TAKE ACTION: Call on the Obama Administration to support Congress in ending mountaintop removal

Appalachian communities are reaching a breaking point over mountaintop removal, and it’s tearing communities apart. Hearings over mountaintop removal are getting unsafe and the threat of violence is imminent. Congress must act to end mountaintop removal to allow Appalachian communities to begin building a robust and sustainable economy.

The Clean Water Protection Act is a bill in the US House of Representatives which will sharply reduce mountaintop removal coal mining by protecting our headwater streams, where our rivers, like the Mississippi and the Ohio, are born. Over 2,000 miles of streams have already been buried and polluted and 500 mountains have been destroyed. But we can stop this.

In order to stop mountaintop removal, Congressional leaders must move this bill through to a vote, and the Obama administration must create regulations to uphold the language of bill.

Please, go to I Love Mountains and join this movement today.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This woman is my kind of Gal originally appeared on A World of Progress TeamZine on October 23, 20092009-10-23T20:17:11ZF j, Y.

No related posts.

This diary is my contribution to Blog Action Day: ‘09 Climate Change. “Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance.”

Our planet is faced with a grave and serious danger: global climate change. How we go about addressing this issue will say as much about humanity as what we do to address it.

Unfortunately, here in Appalachia the fear of change is stoking divisions. Instead of coming together to face a common foe, man-made climate change, strong vested issues are stoking neighbors in fever-pitched disputes with one another.

Coal Fields’ Leadership

WV State Senator H. Truman Chafin (D-Mingo)

The friends of coal may feel they made some tactical gains this week–they certainly showed they know how to shout down a speaker. But no matter how loud your cheering section is, it won’t overcome being outmatched on the playing field.

In fact, if you listen carefully to the words of state Sen. H. Truman Chafin (D-Mingo) on the Youtube video above, you’ll start to realize he not only stuck his foot in his mouth… he then proceeded to shoot himself in the foot.

Sen. Chafin completely ignored what the purpose of the hearing was. He failed to provide the Army Corp of Engineers with any useful information regarding rules changes they are required by recent court rulings to make. Instead, State Sen. Chafin decided to rile up the crowd to score cheap political points. That’s grandstanding, not responsible leadership.

A National Backlash

Right now Big Coal has hat in hand in front of Congress asking for a huge new regulatory structure required in order for carbon capture and storage to have any chance of success.

To get that new regulatory structure enacted, Congress will need confidence that new enforcement mechanisms will favor long-term environmental concerns over short-term industry profit considerations. (CCS is a lot like nuclear waste… a toxic item to be stored forever.)

Pulling stunts like turning a deliberative public hearing into a political rally hurts Big Coal’s lobbying efforts in Congress. Proving that the Army Corp of Engineers is unable to do something as simple as run a public hearing does nothing to inspire confidence they can handle permitting processes.

What Leadership Looks Like

Perhaps because they are there in D.C. negotiating on behalf of Big Coal, Rahall and Byrd seem to get this. The leaders here in W.Va. would do well to figure out this political calculus, too.

Rep. Rahall had it right this week when he said:

Just publicly going out and calling an agency names or beating up on an agency is not going to work when you go the next day or the next week to that agency and ask for their help. That’s just human nature.

Coming Together

Trying to out-shout, rather than reason with, people with valid concerns does little to prove the coal industry is ready to be a partner in providing oversight for a complex new technology like carbon capture and storage. Plugging your ears and shouting yourself hoarse is a sure-fire way to get uninvited from a debate.

There are people who should know better–not just Internet commenters, but also people in charge of thing–equating the current non-violent protests with what I completely agree have been radical, extreme, violent actions in other parts of the country in the past.

Instead of making wild claims about threats to coal, we need honest brokers to negotiate a viable future for the West Virginia economy. If West Virginia coal companies want a place at the negotiating table for the future energy economy, they need to start acting responsibly. They owe that to their employees, they owe that the communities they claim to support, and, quite frankly, they owe it to their shareholders, too.

The suffering of those negatively effected by mountaintop removal is every bit as real as the fears of coal miners built up to an impassioned frenzy by friends of coal. Collaborating to find solutions, not confronting each other with yelling and screaming, will benefit us all.

