The Obama administration this week proposed a long-awaited rule that promises to protect more than 6,000 miles of streams around the country from the impacts of both surface and underground coal mining.

The U.S. Department of Interior’s proposed stream protection rule adds requirements for companies to monitor and test streams before, during and after mining. The agency describes it as incorporating new information about mining’s impacts and following the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. The rule would require companies to restore land and waterways to pre-mining conditions and purposes, and to re-vegetate disturbed areas with native plants unless regulators agree to a different land-use plan. It also implements tougher bonding requirements. >Read More