Notice what didn't get mentioned in last week's State of the Union address? The Bush administration's systematic overhaul of the country's environmental protection laws.

The Bush administration is moving to revamp a rule protecting streams that Appalachian environmentalists view as their best weapon for fighting the strip-mining technique of mountaintop removal.

Over the past six years, environmental groups have used the rule, which restricts mining within 100 feet of a stream, to block or slow the issuing of state permits for mountaintop removal.

[...]

The proposed rule change by the Office of Surface Mining would make clear that filling valleys and covering streams is permitted under federal law if companies show they are minimizing mining waste and the environmental damage caused by it.

Administration officials say the proposed changes to the rule, affecting the stream buffer zone, will clarify conflicting federal regulations and thereby reduce litigation. The rule could take effect as early as mid-March. ("Rule Change May Alter Strip-Mine Fight" in the New York Times)

Piece by piece, this administration is handing all that is pristine in the American outdoors to big business on a silver platter.