlock
vancouver

202-289-1060
Myles McGann
604 NE 9th Street , Gainesville, FL 32601 

November 17, 2007   12:37 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Myles McGann
604 NE 9th Street
Gainesville, FL 32601

202-289-1060
Thomas Hager
695 Summer Lane , White Salmon, WA 98672 

November 17, 2007   12:37 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Thomas Hager
695 Summer Lane
White Salmon, WA 98672

202-289-1060
Sandip Amin
3550 N Lake Shore Drive Apt 1021, Chicago, IL 60657 

November 17, 2007   12:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sandip Amin
3550 N Lake Shore Drive
Apt 1021
Chicago, IL 60657

202-289-1060
Melissa Carr
26 Willow Rd # 609, Guelph, ON n1h1w1 Canada

November 17, 2007   12:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Melissa Carr
26 Willow Rd
# 609
Guelph, ON n1h1w1

202-289-1060
Suzi Tompkins
P. O. Box 423 , Twin Peaks, CA 92391 

November 17, 2007   12:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Suzi Tompkins
P. O. Box 423
Twin Peaks, CA 92391

202-289-1060
Reino Bryant
5310 Keller Springs Rd Apt 133 , Dallas, TX 75248 

November 17, 2007   12:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Reino Bryant
5310 Keller Springs Rd Apt 133
Dallas, TX 75248

202-289-1060
John P. Brady
2915 W. Coyle Ave. , Chicago, IL 60645 

November 17, 2007   12:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

John P. Brady
2915 W. Coyle Ave.
Chicago, IL 60645

202-289-1060
Zach Petersen
3104-L Westbury Lake Drive , Charlotte, NC 28269 

November 17, 2007   12:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Zach Petersen
3104-L Westbury Lake Drive
Charlotte, NC 28269

202-289-1060
Steven Brubaker
900 N Lake Shore Dr Apt 2703 , Chicago, IL 60611 

November 17, 2007   12:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Steven Brubaker
900 N Lake Shore Dr Apt 2703
Chicago, IL 60611

202-289-1060
Suzanne Griffith
2802 W Skyline Pky , Duluth, MN 55806 

November 17, 2007   12:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Griffith
2802 W Skyline Pky
Duluth, MN 55806

202-289-1060
Georgia Mattingly
1308 S Francis St , Longmont, CO 80501 

November 17, 2007   12:30 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Georgia Mattingly
1308 S Francis St
Longmont, CO 80501

202-289-1060
Lauri Peacock
718 N Burk St , Hobbs, NM 88240 

November 17, 2007   12:22 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Lauri Peacock
718 N Burk St
Hobbs, NM 88240

202-289-1060
Ava Thiesen
60465 Cascadel Dr S , North Fork, CA 93643-9661 

November 17, 2007   12:22 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Ava Thiesen
60465 Cascadel Dr S
North Fork, CA 93643-9661

202-289-1060
Nick Kiger
4528 Poinsetta Dr. , Fort Worth, TX 76114 

November 17, 2007   12:19 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Nick Kiger
4528 Poinsetta Dr.
Fort Worth, TX 76114

202-289-1060
Isabel Lima
6875 Louisville st , New Orleans, LA 70124 

November 17, 2007   12:19 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Isabel Lima
6875 Louisville st
New Orleans, LA 70124

202-289-1060
Matthew McGuire
322 Redwood Lane , Cheshire, CT 06410-2342 

November 17, 2007   12:19 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Matthew McGuire
322 Redwood Lane
Cheshire, CT 06410-2342

202-289-1060
Thomas Decker
C/ El Collado, 12 Urbiés, Mieres,  E 33 613 Spain

November 17, 2007   12:19 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Thomas Decker
C/ El Collado, 12
Urbiés
Mieres E 33 613

202-289-1060
Phil Klein
454 Sierra Trl , Coralville, IA 52241 

November 17, 2007   12:19 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Phil Klein
454 Sierra Trl
Coralville, IA 52241

202-289-1060
Martha Huggins
108 Stepp Pond. Trl. , Hendersonville, NC 28792 

November 17, 2007   12:19 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Martha Huggins
108 Stepp Pond. Trl.
Hendersonville, NC 28792

202-289-1060
William Brilliant
85 S. Birch Street , Denver, CO 80246 

November 17, 2007   12:19 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

William Brilliant
85 S. Birch Street
Denver, CO 80246

202-289-1060
tracey sams
21-23 birdsall ave , queens, NY 11694 

November 17, 2007   12:19 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

tracey sams
21-23 birdsall ave
queens, NY 11694

202-289-1060
Elaine Mayer
1432 20th St NW , Rochester, MN 55901 

November 17, 2007   12:19 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to  enforce that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

Abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Elaine Mayer
1432 20th St NW
Rochester, MN 55901

202-289-1060
Jessica Ridgeway
4115 Trout Gulch Rd , Aptos, CA 95003 

November 17, 2007   12:19 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jessica Ridgeway
4115 Trout Gulch Rd
Aptos, CA 95003

202-289-1060
David Bell
4212 Clark Ave. Apt. 302, Kansas City, MO 64111 

November 17, 2007   12:16 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

David Bell
4212 Clark Ave.
Apt. 302
Kansas City, MO 64111

202-289-1060
Russell Grindle
1331 Buckingham Drive , Fairfield, CA 94533 

November 17, 2007   12:16 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Russell Grindle
1331 Buckingham Drive
Fairfield, CA 94533

202-289-1060
Patti & Steve Devine
855 Leschi Way , Fox Island, WA 98333 

November 17, 2007   12:16 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Patti %pa_first_name% Steve Devine
855 Leschi Way
Fox Island, WA 98333

202-289-1060
Deborah Lakhavani
12660 Stafford Rd Apt. 726, Stafford, TX 77477 

November 17, 2007   12:16 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Deborah Lakhavani
12660 Stafford Rd
Apt. 726
Stafford, TX 77477

202-289-1060
bobby woodart
1614 primrose , toledo, OH 43612 

November 17, 2007   12:16 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

bobby woodart
1614 primrose
toledo, OH 43612

202-289-1060
Joyce Korn
227 W 15th St , New York, NY 10011-6430 

November 17, 2007   12:16 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Joyce Korn
227 W 15th St
New York, NY 10011-6430

202-289-1060
raymond crannell
215 Schmidt Rd , Ghent, NY 12075 

November 17, 2007   12:16 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

raymond crannell
215 Schmidt Rd
Ghent, NY 12075

202-289-1060
Shanna Schultz
207 2nd Avenue SW , Lonsdale, MN 55046 

November 17, 2007   12:16 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Shanna Schultz
207 2nd Avenue SW
Lonsdale, MN 55046

202-289-1060
Kathleen Malley-Morrison
99 Country Ln , Westwood, MA 02090-1023 

November 17, 2007   12:16 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Malley-Morrison
99 Country Ln
Westwood, MA 02090-1023

202-289-1060
Beverly Logan
7420 SE Milwaukie Ave , Portland, OR 972026111 

November 17, 2007   12:16 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Beverly Logan
7420 SE Milwaukie Ave
Portland, OR 97202-6111

202-289-1060
Berta Liao
2408 Santa Cruz Ct. , Torrance, CA 90501 

November 17, 2007   12:16 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Berta Liao
2408 Santa Cruz Ct.
Torrance, CA 90501

202-289-1060
Marianne Tjorning
Rolfsvej 21 , Frederiksberg,  DK2000 Denmark

November 17, 2007   12:06 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Marianne Tjorning
Rolfsvej 21
Frederiksberg DK2000

202-289-1060
Marianne Ryan
PO Box 2756 , Truckee, CA 96160 

November 17, 2007   12:06 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Marianne Ryan
PO Box 2756
Truckee, CA 96160

202-289-1060
Frank Hensley
136 Revere Cir. , Oak Ridge, TN 37830 

November 17, 2007   12:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Frank Hensley
136 Revere Cir.
Oak Ridge, TN 37830

202-289-1060
Marie Conroy-Salbi
723-38th Avenue , San Francisco, CA 94121 

November 17, 2007   12:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Marie Conroy-Salbi
723-38th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94121

202-289-1060
Gerard Redpath
1690 Running Deer , Keswick, VA 22947 

November 17, 2007   12:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Gerard Redpath
1690 Running Deer
Keswick, VA 22947

202-289-1060
Traci Peyghambarian
9620 World Cup Dr. , Las Vegas, NV 89117 

November 17, 2007   12:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Traci Peyghambarian
9620 World Cup Dr.
Las Vegas, NV 89117

202-289-1060
Allyson Loewen
9814 Shadow Wood Dr. , Houston, TX 77080 

November 17, 2007   12:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Allyson Loewen
9814 Shadow Wood Dr.
Houston, TX 77080

202-289-1060
Carrie Ewing
431 W. 2575 N. , Sunset, UT 84015 

November 17, 2007   12:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Carrie Ewing
431 W. 2575 N.
Sunset, UT 84015

202-289-1060
Shilla Sharifi
373 Half Moon Ln. Apt. 107, Daly City, CA 94015 

November 17, 2007   12:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Shilla Sharifi
373 Half Moon Ln.
Apt. 107
Daly City, CA 94015

