Washington (Platts)--23Oct2008

A majority of likely US voters oppose mountaintop mining and believe that
environmental protections help the economy, according to a survey presented by
a coalition of environmental groups Thursday.

In what the groups said is the first national poll on valley fills used
in eastern coal mining, Daniel Gottoff of Lake Research Partners said the
groups were surprised that the majority of those polled knew about the
practice and opposed it by a two to one majority.

Also, 66% of those polled were opposed to the Office of Surface Mining's
proposed change to the stream buffer zone rule, announced October 17, he said.

The OSM proposed the modification to clarify existing requirements that
are not interpreted consistently now, the agency said. The examination of the
rule concluded that the changes would lead to a "slight positive" effect by
minimizing certain actions.

But Ed Hopkins, director of the Sierra Club's environmental quality
program, said respondents oppose "gutting" the current stream buffer zone
rule. The Environmental Protection Administration has the authority to stop
the OSM's rule change and should do so, he said.

Under the preferred alternative in the final environmental impact
statement released October 17, mining companies are required to avoid areas
within 100 feet of a stream or show why avoidance is not possible.