Blasting forward.

Good news--blowing the tops off mountains will soon be so much easier!

The Bush administration has made changes to the Stream Buffer Zone Rule, a 1983 regulation that prohibits coal-mining companies from conducting activity within 100 feet of an intermittent or perennial stream unless water quality, and quantity will not be adversely affected.

The changes to the rule would allow mining companies to conduct activity within those 100 feet at the discretion of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM). The rule now asks only that coal mining companies avoid the area within 100 feet of stream or "show why avoidance is not possible," according to a statement by the OSM. Waivers can be granted by the OSM to companies, permitting noncompliance with the softened rule.

But even while the buffer zone rule has been in place, adherence to it has been weak. According to a statement by Earthjustice, more than 2,000 miles of streams in Appalachian valleys have already been buried under the rubble of mountains destroyed in the course of coal mining.

Anyhow, who cares about relaxing the rules? Only more than half of Americans. A poll conducted by Lake Research Partners and Bellwether Research and Consulting showed that "two-thirds of American voters oppose the Bush administration's effort to repeal the Stream Buffer Zone Rule. Fully 66 percent oppose repeal, including roughly half (49 percent) who 'strongly oppose' repealing the rule, which for 25 years has protected our nation's water resources from toxic debris caused by mountaintop removal coal mining. Only two in ten (20 percent) support the Bush administration's effort to gut this critical safeguard (just 8 percent support it strongly), and another 14 percent are unsure."

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It appears that neither the voice of reason nor the voices of the people can be heard over the dynamite blasts.

--REUTERS, 10/20; GRIST.ORG, 10/27