The Interior Department is writing new regulations for mountaintop-removal coal mining that would expand protections for waterways and require the restoration of dynamited mountaintops.

The changes under consideration would apply to new applications for surface coal mining permits and would not apply to existing coal mines.  The new rule would replace Interior’s previous watershed-protection guidelines and follows Secretary Ken Salazar’s announcement that his department would issue its own rule for stream protection.

The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement announced this month that it wants public comment on an environmental impact statement that it would use to write the new stream buffer rule.  Read More: EPA, Interior and the Corps of Engineers agree to reduce environmental impacts of mountaintop coal mining in Appalachia  OSM says it’s planning to hold meetings in Illinois, Indiana, Alabama, Texas, Kentucky, West Virginia, New Mexico and Wyoming.

Also this month, EPA gave tentative approval to a new mountaintop removal project in West Virginia.  Read More:  EPA Okays First Mountaintop Removal Mining Project Under New Guidelines