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House Natural Resources Committee holds a hearing over the disastrous effects of the Obama Administration’s proposed rewrite of the “Stream Buffer Zone Rule” for surface coal mining, effectively trading science and fact for ideology.

Tuesday the House Natural Resources Committee continued a nearly five-year-long battle for answers from the Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), on why the administration wasted nearly $9 million dollars and five years developing a new rule that is entirely unnecessary.  In a hearing entitled, “War on Jobs: Examining the Operations of the Office of Surface Mining and the Status of the Stream Buffer Zone Rule,” Director of the OSM, Joseph Pizarchik, was questioned on the lack of transparency and reluctance on behalf of the Administration to answers requests for clarification on behalf of Congress and affected states. Requests for documents concerning the change on behalf of the House Natural Resources Committee were met with a five-month delay and a response that included heavily and unnecessarily redacted sections.  

According to the third party contractor originally hired by OSM to develop the Environmental Impact Statement, the proposed changes to the Stream Buffer Zone could cost at least 7,000 jobs and reduce coal production in 22 states.  When the contractor refused to alter its figures, they were subsequently fired by the Administration.

“Mr. Pizarchik clearly has a misguided and unbecoming superiority complex,” Rep. Lummis said. “This administration is past due for a reality check and reminder of who they work for. Information requested by the states or congress should be freely exchanged in a timely fashion.  Other than the fact that the OSM is making courtroom deals with litigation groups, holding state experts at arm’s length, and fruitlessly spending millions of taxpayer dollars, what does Mr. Pizarchik have to hide?”

Watch clips from today’s hearing at: http://youtu.be/VBfxTs2F9Ag

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