Coal Council applauds Congress for action on stream rule

The American Coal Council (ACC), a nonprofit trade association, released a statement applauding this week’s congressional action to edit part of the “Stream Protection Rule” that took effect in December.
Introduced by the Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, this adaptation to the law “is a welcome step in the right direction for the federal government and for coal,” the ACC said in a statement.
“The swift action recognizes the severe flaws in a regulation that would needlessly restrict access to our nation’s abundant coal reserves, increase mining costs, erode federal and state tax revenues, and result in the loss of high numbers of well-paying jobs,” the statement said.
The ACC said the bill, as it was, was enormously bureaucratic, long and duplicative. 
"The American Coal Council appreciates this congressional recognition of the regulatory relief needed for coal and looks forward to continued efforts to restore balance and common sense to regulation,” it said.