Mountaintop removal mining in the Gauley River watershed has landed the Gauley on the annual list of endangered waterways published by the group American Rivers.

We’ve got a story on the Gazette’s Web site about this development, and you can read the American Rivers discussion of the threats to the Gauley here.  The entire list of endangered rivers is here.

Among the recommendations from American Rivers is that EPA publish tougher national water quality guidance for selenium, something that we’ve reported before here appears likely to be coming soon. Interestingly, West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Erica Peterson reported this morning that U.S. EPA has filed specific objections to the Manchin administration’s continuing efforts to give coal operators more time to comply with the existing selenium standards.