We’re all in this together. The sooner we can start working together to find solutions to the problems we all share, the better off we all are.

King Coal is shouting itself hoarse and deaf originally appeared on A World of Progress TeamZine on October 16, 20092009-10-16T04:47:00ZF j, Y.

Related posts:

1. Lifting the coal resource curse
2. Legacy of Coal: The dead canary sings
3. The Poster Child for Global Warming

This type of pollution is caused by rainfall or melting snow that runs over cement and parking lots and carries insecticide, oil and gas, fertilizers and herbicides that are sprayed on gardens and grass directly to our waterways.

Other pollutants are the oil, grease or toxic chemicals that are produced as a result of urban sprawl. Many people ignore the warnings of our governmental agencies and continue to use poisonous substances on their lawns and in their day-to-day life.

These pollutants end up in our water resources. As a result, pollution from these sources are cited by many state agencies as uncontrolled pollution Stormwater runoff pollution impacts the quality of water and will eventually impact where and how humans can live.

If left unchecked, the water supply will not support life. While the EPA has created programs under the Clean Water Act to protect the quality of our water, the prevention of pollution is dependent on individuals learning to prevent pollution.

Most of the Pollution Prevention programs are managed by the state environmental agencies and the rules and regulations are created for larger business sectors. The exceptions to this rule are in the states of:

• Massachusetts
• New Mexico
• Alaska
• Idaho
• New Hampshire

In these states, the EPA retains complete authority. According to the EPA, states are more concerned about nonpoint source pollution. States report that this pollution is the leading remaining cause of water quality problems.

Phase I of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System(NPDES) requires all point sources discharging pollutants into waters of the United States to obtain a permit. This program was designed for cities with populations of more than 100,000. The NPDES also targeted large industrial and construction sites. The statues required that industries and construction sites begin treating storm water runoff from their locations.

These restrictions limited and reduced the pollution from these industrial sites. Site pollution control maintenance is a priority for most industries. Heavy fines and penalties are levied against those industries when they do not adhere to the EPA guidelines. However the pollution from the residential areas continue to increase. It is difficult to pinpoint residential hotspots.

Phase II of NPDES was announced in December 1999 and required that more than 5,000 municipalities and all new developments of one acre or larger implement Best Management Practices s (BMP’s) for stormwater treatment to the maximum extent that was practical.

The compliance to these BMP’s was also implemented. The data indicated that pollution was reduced and controlled from those municipalities that were regulated. But the reduced level of pollution from industrial and commercial sites was ineffective because the level of pollution from non-industrial locations continued to increase.

The effects of nonpoint source pollutants on specific waters vary within separate municipalities. Governmental agencies have released critical data that confirms that nonpoint source pollution is the leading cause of water pollution. This type of pollution is difficult to control or to legislate because the source is so widespread and not easily contained. This type of pollution is created by the public at large.

The focus of state environmental agencies is to increase public awareness of this problem. Implementing programs at the community level will provide strategies to manage nonpoint source pollution.

These pollutants have harmful effects on drinking water, recreation, fisheries, and wildlife. It is the responsibility of industry as well as individual citizens to work together to protect our water supply.

Travis Zdrazil is a successful businessman who has been part of a successful partnership since 1985. With over 10 years of business experience Travis uses his business expertise to select and supply businesses with products to aid in meeting EPA and OSHA requirements. Sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.absorbentsonline.com or feel free to contact him if you have any questions on non pointsource pollution NPS through the site. You may publish this article, but must keep the resource box 2007 PCI Products Company. All rights reserved.

Author: Travis Zdrazil
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Why is non-point pollution so dangerous? originally appeared on A World of Progress TeamZine on October 2, 20092009-10-03T03:41:02ZF j, Y.

Related posts:

1. Toxic Algae Contaminates U.S. Water

Your lights are on,
but you’re not home, 
your will is not your own 
Might as well face it you’re addicted to coal.

Appalachia suffers from a resource curse. Coal mining wealth is illusory–the benefits have long been obvious to those dependent on Big Coal for a living even if the costs (largely hidden) were high. Yet, the costs are no longer as hidden and the benefits no longer so great.

