In environmental news, The New York Times is reporting the Bush administration plans to issue new regulations to allow the expansion of the controversial coal mining practice known as mountaintop removal. The technique involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the rubble into valleys and streams. Environmental activists say the rule change will lead to accelerated pillage of vast tracts and the obliteration of hundreds of miles of streams in central Appalachia. Joe Lovett of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment criticized the new rules. He said, “This is a parting gift to the coal industry from this administration. What is at stake is the future of Appalachia. This is an attempt to make legal what has long been illegal.”