202-289-1060
Fran Zoldan
512 Caren Dr , Virginia Beach, VA 23452 

November 17, 2007   12:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Fran Zoldan
512 Caren Dr
Virginia Beach, VA 23452

202-289-1060
Kathryn Palmer
1453 Hale Rd. , Wilmington, OH 45177 

November 17, 2007   12:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kathryn Palmer
1453 Hale Rd.
Wilmington, OH 45177

202-289-1060
Linda Andrews
P.O Box 97 , Canterbury, CT 06331 

November 17, 2007   12:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I respectfully urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. This proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses, is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws, and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

Linda Andrews
P.O Box 97
Canterbury, CT 06331

202-289-1060
Julie Gengo
PO Box 217 , Cardiff By The Sea, CA 92007 

November 17, 2007   12:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Julie Gengo
PO Box 217
Cardiff By The Sea, CA 92007

202-289-1060
Jennifer Smith
26 Swan Pl. # 2, Arlington, MA 02476 

November 17, 2007   12:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Smith
26 Swan Pl.
# 2
Arlington, MA 02476

202-289-1060
Daniel R. Goodwyn
226 Littlepage Ln. , King William, VA 230863324 

November 17, 2007   12:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Daniel R. Goodwyn
226 Littlepage Ln.
King William, VA 23086-3324

202-289-1060
Megan Berry
62764 Spring Creek Road , Montrose, CO 81401 

November 17, 2007   12:05 PM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Megan Berry
62764 Spring Creek Road
Montrose, CO 81401

202-289-1060
Shreya Ghose
 , MIssissauga,   

November 17, 2007   11:57 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Shreya Ghose
MIssissauga

202-289-1060
Nancy Paulson
PO Box 044226 , Racine, WI 53404 

November 17, 2007   11:57 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Nancy Paulson
PO Box 044226
Racine, WI 53404

202-289-1060
Claudia Jacobson
8300 Fairmount Dr Unit JJ104 , Denver, CO 802476533 

November 17, 2007   11:57 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Claudia Jacobson
8300 Fairmount Dr Unit JJ104
Denver, CO 80247-6533

202-289-1060
Kevin Ford
731 W. 18th St. #11 , Chicago, IL 60616 

November 17, 2007   11:57 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kevin Ford
731 W. 18th St. #11
Chicago, IL 60616

202-289-1060
Jeanne Chisholm
8388 Dressage Road , Littleton, CO 80125 

November 17, 2007   11:57 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jeanne Chisholm
8388 Dressage Road
Littleton, CO 80125

202-289-1060
Joseph Beuttenmuller
4044 W Lake Mary Blvd Unit 104-121 , Lake Mary, FL 32746 

November 17, 2007   11:57 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Joseph Beuttenmuller
4044 W Lake Mary Blvd Unit 104-121
Lake Mary, FL 32746

202-289-1060
David Cook
18230 Herford Lane , Houston, TX 77058 

November 17, 2007   11:57 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

David Cook
18230 Herford Lane
Houston, TX 77058

202-289-1060
Amanda Pace
1000 Hilltop Circle, Harbor 205D , Baltimore, MD 21250 

November 17, 2007   11:57 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Amanda Pace
1000 Hilltop Circle, Harbor 205D
Baltimore, MD 21250

202-289-1060
Louis W
w9 , Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510 

November 17, 2007   11:57 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Louis W
w9
Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510

202-289-1060
James D. Bloom
2724 Lake Capri Drive , Conyers, GA 300122945 

November 17, 2007   11:57 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

James D. Bloom
2724 Lake Capri Drive
Conyers, GA 30012-2945

202-289-1060
Elise Hunter
99 Martin Court , Asheville, NC 28806 

November 17, 2007   11:57 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Elise Hunter
99 Martin Court
Asheville, NC 28806

202-289-1060
Randi Steeland
15705 Haverhill Dr , Macomb, MI 48044 

November 17, 2007   11:57 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Randi Steeland
15705 Haverhill Dr
Macomb, MI 48044

202-289-1060
Anne Lowenthal
340 Riverside Drive , New York, NY 10025 

November 17, 2007   11:57 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Anne Lowenthal
340 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10025

202-289-1060
Ana Prohaska
Granicarska 1a , Bjelovar,  43000 Croatia

November 17, 2007   11:57 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Ana Prohaska
Granicarska 1a
Bjelovar 43000

202-289-1060
Nona Weiner
14238 Lucian Ave , San José, CA 95127 

November 17, 2007   11:57 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Nona Weiner
14238 Lucian Ave
San José, CA 95127