Climate change legislation is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our political leadership to take bold action to help diversify the Appalachian economy. So far, that leadership is lacking. Join me today in calling for Appalachian state officials, Congressional representatives and senators to to chart a new course. Let’s all kick the habit of the dirty black rock.

Appalachia is both blessed and cursed with abundant natural resources. Historically, coal has been a major employer and source of wealth for Appalachia. But–and it is a big BUT–there are three big problems with extraction industries like coal as a source of wealth:

1. It concentrates wealth. West Virginia played a major role in the birth of modern unions. Coal mining extracts from its workers as much as from the land.
2. Due to competition for employees, capital, and land, large-scale mining operations crowd out other development.
3. There are a lot of socially, environmentally, and ecologically damaging by-products of the extraction and burning of coal. Some recent estimates shows the costs of Big Coal far out-weight the benefits.

Taken together, residents of the most coal rich portions of Appalachia are among the poorest in all other measures.

West Virginia’s State Rock

On the one hand, the black rock has been the economic bedrock for much of the West Virginian’s 143 years in existence. On the other, the history of coal is decades of long steady decline.

Within a decade of statehood, West Virginia began commercially exploiting its coal deposits. Coke production peaked in 1910 at 4,217,381 tons. Production of all types of coal peaked in 1997 at 181,914,000 tons. In 2008, production has dropped 9% from the peak to 165,750,817. Back in 1940, even before Sen. Robert C. Byrd was an elected official (he entered the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1946), West Virginia coal mining employment peaked at 130,457. By 2008, the number had dropped 84% to 20,927. (source)

Appalachian coal is no longer the lowest cost energy source. Western coal reserves are cheaper and less polluting. (Even West Virginia electric plants now get some of their coal from the Wyoming / Montana Powder River Basin.) Instead of the 100-200 years of United States coal supply the industry likes to claim, the truth is much closer to 100-200 months of economically viable major deposits remain in West Virginia.

Big Coal is now the tail that wags the dog in Appalachia.

The Resource Curse

What have you done for us lately? 
Big coal, what have you done for us lately?

How can it be when West Virginia has enjoyed a Century-long abundance of valuable natural resources, it compares so poorly to the rest of the country economically?  How can it be that the counties with the most coal extracted are among the poorest places in the United States?

West Virginia suffers from a resource curse. The curse of natural resource wealth is extraction industries extract valuable items from the ground, take the wealth out of communities, and leave behind spent land and spent people.

Coal mining is a dirty business. Mountaintop removal is an even dirtier one — it requires a huge amount of land and crowds out all other potential nearby economic development.

In a recent presentation, Chris Hamilton of the West Virginia Coal Association said one of the challenges the coal mining industry faces is the lack of local workers. How ironic! If only the coal companies were better neighbors, there would be potential employees near coal mines! No wonder coal mines pay such high wages. There’s no one left nearby to work for them!

Mortgaging our Future

Coal is a non-renewable resource. Once we burn it, it is gone. One day it will all be gone.

We never ask for more than we deserve 
Big Coal knows it’s the truth 
They seem to think they’re God’s gift to this earth 
We’re tellin’ ‘em no way

Our political leadership is playing with the future of the entire planet to feed their addiction to the black rock. It may be the only economic safety Appalachian politicians have ever known, but meanwhileneighboring states — hell, even China, India, Europe and the United Arab Emirates are all laying the ground work for a softer landing when their non-renewable fuels run out.

Lifting the Curse

The Appalachian economy is addicted to the illusory wealth of Big Coal. The benefits of a few high paying jobs are obvious and immediate, the costs of environmental degradation and lack of economic diversity are easier to ignore. Millions of Americans benefit today from lower power bills, turning a blind eye as Appalachia turns into a national sacrifice zone.

There is a better way forward. Instead of spending billions in dollars to keep the coal industry on artificial life support, we should be investing those billions in the people of Appalachia. When the next shift of coal miners are laid off, they deserve economic opportunities that aren’t dependent on extraction industries.

I implore our elected officials to demonstrate a different kind of leadership focused on the needs of the people, not the needs of the corporations.

Take Action – Please help today!

This is where I really wish there was a bill or an ACES amendment in front of Congress I could ask you to contact Congress about. Unfortunately, no one is advocating directly for the people of Appalachia in climate change legislation. Until there is, here are some very worthy organizations:

Visit I Love Mountains to tell the Obama EPA to protect water quality and stop mountain top removal.

