There are times when he appears as the lone voice crying in the wilderness known as Congress.

For all the protests, criticisms, bureaucratic snafus and litigation, Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., remains a strong defender of the controversial practice of mountaintop mining.

As for critics, the congressman says they engage in “scare tactics” and need to be educated about mountaintop mining and the vital role played by coal.

Rahall’s stance hasn’t altered since his youthful days on Capitol Hill when he championed a landmark act on the practice.

More than three decades later, Rahall insists the law is working and nothing is going to change his mind.

“It’s a little rough these days,” he says of the growing pressure among his colleagues to crack down on surface mining.

“I’m one of the lone voices, and I stress lone voices in Congress, that still is a defender of the practice.”

He has an ally in Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who, according to an aide, still believes “that when mountaintop mining is done carefully within the parameters of the law, it is an effective way to extract coal.”

Rahall has no problems with anyone engaging in demonstrations such as the one Tuesday that produced 32 arrests outside of Massey Energy’s Goals Coal preparation plant in Raleigh County “as long as it’s peaceful.”

“Individuals have a right to make their positions known and be respected, whether there’s agreement or not,” the veteran 3rd District congressman told The Register-Herald in a Wednesday interview.

Rahall was in his first year in Congress when he drew up the historic Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, known as SMCRA, and pronounced “smackra.”

“There were compromises made to allow mountaintop mining to continue,” Rahall recalled.

And the most significant component of his law compels an operator, prior to getting a permit approved, to show how the land will be left better for post-mining uses with infrastructure in place, such as water and sewer, he said.

With that guarantee, Rahall said, mined-out lands have been transformed into high schools, shopping centers, golf courses and the like.

“I’m fighting like crazy to keep these jobs,” he said.

From the shape of things in Congress, his work could be cut out for him, he acknowledged. A hearing is planned today on a Republican senator’s bill to outlaw valley fills.

“If that’s not a death sentence to mining, I don’t know what is,” he said, noting that close to 200 of his House colleagues are backing similar legislation.

Rahall said coal still has a vital role to play in America’s energy plan, pointing out it provides more than half of the electricity used across the nation. And there are reserves of the fossil fuel that should last for a few more centuries, he said.

“As long as good coal is accessible to provide jobs, and mining can be done in an environmental sound manner and responsible fashion, then it’s not either, or; it’s both,” he said.

Not a day passes, he said, that he isn’t working with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers and similar interests in an effort to break the logjam of West Virginia mining permits put in limbo by the Obama administration.

“We’ve been through this before,” he said.

“Ten years ago, we went through the same fiasco. I had all the agencies in and they agreed at the time they’re going to be submitting to me monthly reports on where permits stand. We’ve survived in the past and we’re going to survive this.”

As for a new wave of critics, Rahall said, “Those small numbers who send out scare tactics need to be enlightened. They’re doing a disservice to those who are responsible.

“People in the big cities who take electricity for granted need to be enlightened ... as to where it comes from ... the hard-working coal miners. And it’s from an industry in West Virginia that knows how to provide jobs in an environmentally responsible fashion.”

One problem that has arisen with regard to permits is an apparent miscommunication between some federal agencies, as evidenced by the Washington office of the EPA in conflict with its district operation in Philadelphia, he said.

“We need to clear up some miscommunication with one of the largest operators in the state,” Rahall said.

“There’s a long way to go yet to end the uncertainty, end the miscommunication and to end the rumors and innuendoes that are out there. I’m trying to resolve that.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com