Review of Mountaintop Removal’s Health Impact Terminated

In January, the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement officially terminated a study that would review the human health impacts of living near mountaintop removal coal mining and released the study’s committee members.

The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s project began in 2016, after the review of existing studies was requested by citizens and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Surface Mining committed at least $1 million.

The study was well under way when it was halted last August, after the DOI began reviewing grants and agreements in excess of $100,000, due to the “changing budget situation.” Without funding, the study will not continue. — Hannah Gillespie