Support Coal River Wind to bring wind power to the Appalachian coal fields.

Support the nonviolent protests of Climate Ground Zero against mountain top removal in Appalachia.

Legacy of Coal is a newly-launched diary series inspired by the panels at Netroots Nation.  We hope to publicize the issues around coal use and mining, including MTR, the damage to less-politically-powerful areas of our country, and the general impact of energy and economic policy.  Of course, this leads to the broader issues of climate change, health care, and human rights.  While none of us can know everything about these issues, it is by working together we can make a difference.  If you would like to guest-host, please contact jlms_qkwATxmissionDOTcom.  This diary series is dedicated to our country’s coal miners and the people waiting for them to come home.

Photo credit: Anthracite Coal by The Bill Hughes Gazette, Blockquoted lyrics adapted from songs popularized by Robert Palmer and Janet Jackson.

Lifting the coal resource curse originally appeared on A World of Progress TeamZine on September 24, 20092009-09-24T05:38:31ZF j, Y.

Related posts:

1. Mountaintop Removal – Is it Really Worth the Waste?
2. Legacy of Coal: The dead canary sings
3. King Coal is shouting itself hoarse and deaf

Scientists were stunned. Lloyd Keigwin of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution called the event the most abrupt change in the whole record of climate. Wed never seen anything like that before and we dont understand it, Harry Bryden of the National Oceanography Centre explained.

Climate models have suggested that a consequence of climate change could be a slowing or stopping of this current. Had the world reached the precipice of abrupt climate change only to step back and gain a temporary reprieve of uncertain duration? Scientists dont know.

Even as the research goes on, the climate change debate is shifting toward one over the economics of doing nothing/very little vs. acting robustly to mitigate the expected climate change. Such a debate hinges on the idea that humans are contributing to the ongoing climate change and, therefore, can take steps to alleviate the change attributable to human activities. Most scientific evidence affirms a human contribution, even as the exact delineation between human and natural causes remains uncertain.

Now, a just-released report prepared by Sir Nicholas Stern, a senior British Government economist and former chief economist of the World Bank, breaks new ground in focusing on the economics involved in the climate change debate. It specifically addresses the question of the costs of climate change vs. those associated with seeking to control it. In doing so, assuming its findings are reasonably accurate, it turns on its head the conventional thinking that aggressive efforts to mitigate climate change are too costly or would be economically ruinous. Rather, it asserts, allowing climate change to proceed largely unimpeded would be the far more costly and ruinous approach.

The reports basic conclusion is that the benefits of strong, early action considerably outweigh the costs. It also warns, The evidence shows that ignoring climate change will eventually damage economic growth And it will be difficult or impossible to reverse these changes The earlier effective action is taken, the less costly it will be.

Its research estimates that the costs of not acting would impose a cost equivalent to at least 5% of GDP every year and, possibly, as high as 20% of GDP, if such factors as human health impacts are considered. On the other hand, an aggressive approach aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and stabilizing the atmospheric CO2 level at no higher than 550 ppm (parts per million) could amount to approximately 1% of global GDP per year. Over time, the amount of GDP foregone on account of taking relatively little action would be enormous and the adverse impact on the standard of living would be sizable.

Is the reports goal of stabilization of the atmospheric CO2 concentration realistic? Such an outcome would require allowing global emissions to peak in the next 10-20 years and then fall at a rate of 1%-3% per year afterward. By 2050, global emissions would need to be 25% below current levels. In the context of a larger world economy, the report estimates that the emissions per unit of GDP would likely need to fall to a level of 25% of todays figures. According to the study, such stabilization is feasible and consistent with continued growth. In contrast, unabated climate change would eventually pose significant threats to sustained economic growth. Put simply, it is inaction, not aggressive action that would hinder economic growth.

The historic experience also suggests that such a course is realistic. In the past, the United States has been able to tackle endeavors that were arguably comparable to that involved with moving away from a carbon-intensive economy. In June 1942, President Roosevelt launched the Manhattan Project with the aim of developing an atomic bomb before Nazi Germany could. In September 1962, President Kennedy made it Americas mission to land men on the Moon. In June 1982, President Reagan launched his plan to leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history. All of these projects succeeded spectacularly. All were achieved in less than a decade. The United States and Western Europe have the financial resources, technological tools, and intellectual capital to stabilize the atmospheric CO2 concentration at or below 550 ppm.

