The Environmental Protection Agency has announced it will scrutinize seventy-nine applications for mountaintop coal-mine permits in Appalachia to guard against damage to water supplies. The move was praised by environmental groups and critics of mountaintop removal. Michael Brune of Rainforest Action Network said, “By recognizing the irreversible destruction caused by mountaintop removal coal mining, the EPA has taken an important stand in support of the people and ecosystems of Appalachia. The agency seems to recognize that there is no environmentally safe way to demolish mountains.”