Showing posts with label mountaintop removal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mountaintop removal. Show all posts
Monday, April 25, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
"God Seems To Will That The Creeks Rise A Bit More Often"
Via Andrew Sullivan, a great post on the impact of mountaintop removal on Appalachian communities.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Will GOP Shut Down Government Over Mountaintop Removal Mining?
We already knew Republicans might be willing to shut down the government to de-fund family planning & block enforcement of the Clean Air Act. But in a surprise turn, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) now says it looks like the GOP might be willing to furlough nearly a million federal workers to keep blowing up mountains: "Curiously enough, mountaintop mining was put on the table late in the game. Who knew that was going to lead to the shutdown of the federal government?" Conrad said on CNN.The move comes on the same week that over 150 citizens with the Alliance for Appalachia converged on Capitol Hill for the Week in Washington to end mountaintop removal:
Mountaintop removal mining relies on heavy explosives to blast off several hundred feet of mountain to expose coal seams, and has impacted over 500 mountains in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee to date. According to the EPA, the practice has also buried or destroyed more than 2,000 miles of streams in those states.Watch my interview with Matt Wasson of Appalachian Voices:
Residents who live in proximity to mountaintop removal mine sites complain of orange and black tap water flowing from their faucets, breathing in coal dust floating in the air outside their homes and higher-than-normal cancer rates.
“If we are serious about moving America toward a clean energy future, banning mountaintop removal must be the first step,” says Jane Branham of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards. “For our economy, for our health, and for our heritage—we need this administration and this Congress to act.”
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
A "Dear Joe" Letter to Sen. Manchin on Coal
JW Randolph of Appalachian Voices has a message for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) - "Arch Coal has a plan, and it is not you":Well, I’m not sure how it happened. But it seems like southern West Virginia has survived its first post-apocalyptic, economy-annihilating, way-of-life-ending weekend after EPA heroically vetoed Arch Coal’s Spruce Mine permit last Thursday. As bad as Joe Manchin and Nick Rahall said life was going to be after the veto, myself and most folks in West Virginia ended up having a pretty decent weekend, all things considered. Heck, we even learned that despite the snow many if not most nearby residents are celebrating EPA’s veto of Spruce #1 mine.The whole post is long but definitely worth reading.
Which leads me to wonder…has anyone ever been so loud and proud about shoving their head in the sand and ignoring the cries of their constituents and colleagues, the consensus of scientists, and the pleading of health professionals as loudly as Joe Manchin and Nick Rahall? Senator Manchin certainly hasn’t had a very positive first few weeks in the United States Senate. In fact, despite not taking too many big votes, he has found that his actions have already left him with a lot to apologize for. He set another high bar last week when EPA announced its decision on Spruce. Not only was his rhetoric irresponsible, but his information is just plain incorrect – particularly in asserting that EPA was “retroactively” vetoing this permit.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Dave Matthews Calls Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining "Unforgivable"
Check out this NRDC video with Dave Matthews on mountaintop removal coal mining:
Learn more at MusicSavesMountains.org.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Virginia Attorney General Predicts All Americans to Die
The government will tax every building at $125,000 per year until no one has any money to buy food, at which point everyone will die out and there will be no people left.
I'm pretty sure that's what Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is saying here, although it's really hard to sort it all out -- and I say that as someone who works on environment & energy issues every day:
I think Cuccinelli starts with new Environmental Protection Agency regulations on mountaintop removal coal mining, confuses that with lies about a clean energy & climate bill that would actually create 1.7 million jobs & smushes it all together with lying about EPA global warming regulations under the Clean Air Act to say they'll apply not to industrial polluters emitting at least 25,000 tons of CO2 a year but instead to any building Ken Cuccinelli points to. I have no idea where he got $125,000 -- I think he made up a big scary number on the spot.
In other words, Ken Cuccinelli lies so much, even Ken Cuccinelli can't keep straight what Ken Cuccinelli is lying about at any given moment.
Cross-posted from BlueVirginia.us
Friday, March 12, 2010
Appalachia Activists Ask Webb to Help End Mountaintop Removal
Dozens of activists with the Alliance for Appalachia visited Sen. Jim Webb's office this week, asking him to join their efforts to end mountaintop removal coal mining. The Virginians pictured here were part of a much larger group from across America that was lobbying for change this week on Capitol Hill (more details in the great video at the bottom of this post).
As investigative journalist Jeff Biggers writes at Huffington Post:
Webb's state of Virginia stands on the frontlines of the clean energy and climate debate--and Webb, born fighting for progressive causes in Appalachia and America, now must decide whether he will come to the forefront of the battle for clean energy and an end to deadly coal mining and burning, or quietly watch the fate of his state decided by outside interests.
