The independent National Commission on the Health Impacts of Mountaintop Removal Mining, commissioned by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice – and made up in part by pediatrics, epidemiology and biology professors – has reviewed other studies on the topic including one by West Virginia University’s Michael Hendryx and Melissa Ahern of Washington State University.

It also looked at rebuttals to Ahern’s study in particular, such as work completed by Yale University’s Jonathan Borak.

Borak’s study was funded by the National Mining Association.

Analyses of all of the reports, the NCHIMRM said, led to the group’s own recommendations on “actions necessary to ensure the health and safety” of Appalachian residents.

“The evidence shows that mountaintop removal threatens public health and the environment,” commission member and University of North Carolina associate professor Dr Steven Wing said.

“It’s time to act to protect rural communities.”

Most significantly, the commission recommends placing an immediate moratorium on mountaintop removal mining “until such time as health studies have been conducted that provide a clearer understanding of the associations between adverse health impacts, notably adverse reproductive outcomes, and MTR mining”, the group said.

“In addition, during the moratorium period, appropriate safeguards including remediation and engineering controls should be implemented to mitigate air and water pollution related to MTR mining activities.”

The group suggests its recommendation be put into action by passing the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act, or ACHE Act, known formally as HR 526.

This legislation, if put in place, would require a first-ever comprehensive federal study of MTR and health dangers.

Additionally, a moratorium would be placed on all new mountaintop removal mining permits while those impacts are studied at the federal level.

The commission also has called for air, soil, groundwater and surface testing near MTR sites, noting that coal companies should fund such work.

George Washington University professor Dr Jerome Paulson, also a commission member, urged corporate leaders and local, state and national policymakers to pay attention to the report’s findings.

“The protection of human health needs to be a higher priority than it has been in the past,” he said.

“A moratorium is an appropriate step until such time as those doing mountaintop removal can document that they can do it without significant harm to human health.”

The Appalachian Research Initiative for environmental Science, or ARIES, joined with the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration earlier this month in West Virginia to unveil research it has done on energy production and the environment.

The group and conference garnered a good bit of support from the mining industry as well as regional institutions including Virginia Tech, Marshall University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Pittsburgh, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine and West Virginia University.

Its work was done with the objective of better defining the impacts of energy production on the environment, human health, socio-economic and overall quality of life in Appalachia.