The U.S. Office of Surface Mining was roundly criticized during a public hearing last night in Washington County for proposing to eliminate a rule that keeps mining waste out of headwater streams.

All but one of 25 speakers called on OSM to abandon its proposed rule change.

"We want OSM to pull the rule [change] and enforce the law the way it's written now," said Aimee Erickson, of the Citizens Coal Council, a national environmental group. "The new proposal allowing mining sediment ponds and valley fills within streams is hopelessly flawed."

The hearing was one of four held last night to gather public comment on the latest proposal in a four-year effort by OSM to change the stream buffer rule. The rule prohibits most mining activities within 100 feet of intermittent and perennial streams.

Environmental groups demonstrated outside the hearing room in Washington, Pa., and at hearing sites in Charleston, W.Va., Hazard, Ky., and Knoxville, Tenn. The groups say the changes will allow the dumping of waste from deep mines and mountaintop removal operations directly into streams.

Recent federal court decisions have muddied the scope and effectiveness of the existing stream buffer rule. Some courts have upheld the rule and some have not.

The proposed OSM changes would revoke the buffer rule and allow certain types of mining "within or near streams," but OSM says it would provide greater clarity on the types of mining operations allowed.

Larry Emerson, of the Pennsylvania Services Corp., a mining company that operates two large deep mines in Greene County, was the only speaker to testify in support of the proposal, saying it was needed to end the uncertainty generated by the court decisions.

"The original intent of the rule was to minimize environmental damages," he said, "but not at the sacrifice of our energy supply."

The proposed rule would exempt coal slurry waste impoundments and so-called "valley fill" waste coal dumping at mountaintop removal sites. Such mountaintop removal operations have buried 1,200 miles of streams in West Virginia.

The public hearings were requested by environmental groups. The public comment period on the proposed rule change ends Nov. 23. So far, OSM has received more than 2,000 comments. A decision on the final rule will be made next year.

Lisa Smith, a consulting ecologist and president of the Mountain Watershed Association board of directors, said the proposed rule change is "ill-considered and ill-conceived."

She said stream buffers provide many ecological services, including flood control; sediment, nutrient and pollution filtering; bank stabilization; and wildlife habitat.

"Our streams," she said, "were never intended to become landfills."