Every Virginian--and American--needs to call Sen. Webb today to not only support desperately needed clean energy and climate legislation, but to sign on as a co-sponsor with Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of the Appalachian Restoration Act to end mountaintop removal at Virginia's climate ground zero.
Biggers then quotes from Webb's book, Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America:
The ever hungry industrialists had discovered that West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southwest Virginia sat atop one huge vein of coal. And so the rape began. The people from the outside showed up with complicated contracts that the small-scale cattle raisers and tobacco farmers could not fully understand, asking for "rights" to mineral deposits they could not see, and soon they were treated to a sundering of their own earth as the mining companies ripped apart their way of life, so that after a time the only option was to go down into the hole and bring the Man his coal, or starve. The Man got his coal, and the profits it brought when he shipped it out. They got their wages, black lung, and the desecration of their land.
You can reach Sen. Webb's DC office at (202)-224-4024.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Why is Verizon Sponsoring a Pro-Polluter Rally?
A group of businesses in West Virginia is sponsoring an event on Monday called the Friends of America Rally. It's not exactly clear why this group of mostly West Virginia-based businesses is sponsoring the rally, but with a little detective work, we can quickly figure out what it's all about.
With Sean Hannity and Ted Nugent headlining the event, you can tell who'll be blamed for any and all of America's problems: Them. Immigrants. Liberals. Gays. Really, anyone who might deflect the role polluters have played in our interconnected economic, energy and climate crises. I can practically hear the screams of dey took er jobs!
Right now, there's only one clear policy ask on the event's website: "If you would like to sign a petition against the Waxman-Markey Climate Bill, click here." The event's location reinforces the message. "The Rally is going to be held on a previous surface mine, just south of Logan, West Virginia."
"Surface mine" of course being coal industry jargon for "mountaintop removal." Thanks to Google Maps, you can see how badly the landscape has been scarred in that area:
View Larger Map
I'm not surprised West Virginia businesses would be trying to buy their way into the hearts of the local citizens. After all, these are tough times for polluters. People in places like West Virginia are starting to wake up to the reality that polluters have been stealing their natural resources, destroying their communities, and hurting their health for generations. And for what? A map of poverty in Appalachia matches almost exactly with mountaintop removal sites.
But there's one major outlier on the current list of sponsors: Verizon Wireless. I don't see any other national companies on sponsor list. Why is Verizon, with over 13,000 employees here in Virginia, sponsoring a pro-polluter, global warming denial rally? I'm currently a Verizon Wireless subscriber, but Verizon's sponsorship of this event makes me question whether I want to give another penny to them.
Please take a moment right now to ask Verizon to pull its sponsorship. There's still time for Verizon to do the right thing.
With Sean Hannity and Ted Nugent headlining the event, you can tell who'll be blamed for any and all of America's problems: Them. Immigrants. Liberals. Gays. Really, anyone who might deflect the role polluters have played in our interconnected economic, energy and climate crises. I can practically hear the screams of dey took er jobs!
Right now, there's only one clear policy ask on the event's website: "If you would like to sign a petition against the Waxman-Markey Climate Bill, click here." The event's location reinforces the message. "The Rally is going to be held on a previous surface mine, just south of Logan, West Virginia."
"Surface mine" of course being coal industry jargon for "mountaintop removal." Thanks to Google Maps, you can see how badly the landscape has been scarred in that area:
View Larger Map
I'm not surprised West Virginia businesses would be trying to buy their way into the hearts of the local citizens. After all, these are tough times for polluters. People in places like West Virginia are starting to wake up to the reality that polluters have been stealing their natural resources, destroying their communities, and hurting their health for generations. And for what? A map of poverty in Appalachia matches almost exactly with mountaintop removal sites.
But there's one major outlier on the current list of sponsors: Verizon Wireless. I don't see any other national companies on sponsor list. Why is Verizon, with over 13,000 employees here in Virginia, sponsoring a pro-polluter, global warming denial rally? I'm currently a Verizon Wireless subscriber, but Verizon's sponsorship of this event makes me question whether I want to give another penny to them.
Please take a moment right now to ask Verizon to pull its sponsorship. There's still time for Verizon to do the right thing.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Creigh Deeds, Coal Industry Spokesman?
Creigh Deeds is a very nice guy that I don't enjoy criticizing. He pushed several good clean energy bills in this year's Virginia Senate and has properly opposed drilling along Virginia's coast.
But in an interview last week with Lowell Feld of Blue Virginia, Deeds showed why progressives are turning away from his campaign and towards the clean energy policies of Brian Moran and (to a lesser extent) Terry McAuliffe.
