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(Frankfort, Kentucky) - Gov. Steve Beshear formally objected to a proposed move by the Bush Administration to weaken restrictions that prohibit dumping mountaintop mining waste near rivers and streams.

The objection, contained in a letter from Beshear to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, contends that the proposed rule change offered in the waning days of President Bush's term would threaten Kentucky's ability to protect its natural resources, including water and streams.

“Kentucky's vast water resources are critical to our health and economic development,” Beshear said in his letter to Stephen Johnson, EPA administrator. “I do not believe the newly proposed waivers can be effectively and uniformly applied to protect these water resources.”

The governor contends proposed waivers would weaken a 1983 federal regulation that restricts where mining waste can be dumped, a so-called “Excess Spoil minimization – Stream Buffer Zone” rule. The proposed rule change would erase that restriction, making it easier to dump waste near homes and potentially into waterways and streams.

Beshear was joined by Attorney General Jack Conway and Congressmen Ben Chandler, of Lexington, and John Yarmuth, of Louisville, all of whom wrote individual letters of concern to the EPA.

In his letter to the EPA, the governor noted that coal is – and will remain – “a vital resource” as part of Kentucky's economy and the country's future energy needs.

“However, I am strongly committed to environmentally responsible coal mining and cannot support rules that may be subject to arbitrary administration or enforcement,” he said.

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