Today, six months from the day the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded 42 miles off the Louisiana shore, much is still unknown about the effects of the nation's biggest oil spill, which gushed for 95 continuous days and spilled nearly 200 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. (See a visual timeline of the oil spill.)

In early August, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a report on the whereabouts of all the oil from the spill. Its report shows that half still remains in the Gulf, unable to be removed by burning or skimming—some of it in residual forms that are tough to extract or collect (tar balls, oil washing ashore, oil buried in sand or stuck in shore vegetation), some of it dispersed by chemicals, and some dispersed naturally.

No matter in what form, that oil still exists in the Gulf and still poses a grave threat to wildlife and the health of ecosystems. Most of the dispersed oil exists in microscopic droplets floating in the depths of the Gulf waters, which serve as a breeding grounds for much ocean life in an area scientists refer to as the "deep water column."

Today signals a historic and hugely positive step taken by the EPA to protect the people of Appalachia, who have suffered the harmful and grave consequences of mountaintop removal mining for too long.

The news, just released, is that EPA Region III Administrator Shawn Garvin is recommending a veto of the permit for Spruce No. 1 Mine. Read here for background on the EPA's historic decisionmaking around the Spruce No. 1 Mine. Garvin's recommendation is to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, who ultimately must make the decision.

What this means is that after years of watching their streams buried and waters contaminated by mountaintop removal mining, there is hope for the health and well-being of the people of Appalachia.

Here is part of Garvin's letter :

Gov. Joe Manchin

Today, we learned that West Virginia's Governor, Gov. Joe Manchin, is suing the EPA for its policies to strengthen watch over the state's biggest polluter, the coal mining industry and to ensure that mining does not put the people of the state and their water supplies directly in harm's way, compeletely devalue their property and turn their communities into wrecking zones for coal corporations.

He's joined the National Mining Association in suing the EPA over its recent guidance on mountaintop removal mining and its permitting process for mountaintop removal operations. The guidance is based on two new scientific studies, both affirmed and validated by an independent science advisory board, which reveal new information about mountaintop removal mining's impacts on waterways in Appalachia.

The guidance is meant to provide EPA field staff with a better, more secure, more scientifically sound way of protecting waters from irreversible harm -- and with a more responsible way of permitting these mining operations.

The travesty is that as long as mountaintop removal mining is allowed -- which the EPA is still doing -- our waters are not being protected.

Though the Senate may be standing still, America's roads are moving fast toward a clean-energy future.Today the Obama administration announced its goals for its next set of clean cars standards, picking up where the first clean cars program left off and stepping up gas mileage standards and tailpipe emissions controls.

Passenger cars and light trucks are responsible for 57 percent of U.S. transportation oil use and almost 60 percent of all transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions, so we know that cutting car pollution and designing cars to get much more mileage for every gallon of gas is one of the best ways we can reduce our dangerous dependence on oil and curb climate change.

We also know that it's good for the economy.

Appalachians call for an end to watershed poisoning caused by mountaintop removal coal mining

On the campaign trail, President Obama shared his thoughts about mountaintop removal mining:

We have to find more environmentally sound ways of mining coal than simply blowing the tops off mountains. We're tearing up the Appalachian Mountains because of our dependence on fossil fuels ... Strip-mining is an environmental disaster ... What I want to do is work with experts here in West Virginia to find out what we need to do to protect the waterways here. That's going to be a primary task of the head of my Environmental Protection Agency.

This, if it happens, would be a sea change from the previous administration's EPA, which effectively wrote loopholes and exemptions into that law that allowed mining companies to evade longstanding regulations, sidestep basic Clean Water Act protections and dump their mountaintop removal mining waste directly into Appalachia's waters, contaminating drinking water supplies for communities and burying important streams.

Nearly two years into President Obama's term, we've seen small steps toward reducing the destruction of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia, but the fact is: President Obama and his administration are still allowing this devastation to continue. The Army Corps of Engineers and the EPA are still permitting mountaintop removal mining permits in Appalachia, despite the regulations of the Clean Water Act.

Rep. Joe Barton wants to spend his time keeping old, outdated light bulbs on store shelves

Joe Barton (R-TX) is proving that he has better things to do than apologize to Tony Hayward and BP. Now, he is trying to repeal energy efficiency standards that save American citizens billions of dollars every year. These standards, ironically, are among the few environmental policies made in eight years of Bush leadership. 

His latest daft idea is to propose legislation to wipe away huge national energy efficiency gains and block energy efficiency standards which have been on the books since 2007 and in the works well before that. These efficiency standards for light bulbs, which were reached as a part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, had strong support from a coalition of light bulb manufacturers, electric utilities, as well as the Bush administration.

Last week Barton, the top recipient of Big Oil funds in Congress and the top recipient of special interest money from fossil fuel industries, introduced a new bill that goes against the work and support of his own party in proclaimed defense of industry in America, despite the fact that the industry itself actually supported and helped reach these standards. 

The site of the proposed Spruce mine (green valley to right). Photo by Vivian Stockman of OVEC, Flyover courtesy SouthWings

At the end of this month, all eyes will be on the EPA as it makes its next key decision on mountaintop removal coal mining: its preliminary determination whether to veto the permit for the Spruce No. 1 mine, due September 24.

The Spruce No. 1 mine is one of the largest mountaintop removal mining projects ever considered in Appalachia. Last spring, the EPA released a proposal to rescind this permit based on scientific and legal analysis showing that the mine does not adhere to Clean Water Act standards.

The EPA must do its job of enforcing the Clean Water Act and finalize this veto, or the mining company will proceed to permanently bury more than seven miles of streams with mining waste, severely degrade water quality in streams adjacent and downstream from the mine, and devastate 2,278 aces of forestland — in an area already hard-hit by this type of mining.

Why is this one mine so important?

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency celebrated the 40th anniversary of one of our nation's most successful and most protective laws, the Clean Air Act.

Commemorating the milestone anniversary with a full day of speakers, keynotes and panel discussions, the agency was joined by a host of industry leaders, business CEOs, clean air advocates and environmental champions to discuss just how far we've come in cleaning up our air and protecting people's lungs and lives from toxic and dangerous air pollution.

For proof on how far we've come, here's some of the pudding:

An offshore oil plaftorm.

Today, an offshore oil production platform exploded into flames in the Gulf of Mexico. The platform that exploded is located just 50 miles west of the Deepwater Horizon site in what is considered shallow waters.

Fortunately, the 13 workers on the platform are alive—though one is reportedly injured. The workers, who went overboard to escape the flaming platform, were rescued in the water with special emergency flotation suits.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune has the early photos, which are far too similar to the images still fresh in our minds from the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

Mountaintop removal mining is one of those things in life that you can't really understand until you've seen it. All the blog posts, articles, editorials, and columns in the world combined can't equal the impact of bearing direct witness to a mountain being razed by explosives, to streams buried in rubble, and to crystal mountain waters running black.

The eye of the actual beholder of this destructive mining practice feels something that words cannot convey. And the person who sees it destroying ancient mountains and forests, and the lives of people who live among them, has a knowledge and experience that can never be imparted by this blog alone.

That's why Earthjustice was eager to support filmmakers Mari-Lynn Evans and Phylis Geller as they made their moving and stunning documentary on mountaintop removal mining, Coal Country.