A federal court yesterday scrapped the so-called Stream Buffer Zone Rule promulgated under President George W. Bush to govern strip-mining activities. Environmentalists restarted litigation against the rule last year amid federal Office of Surface Mining delays in developing a substitute, called the Stream Protection Rule. Yesterday, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Senior Judge Barbara Rothstein, a Democratic appointee, struck down the SBZ rule because OSM had failed to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service before issuing the new standards.

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