202-289-1060
Jeff Noftz
120 Rissman Ln , Ortonville, MI 48462 

November 17, 2007   11:57 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jeff Noftz
120 Rissman Ln
Ortonville, MI 48462

202-289-1060
Sally Allen
10321 sw 15th st , pembroke pines, FL 33025 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sally Allen
10321 sw 15th st
pembroke pines, FL 33025

202-289-1060
Mary Waltner
535 N. St. Louis , Chicago, IL 60624 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Mary Waltner
535 N. St. Louis
Chicago, IL 60624

202-289-1060
elena nikolaeva
16 inglenook dr , chattanooga, TN 37411 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

elena nikolaeva
16 inglenook dr
chattanooga, TN 37411

202-289-1060
Belen Carmichael
876 S. Ogden St. , Denver, CO 80209 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Belen Carmichael
876 S. Ogden St.
Denver, CO 80209

202-289-1060
Caitlin Richardson
3636 E Coleman Rd Apt 633 , East Lansing, MI 48823 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Caitlin Richardson
3636 E Coleman Rd Apt 633
East Lansing, MI 48823

202-289-1060
Karen Day
1566 Kelly St , Redlands, CA 92374 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Karen Day
1566 Kelly St
Redlands, CA 92374

202-289-1060
James Balzli
8130 Norton Ave #22 , WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA 90046 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

James Balzli
8130 Norton Ave #22
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA 90046

202-289-1060
Diana Hocking
3201 Chastain Dr. Apt. 2B, Atlanta, GA 30342 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Diana Hocking
3201 Chastain Dr.
Apt. 2B
Atlanta, GA 30342

202-289-1060
Christine Browne-Nunez
3804 NW Briarwood Drive , Blue Springs, MO 64015 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Christine Browne-Nunez
3804 NW Briarwood Drive
Blue Springs, MO 64015

202-289-1060
Susan Covington
PO Box 6 , Flint Hill, VA 22627 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Susan Covington
PO Box 6
Flint Hill, VA 22627

202-289-1060
john mcmahon
1085 higgins qtr dr , HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL 60169 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

john mcmahon
1085 higgins qtr dr
HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL 60169

202-289-1060
George Offord
2856 Bronx Park East , New York, NY 10467 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

George Offord
2856 Bronx Park East
New York, NY 10467

202-289-1060
Jaron Henrie-McCrea
504 W 110th St Apt 9F , New York, NY 10025 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jaron Henrie-McCrea
504 W 110th St Apt 9F
New York, NY 10025

202-289-1060
S Thomas
3549 Esplanade , Chico, CA 95973 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

S Thomas
3549 Esplanade
Chico, CA 95973

202-289-1060
Briana Adato
22 S. Summit St. , Ypsilanti, MI 48197 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Briana Adato
22 S. Summit St.
Ypsilanti, MI 48197

202-289-1060
Johanna Wald
845 Ashbury Street , San Francisco, CA 94117 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Johanna Wald
845 Ashbury Street
San Francisco, CA 94117

202-289-1060
Wm. & Jenna Labadie
POB 134 , Sullivan, NH 03445 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Wm. %pa_first_name% Jenna Labadie
POB 134
Sullivan, NH 03445

202-289-1060
Diane Sullivan
1231 SW Kalama Loop , Oak Harbor, WA 98277 

November 17, 2007   11:50 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Diane Sullivan
1231 SW Kalama Loop
Oak Harbor, WA 98277

202-289-1060
Emily Hersh
8601 Bridgeport Drive , Austin, TX 78758 

November 17, 2007   11:41 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Emily Hersh
8601 Bridgeport Drive
Austin, TX 78758

202-289-1060
Bonnie Brown
379 1st Ave Apt 3 , New York, NY 10010 

November 17, 2007   11:41 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Brown
379 1st Ave Apt 3
New York, NY 10010

202-289-1060
Molly Murphy
15 Rock Raymond Rd , Brookline, NH 03033-2233 

November 17, 2007   11:41 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

Mountains Rivers and Streams are my life.  I am a river guide.  It is my job and my passion.  We have one earth and you can never fully restore it!
I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Molly Murphy
15 Rock Raymond Rd
Brookline, NH 03033-2233

202-289-1060
Tawnya Shields
2975 Kelly Road , Hernando, MS 38632 

November 17, 2007   11:41 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Tawnya Shields
2975 Kelly Road
Hernando, MS 38632

202-289-1060
Patricia Locke
1340 Gulf Blvd Apt 7G , Clearwater, FL 33767 

November 17, 2007   11:41 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Patricia Locke
1340 Gulf Blvd Apt 7G
Clearwater, FL 33767