At a time when President Obama, Congressional Democrats, and his two competitors are all pushing for a clean energy future, Deeds instead parroted the coal industry's favorite catch phrases and scare tactics. To listen to Deeds, the only reason coal remains the dirtiest source of energy on the planet is that we haven't already dumped enough billions of research dollars into it. Like a bailout that never ends, we need to keep those billions flowing:
Deeds sounds like he's selling coal air freshener. We need to harness the awesome power of the word "clean"!
Look, coal is still dirty because no one has figured out a cost-effective way to capture and store its carbon dioxide emissions. Even if that technology does come along, it will add an estimated 25 percent to the cost of producing coal-fired power (which has already gone up 20 percent in Virginia just since September). And that doesn't get into coal's other emissions that include mercury, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulates.
We don't need another four years of a governor telling us we can't get off coal and all we can do is sit on our hands, wishin' and hopin' for the day carbon capture and storage comes along. We need to begin to transition off dirty coal & oil and onto clean energy, and we need to start right now.
Deeds also fumbled Lowell's question on mountaintop removal, bizarrely beginning his answer by saying "the coal industry calls it surface mining." Huh? Bernie Madoff didn't call his investment firm Ponzi Scheme Inc., but that's what it was. Again, it's hard to imagine a coal industry spokesman answering the question much differently.
I like Creigh Deeds. He's still be better on the environment than presumptive Republican nominee Bob McDonnell. But at a time when we desperately need real change on energy policy to save consumers money and protect Virginia's natural resources, Deeds sounds far too much like more of the same.
But in an interview last week with Lowell Feld of Blue Virginia, Deeds showed why progressives are turning away from his campaign and towards the clean energy policies of Brian Moran and (to a lesser extent) Terry McAuliffe.
At a time when President Obama, Congressional Democrats, and his two competitors are all pushing for a clean energy future, Deeds instead parroted the coal industry's favorite catch phrases and scare tactics. To listen to Deeds, the only reason coal remains the dirtiest source of energy on the planet is that we haven't already dumped enough billions of research dollars into it. Like a bailout that never ends, we need to keep those billions flowing:
Deeds sounds like he's selling coal air freshener. We need to harness the awesome power of the word "clean"!
Look, coal is still dirty because no one has figured out a cost-effective way to capture and store its carbon dioxide emissions. Even if that technology does come along, it will add an estimated 25 percent to the cost of producing coal-fired power (which has already gone up 20 percent in Virginia just since September). And that doesn't get into coal's other emissions that include mercury, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulates.
We don't need another four years of a governor telling us we can't get off coal and all we can do is sit on our hands, wishin' and hopin' for the day carbon capture and storage comes along. We need to begin to transition off dirty coal & oil and onto clean energy, and we need to start right now.
Deeds also fumbled Lowell's question on mountaintop removal, bizarrely beginning his answer by saying "the coal industry calls it surface mining." Huh? Bernie Madoff didn't call his investment firm Ponzi Scheme Inc., but that's what it was. Again, it's hard to imagine a coal industry spokesman answering the question much differently.
I like Creigh Deeds. He's still be better on the environment than presumptive Republican nominee Bob McDonnell. But at a time when we desperately need real change on energy policy to save consumers money and protect Virginia's natural resources, Deeds sounds far too much like more of the same.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Video: Protesting Dominion in Wise County
Here's a video from the Rainforest Action Network on yesterday's protest against Dominion in Wise County, Virginia:
In addition, check out the schedule for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network's Wise Energy Tour in Northern Virginia.
In addition, check out the schedule for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network's Wise Energy Tour in Northern Virginia.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
What's Your Connection to Mountaintop Removal?
Appalachain Voices' ILoveMountains.org site has unveiled a new feature that allows you to directly tie the electricity that comes out of your power socket to the source it likely comes from: 
The Green Miles is most closely tied to Cogentrix's Birchwood Power plant in Virginia's King George County. According to the site, "This power plant purchases coal directly from Central Appalachian strip mines. Of the Appalachian communities featured on this site, the one most closely connected to this power plant is Bob White, West Virginia."
Mountaintop removal is a radical form of coal mining where entire mountains are literally blown up -- devastating communities throughout Appalachia, polluting drinking water and destroying rivers. And the worst part is, you're paying for it.
If your home or business is on the electric grid, chances are you are connected to mountaintop removal in the Appalachian Mountains. Find out how -- and then find out what you can do about it.
The Green Miles is most closely tied to Cogentrix's Birchwood Power plant in Virginia's King George County. According to the site, "This power plant purchases coal directly from Central Appalachian strip mines. Of the Appalachian communities featured on this site, the one most closely connected to this power plant is Bob White, West Virginia."
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