The Bush administration is moving forward with a new rule that would allow mining companies to dump dirt and rock waste into rivers and streams, potentially clearing the way for new “mountaintop mining” -- a controversial practice that involves the removal of mountaintops to access lucrative low-sulfur coal, according to the Washington Post, and other sources. EPA officials have benignly described this rule -- which still must be submitted, and then approved, by OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) -- as a simple effort to harmonize differing definitions of "fill material" between EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers, which shares responsibility with EPA for granting dumping permits under the Clean Water Act. Yet environmental groups -- while acknowledging the need for harmonization -- charge that the rule would substantially weaken clean water protections in the process. In particular, it would eliminate the "waste exclusion," and institute an "effects-based test" for deciding whether material can be dumped in waterways -- an approach strongly backed by mining interests. This removes a chief barrier to mountaintop mining, which generates large amounts of dirt and rock waste, and grants new discretion to the Army Corps of Engineers in deciding whether to allow dumping. In a March 25 letter (page 1, page 2) to President Bush, eight Republican members of the House took issue with this decision, writing, "While any effort to grant the Army Corps of Engineers the authority to issue permits for this destructive practice is indefensible enough, it is equally alarming that this proposal would reach even further, opening waters across the United States to being filled and destroyed by many types of waste, including other kinds of mining wastes." Besides rock and dirt, the new rule amazingly opens the door for the disposal of trash in waterways as well. According to BNA, a Washington trade publication, the rule notes that "materials generally considered to be garbage or trash, such as recycled porcelain bathroom fixtures like toilets, sinks, or even junk cars, can be cleaned and placed in waters of the U.S. to create environmentally beneficial artificial reefs." As stated above, this proposal must receive the approval of OIRA before it can take effect, although this may be a foregone conclusion. OIRA Administrator John Graham has often been criticized for having a knee-jerk reaction against any regulatory restrictions, and is likely to be sympathetic to this sort of roll back. Nonetheless, Graham maintains that his mind is open, that he has a long history of supporting regulation where it is needed. Yet to this point, Graham’s OIRA has rejected 20 agency regulatory proposals, many for cost reasons; in no case has he rejected a rule for being insufficiently protective. If Graham’s mind is as open as he says it is, this might be a good place to start.