202-289-1060
Amanda Braun
6302 83rd Ct N , Brooklyn Park, MN 55445 

November 17, 2007   11:41 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Amanda Braun
6302 83rd Ct N
Brooklyn Park, MN 55445

202-289-1060
Tanya Olson
4065 Howard Ave , Los Alamitos, CA 90720 

November 17, 2007   11:41 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Tanya Olson
4065 Howard Ave
Los Alamitos, CA 90720

202-289-1060
Caroline Tibbetts
1630 Denniston , Pittsburgh, PA 15217 

November 17, 2007   11:41 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Caroline Tibbetts
1630 Denniston
Pittsburgh, PA 15217

202-289-1060
Caryn DiMarco
2608 West Mendenhall , Bozeman, MT 59718 

November 17, 2007   11:41 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Caryn DiMarco
2608 West Mendenhall
Bozeman, MT 59718

202-289-1060
jesse powers
47 Norcross Landing , W Chesterfield, NH 03466 

November 17, 2007   11:41 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

jesse powers
47 Norcross Landing
W Chesterfield, NH 03466

202-289-1060
Duane Pollard
200W.Leslie , Salina, KS 67401 

November 17, 2007   11:41 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Duane Pollard
200W.Leslie
Salina, KS 67401

202-289-1060
Scott Wilmarth
4115 Kenwood Ave , Kansas City, MO 64110 

November 17, 2007   11:41 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Scott Wilmarth
4115 Kenwood Ave
Kansas City, MO 64110

202-289-1060
Anthony Segelski
79 Bieselin Rd , Bellport, NY 11713 

November 17, 2007   11:41 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Anthony Segelski
79 Bieselin Rd
Bellport, NY 11713

202-289-1060
Kurt Lightfoot
13301 Avenida La Valencia , Poway, CA 92064 

November 17, 2007   11:41 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

How you noticed how Christian Creation Care is taking off?  With support from science, social values, and Bible interpretation Creation Care is the New Now.  Pretty cool, huh?

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kurt Lightfoot
13301 Avenida La Valencia
Poway, CA 92064

202-289-1060
Marilyn Vohs
PO Box 1441 , Fairplay, CO 80440 

November 17, 2007   11:41 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Marilyn Vohs
PO Box 1441
Fairplay, CO 80440

202-289-1060
Michael Kuziel
3620 Oakwood Drive , Zephyrhills, FL 33543 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Michael Kuziel
3620 Oakwood Drive
Zephyrhills, FL 33543

202-289-1060
Courtney Chulsky
1108 Gypsum Ave Salina, KS 67401, Salina, KS 67401 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Courtney Chulsky
1108 Gypsum Ave
Salina, KS 67401
Salina, KS 67401

202-289-1060
Kelly Preston
2731 Presidential Drive , Hebron, KY 41048 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kelly Preston
2731 Presidential Drive
Hebron, KY 41048

202-289-1060
Fern Wachtel
355 8th Ave Apt 15A , New York, NY 10001-4885 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Fern Wachtel
355 8th Ave Apt 15A
New York, NY 10001-4885

202-289-1060
Martha Emeson
3514 Central Ave. , Nashville, TN 37205 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Martha Emeson
3514 Central Ave.
Nashville, TN 37205

202-289-1060
David Bean
66 9th Street East # 1708, St. Paul, MN 55101-2254 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

David Bean
66 9th Street East
# 1708
St. Paul, MN 55101-2254

202-289-1060
Mark Hochsprung
9600 West Shore Drive , Oak lawn, IL 60453 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Mark Hochsprung
9600 West Shore Drive
Oak lawn, IL 60453

202-289-1060
rich miles
5969 e fairmount st , tucson, AZ 85712 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

rich miles
5969 e fairmount st
tucson, AZ 85712

202-289-1060
Susan Helmer
1708 Linden St. , Des Plaines, IL 60018 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Susan Helmer
1708 Linden St.
Des Plaines, IL 60018

202-289-1060
Jeff Ball
2436 Park Estates Dr , Sacramento, CA 95825 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jeff Ball
2436 Park Estates Dr
Sacramento, CA 95825

202-289-1060
Whitney Harvey
384 Old Settlement Rd. , Oneonta, AL 35121 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Whitney Harvey
384 Old Settlement Rd.
Oneonta, AL 35121

202-289-1060
Maria Aiello
45 Lolly Lane , Centereach, NY 11720 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Maria Aiello
45 Lolly Lane
Centereach, NY 11720

