Southern Environ
EPA Abandons Wetlands and Fisheries to Destruction in 2nd Lar
Estuary
Mining Could Continue Unabated if EPA Vetoed Destruction
06.18.2009 – CHAPEL HILL, NC□"The Environmental Protection Agency last night
backed away from its earlier finding that an 11,000 acre mine expansion by PCS
Phosphate posed “unacceptable harm” to critical wetlands and fisheries in the
nation’s second largest estuary, the Albemarle-Pamlico, according to environmental
groups. After elevating the permit to the national level in a rare move, EPA could have
vetoed the destruction of 1,200 acres of the most critical wetlands and nurseries
while still allowing continued mining by the company for 29 years.
“EPA has inexplicably reversed course, embracing a devastating mine plan that it
determined would cause unacceptable harm just two months ago,” said Derb
Carter, director, Carolinas Office, the Southern Environmental Law Center. “EPA isn’t
protecting the environment our children and grandchildren will inherit long after PCS
Phosphate mining has left the area.”
After EPA’s elevation of the mining permit, the Corps rejected the minimum steps
EPA determined necessary to avoid “unacceptable” impacts from the mine
expansion, leaving EPA’s concerns largely unaddressed. In its letter accepting the
permit, EPA acknowledged the inevitable destruction it has now blessed, noting that
the permit is “designed to provide for the early detection of unacceptable impacts.”
In a June 11th letter to EPA following the Corps permit decision, the South Atlantic
Fishery Management Council recommended EPA veto the permit in concurrence
with multiple federal and state agencies. The Council found that the permitted mine
expansion will result in “significant and unacceptable impacts” to essential fish
habitats including coastal ecosystems and aquatic resources that depend on them.
Environmental groups echoed these concerns in urging EPA Administrator Lisa
Jackson to stand by her agency’s findings and implement the administ