Does it pay to wait? The report strongly rejects delaying a robust climate mitigation effort. Weak action in the next 10-20 years would put stabilization even at 550 ppm CO2e [CO2 level] beyond reachand this level is already associated with significant risks, the report warns. Anything higher would substantially increase the risks of very harmful impacts while reducing the expected costs of mitigation by comparatively little, it continues. In short, inaction would greatly elevate the risks of harm while saving very little money.

Beyond the studys economic arguments, an aggressive posture against climate change would provide potentially significant geopolitical benefits for the United States. Oil dependency currently entails major geopolitical costs and risks for the United States. One can readily envision the adverse impact were Iran or Islamist terrorists to seize or knock out the Persian Gulf Region’s oil production facilities. There would be a substantial global economic shock. If military combat were required to free the Persian Gulf Region from Iranian hegemonyespecially if Iran gains a nuclear weapons capability as appears reasonably likely in the futurethe costs of such combat would be staggering, both in terms of human lives and economics. The $300 billion price tag on Iraq would likely seem miniscule in comparison.

Oil dependency has also contributed greatly to Middle East authoritarianism. Princeton University Professor of Near East Studies, Bernard Lewis explained, Oil is the Arabs disaster, because it enabled governments to accumulate enormous wealth which strengthens their political and military power and destroys democracy and freedom in the bud.

Even as Washington stays its course of inaction, California is forging a bold new approach. Under Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggers leadership, the State seeks to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels by 2010. By 2020, it seeks to achieve 1990 levels and by 2050 it aims to bring its emissions to 80% below 1990 levels. California is not alone. Britain and California have already concluded a climate change agreement.

With an economy of more than $1.6 trillion, California is well-positioned leverage its economic clout in becoming a veritable laboratory for developing a credible climate mitigation campaign. Given the size of its market, innovative and entrepreneurial companies will likely seize the opportunity to meet Californias standards. Why? Their compliance, especially if others refused to do so, would given them a market share in which they would enjoy little or no competition yet reap attractive profits.

On the global front, one is already seeing such companies as Toyota push ahead with hybrid technologies. If, for example, California’s auto market is eventually dominated by Toyota and other companies meeting California’s standards, the bar would also drop for other states to take a similar posture. Those states would recognize that there is no technological barrier that precludes their taking similar action on this issue. Then, the companies that chose not to adapt would wind up marginalized and ultimately be confronted with the decision of trying to adaptthe farther behind they fall, the less likely such adaptation would be successfulor risk perishing. Shareholders would not remain content to lock their capital up in companies likely to perish. Therefore, capital would flow increasingly toward the companies making progress in pursuing the opportunities associated with climate mitigation on account of their higher returns.

That outcome is still in the future. In Washington, DC, doing nothing is presently the preferred way of life when it comes to developing a credible energy policy, much less addressing the more ambitious challenge of climate change. However, that may begin to change.

The Stern study has attacked the core excuse for inaction, namely that it is too expensive to act against climate change. Should additional credible economic research corroborate the Stern reports basic finding that the costs of inaction greatly outweigh those associated with a robust climate mitigation effort, additional data tie the temporary shutdown in the North Atlantic Drift to ongoing climate change, and geopolitical developments increase the risks associated with oil dependency, the public policy scale will tip increasingly toward a strong climate mitigation effort. Then, the risks of doing nothing would be too hazardous and the costs too high to maintain the present course of inaction.

Don Sutherland has researched and written on a wide range of geopolitical issues.

Author: Don Sutherland
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The economics of climate change: Is doing nothing too costly? originally appeared on A World of Progress TeamZine on September 19, 20092009-09-19T04:46:05ZF j, Y.

Related posts:

1. The Poster Child for Global Warming
2. King Coal is shouting itself hoarse and deaf

The Appalachia is a majestic mountain range named after an Indian village by Spanish explorers. For most people, Appalachia brings to mind beautiful mountainscapes; a peaceful wonderland, lively forests, old-time mountain music, and a simpler way of life. The largest mountain range in North America, the Appalachia spans approximately 1600 miles, north to south, from Quebec to Georgia.

