For those who can attend in person, the Open House is today from 3pm – 9pm at the Hazard Community College located at One Community College Drive in Hazard, KY. Tuesday, July 27, the Open House will be held at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center and Wednesday at Mylan Park in Morgantown. All Open Houses run from 3pm to 9pm.
For those wishing to send comments, the PDF instruction form is available here. You can print and mail on the address included in the form, or submit electronically to sra-eis@osmre.gov . Be sure to include the Docket Number OSM-EIS-35 in the subject line of your email message. Comments are due by July 30, 2010 (both electronic and hard copy comments).
The official announcement from the agency:
The U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), is hosting Public Scoping Poster Information Open Houses as part of its preparation of an EIS under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for the Stream Protection Rule that it plans to propose.
The Open Houses will provide an opportunity for the public to review information regarding the principal elements of the proposed action and possible alternatives; provide oral and written comments regarding the scope of the issues to be addressed; and identify significant issues. The EIS will examine the environmental impacts of potential revisions to OSM rules under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. §1201 et seq.), particularly as these revisions affect the protection of streams from the impacts of surface coal mining operations nationwide.
Additional information is available at www.osmre.gov and Stream Protection Rulemaking Efforts .