202-289-1060
Leslie Butterworth
125 Odell Drive , San Antonio, TX 78212 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Leslie Butterworth
125 Odell Drive
San Antonio, TX 78212

202-289-1060
Mary Brake
517 SE Maynard Rd , Cary, NC 27511 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Mary Brake
517 SE Maynard Rd
Cary, NC 27511

202-289-1060
Valerie Plaschka
16138 Chuckawa Ln SE , Yelm, WA 98597 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Valerie Plaschka
16138 Chuckawa Ln SE
Yelm, WA 98597

202-289-1060
Kathy Clark
549 S 1st St , Ann Arbor, MI 48103 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kathy Clark
549 S 1st St
Ann Arbor, MI 48103

202-289-1060
Ellen Damschen
7424 University Drive , Saint Louis, MO 63130 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Ellen Damschen
7424 University Drive
Saint Louis, MO 63130

202-289-1060
Stephanie Steel
4767 Coolidge St. , Oregon, WI 53575-2801 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Steel
4767 Coolidge St.
Oregon, WI 53575-2801

202-289-1060
Kay Leffler
18 Pond Lane , Armonk, NY 00000 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kay Leffler
18 Pond Lane
Armonk, NY 00000

202-289-1060
Bob Thomas
2001 Weaver Rd. , Myrtle Creek, OR 974578704 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Bob Thomas
2001 Weaver Rd.
Myrtle Creek, OR 97457-8704

202-289-1060
Kristen Hammond
14800 E. 2000th St , Macomb, IL 61455 

November 17, 2007   11:34 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kristen Hammond
14800 E. 2000th St
Macomb, IL 61455

202-289-1060
susan makosky
317 W. Hicks Str , Upper Sandusky, OH 43351 

November 17, 2007   11:23 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

susan makosky
317 W. Hicks Str
Upper Sandusky, OH 43351

202-289-1060
R Hannow
876 E Douglas Ave , Bellingham, WA 98229 

November 17, 2007   11:23 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

R Hannow
876 E Douglas Ave
Bellingham, WA 98229

202-289-1060
Pamela Gale Park
2344 Seven HIls Rd. , Fairfield, IA 52556 

November 17, 2007   11:23 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Pamela Gale Park
2344 Seven HIls Rd.
Fairfield, IA 52556

202-289-1060
Jill Hein
195 Harrington Road , Coupeville, WA 98239 

November 17, 2007   11:23 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jill Hein
195 Harrington Road
Coupeville, WA 98239

202-289-1060
Elizabeth Rothman
PO Box 22094 , Seattle, WA 98122 

November 17, 2007   11:23 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Rothman
PO Box 22094
Seattle, WA 98122

202-289-1060
Kathleen Njos
9755 Wilcox Dr. , Belvidere, IL 61008-8897 

November 17, 2007   11:23 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Njos
9755 Wilcox Dr.
Belvidere, IL 61008-8897

202-289-1060
Maria Papazian
4800 Granada Blvd. , Coral Gables, FL 33146 

November 17, 2007   11:23 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Maria Papazian
4800 Granada Blvd.
Coral Gables, FL 33146

202-289-1060
Kent McGroarty
319 S. 12th St. #2R , Philadelphia, PA 19107 

November 17, 2007   11:23 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Kent McGroarty
319 S. 12th St. #2R
Philadelphia, PA 19107

202-289-1060
Robin Beswick
1510 Hazel Street , Curtis Bay, MD 21226 

November 17, 2007   11:19 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; it is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and it endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Robin Beswick
1510 Hazel Street
Curtis Bay, MD 21226

202-289-1060
Marston Leff
1211 Shady Ave. , Pittsburgh, PA 15232 

November 17, 2007   11:19 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Marston Leff
1211 Shady Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15232

202-289-1060
Janice McLean
25605 Oaks Blvd , Land O Lakes, FL 34639 

November 17, 2007   11:19 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Janice McLean
25605 Oaks Blvd
Land O Lakes, FL 34639

202-289-1060
Mary Fineran
17 Franklin Pl. , North Arlington, NJ 07031 

November 17, 2007   11:19 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Mary Fineran
17 Franklin Pl.
North Arlington, NJ 07031

202-289-1060
Elizabeth Dilworth
4720 Duvernay Dr , Lansing, MI 48910 

November 17, 2007   11:19 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Dilworth
4720 Duvernay Dr
Lansing, MI 48910

202-289-1060
Richard Berggren
8 Suffolk Ave , Maplewood, NJ 07040 

November 17, 2007   11:19 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Richard Berggren
8 Suffolk Ave
Maplewood, NJ 07040

202-289-1060
Barbara Frank
4306 Goose Street , Stanley, NY 14561 

November 17, 2007   11:19 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Barbara Frank
4306 Goose Street
Stanley, NY 14561

202-289-1060
Jessica Sjobeck
2136 N. Sumner St. , Portland, OR 97217 

November 17, 2007   11:14 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. 