Today, the most popular attraction for hiking and nature enthusiasts is the Appalachian Trail, a hiking trail that winds through wooded peaks from Springer Mountain in Northern Georgia to Mount Katahdin, Maine. This hike journeys through fourteen states, and could take an adventurer five to six months to traverse, start to finish.

The Appalachians are rich in coal; other resources include iron, petroleum, and natural gas. But that’s not all; the old Appalachian mountain chain has shaped the natural history and biodiversity of this continent. Its forests and treetops, moisture, and latitudinal gradients have helped protect its species during periods of climate change. The diversity in elevations helps to extend the distribution of certain species throughout the region. Species that thrive in the colder northern climate often inhabit the higher elevations of the south as well. The Appalachians are among the richest temperate areas, and includes approximately 255 birds, 78 mammals, 58 reptiles, and 76 amphibians.

Pinpointing the various (and exact) plant species is difficult due to the density and richness within the Appalachians. The count, however, is high. Kartesz and Meacham (1999) list 6,374 plant species in 10 focal states within the mapped area (AL, GA, TN, KY, WV, PA, NY, VT, NH, ME); 1,722 of which are exotic and 76 native endemics, including 6 listed as extinct.

The Southern Appalachians are also a renowned hot spot for a number of aquatic species, in part because the mountain range drains to the south and allows species to escape extermination due to their ice-cold origins. The Appalachian’s fish, mussel, and crayfish richness is extraordinary. Tennessee alone has over 290 fish species.

According to the Nature Conservancy, the mountain region including southwest Virginia, southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and northeastern Tennessee contains some of the highest levels of biological diversity in the nation.

The people of Appalachia have helped build its geotourism map by nominating the adventure sites and experiences they thought best represented the beauty and diversity of their homelands.

The Devastation of Mountaintop Removal

It’s hard to believe that one of the most beautiful, immense national treasures of this continent is in danger of absolute distinction. When we think of deforestation, the rainforests of Costa Rica, Belize, Brazil are the first to come to mind and we tend to forget about our own homeland. Figures from the multi-agency environmental impact statement that was completed in 2003 estimated that more than 700,000 acres in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee had been stripped beyond restoration.

The destruction doesn’t stop on the mountaintop; the waste, also known as overburden or spoil, is pushed down into the valleys below. As a result, 6,700 “valley fills” were approved in central Appalachia between 1985 and 2001. The United States EPA estimates that over 700 miles of healthy streams have been completely buried by mountaintop removal and thousands more have been damaged. Where there once flowed a uniquely integrated system of headwater streams, now a vast circuitry of haul roads winds through the rubble. From the air, the devastation looks as if someone had tried to plot a highway system on the moon.

Mountaintop removal mining is a form of strip mining in which coal companies use explosives to blast as much as 800 to 1000 feet off the tops of mountains order to reach the highly profitable coal seams that lie beneath. The millions of tons of overburden, waste rock, dirt, and vegetation are subsequently dumped into the valleys below, burying hundreds of miles of streams, along with their aquatic life, under the piles of rubble. Mountaintop removal mining harms not only aquatic ecosystems and water quality, but also destroys hundreds of acres of healthy forests and wildlife habitat, including habitat of threatened and endangered species, when the tops of mountains are blasted away.

This practice also devastates Appalachian communities and cultures that have existed in these mountains for centuries. Residents of the surrounding communities are threatened by rockslides, catastrophic floods, poisoned water supplies, constant blasting, destroyed property, and lost culture. Mountaintop removal mining takes place in many states in the Appalachian region, with its highest concentration in West Virginia, Kentucky, southern Virginia, and eastern Tennessee.

In West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee and eastern Kentucky, coal companies blast as much as 600 feet off the top of the mountains, then dump the rock and debris into mountain streams. Over 300,000 acres of the most beautiful hardwood forests in America have already been turned into barren grasslands. Mountaintop removal mining increases flooding, contaminates drinking water supplies, cracks foundations of nearby homes, and showers towns with dust and noise from blasting.

