Reply #3: Important re opposing HR2018, which would further weaken fed. Clean Water Act [View All]

The links are stronger, especially for circulatory/respiratory and urinary and genital system defects, in the more recent study time period, 2000-03, when there was more mountaintop mining activity.

The study findings were highlighted by environmental organizations at a news conference Wednesday in Washington, D.C., in an effort to influence voting by the U.S. House on HR 2018, a bill that would weaken federal Clean Water Act provisions protecting stream quality and turn over regulation of those waters to the states.

The bill, supported by West Virginia's congressional delegation, was passed by the House later Wednesday. President Barack Obama has said he would veto the legislation.

"What more does it take to put the brakes on mountaintop removal?" Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said at a morning news conference in Washington. "There is already strong scientific evidence that this extreme form of strip mining harms people's health and the environment. Now we find out that unborn children may be victims too. This study is a huge red flag telling Congress to stop and look at the science."

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11195/1160323-114.stm#ixzz1S4p4Ltka