The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jessica Sjobeck
2136 N. Sumner St.
Portland, OR 97217

202-289-1060
Jennifer Lohse
2136 N Sumner St , Portland, OR 97217 

November 17, 2007   11:14 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. 

The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Lohse
2136 N Sumner St
Portland, OR 97217

202-289-1060
Elliot Hanna
1818 Belmont Lane #1, Redondo Beach, CA 90278-4120 

November 17, 2007   11:14 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Elliot Hanna
1818 Belmont Lane
#1
Redondo Beach, CA 90278-4120

202-289-1060
Stu Cowan
475 18th St , Brooklyn, NY 112156207 

November 17, 2007   11:14 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Stu Cowan
475 18th St
Brooklyn, NY 11215-6207

202-289-1060
Larry Chamblin
2130 Athens Ave , Pensacola, FL 32507 

November 17, 2007   11:14 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Larry Chamblin
2130 Athens Ave
Pensacola, FL 32507

202-289-1060
Linda Melino
37 Stearns St , Danielson, CT 06239 

November 17, 2007   11:14 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Linda Melino
37 Stearns St
Danielson, CT 06239

202-289-1060
Jason Sjobeck
2136 North Sumner Street , Portland, OR 97217 

November 17, 2007   11:14 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. 

The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Jason Sjobeck
2136 North Sumner Street
Portland, OR 97217

202-289-1060
Merrill Pratt
1524 Blind Brook Ln , Birmingham, AL 35216 

November 17, 2007   11:14 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices. Many of the affected streams are part of the headwaters of Midwestern and Southern rivers such as the Ohio, the Tennessee, and the Cumberland.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams (the approximate length of the Ohio River) in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened an area the size of the State of Delaware, and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Merrill Pratt
1524 Blind Brook Ln
Birmingham, AL 35216

202-289-1060
William Stosch
89 S Canal St. , Yardley, PA 19067 

November 17, 2007   11:14 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

William Stosch
89 S Canal St.
Yardley, PA 19067

202-289-1060
Alexandra Sjobeck
2136 N. Sumner St. , Portland, OR 97217-3831 

November 17, 2007   11:14 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. 

The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Alexandra Sjobeck
2136 N. Sumner St.
Portland, OR 97217-3831

202-289-1060
Herbert Herman
30 Waterview Drive , Port Jefferson, NY 11777 

November 17, 2007   11:14 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Herbert Herman
30 Waterview Drive
Port Jefferson, NY 11777

202-289-1060
Katherine Jenkins-Murphy
208 S.E. Twig Ave. , Port St Lucie, FL 34983 

November 17, 2007   11:14 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Katherine Jenkins-Murphy
208 S.E. Twig Ave.
Port St Lucie, FL 34983

202-289-1060
Melissa Parent
110-325 James St. S Apt. 110, Hamilton, ON L8P3B7 Canada

November 17, 2007   11:06 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Melissa Parent
110-325 James St. S
Apt. 110
Hamilton, ON L8P3B7

202-289-1060
Sarah Axtell
233 S Pacific Ave , Pittsburgh, PA 15224 

November 17, 2007   11:06 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Sarah Axtell
233 S Pacific Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15224

202-289-1060
Elizabeth Grimwade
5455 Sheridan Road unit 3012, Chicago, IL 60640 

November 17, 2007   11:06 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Grimwade
5455 Sheridan Road
unit 3012
Chicago, IL 60640

202-289-1060
Lisa Mariella
4707 Bella Dr , Colorado Springs, CO 80918 

November 17, 2007   11:06 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Lisa Mariella
4707 Bella Dr
Colorado Springs, CO 80918

202-289-1060
Janet Fotos
26 Truell Road , Hollis, NH 03049 

November 17, 2007   11:06 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Janet Fotos
26 Truell Road
Hollis, NH 03049

202-289-1060
Carl Michel
1125 Granger Ave. , Ann Arbor, MI 48104 

November 17, 2007   11:06 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Carl Michel
1125 Granger Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104

202-289-1060
Rand Child
1590 Harrison St. , Denver, CO 80206 

November 17, 2007   11:06 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Rand Child
1590 Harrison St.
Denver, CO 80206

202-289-1060
Nancy Bleeker
8017 Greenwich Woods Drive , McLean, VA 221021332 

November 17, 2007   11:06 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Nancy Bleeker
8017 Greenwich Woods Drive
McLean, VA 22102-1332