“You could walk through the forest. You could hear the animals. The woods like to talk to you. You could feel a part of Mother Nature. In other words, everywhere you looked there was life. Now you put me on the same ground where I walked, and the only thing you can feel is the vibration of dynamite or heavy machinery. No life, just dust.” – Larry Gibson (http://www.stopmountaintopremoval.org/larrys-story.com)

Clean Coal Still Requires Coal

According to the Bush administration’s own estimates, mountaintop removal mining in this region has already destroyed over 1,200 miles of Appalachian streams. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that at least 2,400 miles of streams will be permanently wiped out by 2013 if additional environmental restrictions are not enforced. Mountaintop removal mining has also leveled over 800 square miles of West Virginia land. If this permit approval continues, by the end of this decade 2,200 square miles of Appalachian land will be lost, an area equal in size to the entire state of Delaware.

Now let’s fast-forward to election year 2008, where energy, environment, and economics take front stage and clean coal technology has a leading role. During their recent debates, neither the presidential nor the vice presidential candidates wanted to admit that there really is no such thing as clean coal. Despite years of research and billions of dollars, not a single commercial coal plant in the United States can capture and store its greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, scientists and even coal utility executives agree that this technology is at least a decade away, if not longer. For policymakers and others concerned about climate change, the real question is not whether coal can be made clean, but whether we should even try.

Clean coal holds a different meaning to many different people. Only until recently, the phrase was used to describe various processes to reduce air and water pollution caused by mining and burning coal, such as installing scrubbers on smokestacks to reduce the sulfur dioxide emissions that cause acid rain. But biggest problem here is that coal is this country’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, period. Politicians and lawmakers use the term “clean coal” when they talk about carbon capture and sequestration; an attempt to capture an energy plant’s carbon emissions and store them underground, permanently, rather than releasing them into the atmosphere, which contributes to global climate change.

But you can’t tell the residents of Appalachia that coal is clean. Mountaintop removal coal mining has flattened 450 mountains, buried more than 700 miles of rivers and streams, and has sent hundreds of plant and aquatic species into extinction. One of the country’s most beautiful regions, the Appalachians, is in danger of irreversible deforestation by the process of mountaintop removal.

In our attempts to bring global deforestation to an end, Paradise Earth would like to remind everyone that those same efforts need to made here, in our own great nation, as the environmental damages we are causing today will be left behind for future generations.

To learn more about the environmental impact of deforestation visit Paradise Earth online.

Author: Tony Mandarich
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Mountaintop Removal – Is it Really Worth the Waste? originally appeared on A World of Progress TeamZine on September 11, 20092009-09-11T13:19:44ZF j, Y.

Related posts:

1. Lifting the coal resource curse
2. Legacy of Coal: The dead canary sings

So what happens if the canary dies and no one hears its dying cries?

The modern day canary includes little known marker species like mayflies. As local newspaper comments retort that coal miner jobs are more important than mere mayflies, who will ask: if your job poisons your neighbors well water, is that a job worth saving?

Listening to the Canary

Here in Appalachia this Labor Day weekend, Big Coal is distracting the public with a line-up of aged entertainers and climate change denialists. Meanwhile, the local power company is asking for $365,000,000 of stimulus money to spend on, among other things, more coal removed by mountain top removal.

Two brave West Virginians have taken roost in the trees along a Mountaintop Removal site. It’s easy to understand why the nearby miners might feel invincible in their huge earth-moving equipment, but the dead canary says otherwise.

In a bombshell revelation last August 21, we learned that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has known about adverse effects of Mountaintop Removal since at least 2002. Yet, somehow, Sec. Huffman was unable to testify about the full extent of them in front of the U.S. Senate in 2009.

Gov. Joe Manchin’s appointee for Chair of the WV DEP is in quite a pickle. Either he truly knew nothing about the information described in the released memo–in which he’s incompetent as an administrator of an organization that requires the free flow of scientific information–or he lied to Congress. Either way, it is no wonder so many people are calling for a Federal takeover of the WV DEP.  Update: A non-clarification clarification was issued late this afternoon. Secretary Huffman is yet to come clean.