202-289-1060
Darren Strain
4824 Shepherd Street , Brookhaven, PA 19015 

November 17, 2007   11:02 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Darren Strain
4824 Shepherd Street
Brookhaven, PA 19015

202-289-1060
rebecca marshall
731 S. Lindsay St , Gainesville, TX 76240 

November 17, 2007   11:02 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

rebecca marshall
731 S. Lindsay St
Gainesville, TX 76240

202-289-1060
LouAnn Conner
1200 N Veitch St Apt 1226 , Arlington, VA 22201 

November 17, 2007   11:02 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

LouAnn Conner
1200 N Veitch St Apt 1226
Arlington, VA 22201

202-289-1060
Danusia Tsu
9327 Willowglen Tr. , Charlotte, NC 28215 

November 17, 2007   11:02 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Danusia Tsu
9327 Willowglen Tr.
Charlotte, NC 28215

202-289-1060
Melissa Bilobran
325 S. Lakeside Ct. Apt. 3A, west Palm Beach, FL 33407 

November 17, 2007   11:02 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Melissa Bilobran
325 S. Lakeside Ct.
Apt. 3A
west Palm Beach, FL 33407

202-289-1060
Shana Cooper
4120 Glass Lantern Drive , North Las Vegas, NV 89032 

November 17, 2007   11:02 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Shana Cooper
4120 Glass Lantern Drive
North Las Vegas, NV 89032

202-289-1060
Eric Kremer
5965 Bennett Parkway , Cumming, GA 30040 

November 17, 2007   11:02 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Eric Kremer
5965 Bennett Parkway
Cumming, GA 30040

202-289-1060
Matt Connolly
3442 Tilden St. , Philadelphia, PA 19129 

November 17, 2007   10:55 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Matt Connolly
3442 Tilden St.
Philadelphia, PA 19129

202-289-1060
Karen Eble
58 Lee Lynn , HV, PA 19006 

November 17, 2007   10:55 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

Hasn't mining destroyed enough streams already?  Why do we as a country want to destroy even more???  I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Karen Eble
58 Lee Lynn
HV, PA 19006

202-289-1060
Laria Saunders
358 South Highland Ave , Los Angeles, CA 90036 

November 17, 2007   10:55 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Laria Saunders
358 South Highland Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036

202-289-1060
KARLA MUNOZ
637 ROSEWOOD ST , BRONX, NY 10467 

November 17, 2007   10:55 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

KARLA MUNOZ
637 ROSEWOOD ST
BRONX, NY 10467

202-289-1060
Janet Ackerman
15781 Hayes Trail , Apple Valley, MN 55124 

November 17, 2007   10:55 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Janet Ackerman
15781 Hayes Trail
Apple Valley, MN 55124

202-289-1060
Mary Howie
1504 Oakland Ave , Durham, NC 27705 

November 17, 2007   10:55 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Mary Howie
1504 Oakland Ave
Durham, NC 27705

202-289-1060
Bartek Odias
Ogrodowa 2 , Goleszow,  43440 Poland

November 17, 2007   10:55 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Bartek Odias
Ogrodowa 2
Goleszow 43440

202-289-1060
Ruben Arcia
5125 SW 137th Ave , Miramar, FL 33027-5905 

November 17, 2007   10:53 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Ruben Arcia
5125 SW 137th Ave
Miramar, FL 33027-5905

202-289-1060
Paolo Baker
6065 Estelle St. Apt. 11 , San Diego, CA 92115 

November 17, 2007   10:53 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Paolo Baker
6065 Estelle St. Apt. 11
San Diego, CA 92115

202-289-1060
Fernando Cruz de Sousa
Rua de Fanares, 7 - 4 Esq. , MEM MARTINS,   Portugal

November 17, 2007   10:53 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Fernando Cruz de Sousa
Rua de Fanares, 7 - 4 Esq.
MEM MARTINS

202-289-1060
Anna Engels
801 Indigo , Savoy, IL 61874 

November 17, 2007   10:53 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Anna Engels
801 Indigo
Savoy, IL 61874

202-289-1060
Steve Yakunovich
10227 West  Ridge Rd. , Elyria, OH 44035 

November 17, 2007   10:53 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Steve Yakunovich
10227 West  Ridge Rd.
Elyria, OH 44035

202-289-1060
Albert Brown
7651 SE 118 Ave , Morriston, FL 32668-4843 

November 17, 2007   10:53 AM

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste. Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and 2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500 miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies, particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule, which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

Albert Brown
7651 SE 118 Ave
Morriston, FL 32668-4843