Stealing from a batman script

King Coal will do its best to say there’s nothing to see there. After all, who cares about a few mayflies? In a setup that could come straight out of a batman script, Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship is inviting the public to join him, a few aged rock stars, and a British climate change denialist for a Labor Day celebration in a reclaimed strip mine below a coal sludge impoundment dam.

As One Citizen points out, Warning: Doing the Labor Day Wango Tango with Don Blankenship may be fatal:

Although Blankncheck hasn’t warned anyone pre-registering to attend his “I HEART COAL” fest, folks planning to go really should be made aware that there are more coal sludge impoundment dams per square mile around this doodah than anywhere else in the US.

Just one of the many nearby toxic sites holds an incredible 4.74 billion gallons of deadly slime soup behind a 345 ft. high dirt wall. By comparison, that’s quadruple the amount of muck released in Tennessee’s giant TVA spill not so long ago.  The amount of toxic sludge spilld across Tennessee was reportedly 100 times larger than the famous Exxon Valdez disaster! According to the Coal Impoundment Location and Information System website there are absolutely NO evacuation plans filed with the state of WV, or with either of the counties of Mingo or Logan for an event the size of the one planned by Blankenship and his pals. NONE. Nor are there any instructions to the public on Blankenstein’s spiffy “Friends of America” website warning folks of the imminent dangers. So good luck to all those Ted “Crusty Pants” Nugent fans when he starts machine gunning the crowd to clear them out of HIS way even as they trample each other to keep from drowning in liquified mercury, lead, arsenic, and selenium.

One more thing. While friendsofamericarally.com website advises everyone pre-registering to bring a lawn chair, do NOT plan to sit directly or go barefoot on any reclaimed site. The chemicals sprayed across reclaimed quarry topsoil in an attempt to force it to be “green” can be both caustic AND toxic.

No matter how loud the music gets, it still won’t drown out the haunting cries of the dead canaries.

Meanwhile…

In other major coal news this week:

• The coal industry continues to spawn new astro-turf groups: Pro-coal ‘grassroots group’ created by Washington, D.C., lobbyists
• The Obama administration is moving forward with consideration of dozens and dozens of Mountaintop Removal permits. We must act fast! ALERT: The Clock is Ticking on Mountaintop Removal Permits
• Do you want stimulus dollars to be spent buying coal from mountain top removal coal mines?
• Charges against former (W.Va.) congressperson Hechler (for his high profile anti-MTR protest with Daryl Hannah) were dropped.
• The TVA may shut down its oldest coal fired electric plants.

And, some DailyKos diaries you might have missed:

• Ongoing anti-MTR action in West Virginia
• Shower Congress with copies of “Burning the Future: Coal in America”
• Coal Industry Sinks Deeper in FORGERY Scandal
• USGS: Mercury in EVERY fish in EVERY stream tested
• Coal Finds More Ways Than 1 To Get Into Our Bodies

Take Action

• Visit I Love Mountains to learn how you take action to end mountain top removal.
• Tell the EPA to strictly regulate the disposal of contaminated coal waste.
• Support Climate Ground Zero in its “ongoing campaign of non-violent civil disobedience in southern West Virginia to address mountaintop removal coal mining and its effects on our future.”

Image credits: ex-canary by Secret Tenerife, WV Sludge impoundment locations by One Citizen

Legacy of Coal is a newly-launched diary series inspired by the panels at Netroots Nation. We are publicizing issues around coal use and mining, including Mountaintop Removal (MTR), the damage to less-politically-powerful areas of our country, and the broader impact of energy and economic policy. Of course, this intersects with issues of climate change, health care, and human rights. While no one person can know all there about these issues, working together we can make a difference. If you would like to guest-host a diary, please contact jlms_qkw AT xmission DOT com.  This diary series is dedicated to our country’s coal miners and the people waiting for them to come home.

This post is in honor of William Wayne Parrott, 58, of Big Stone Gap, who died of injuries from an underground coal mining accident last week in Appalachia, Virginia and Brian Keith Pritt, who I just learned today was a survivor of the Crandall Canyon tragedy who took his own life after two months haunted by survivor’s guilt.

Legacy of Coal: The dead canary sings originally appeared on A World of Progress TeamZine on August 27, 20092009-08-27T12:43:17ZF j, Y.

Related posts:

1. Lifting the coal resource curse
2. King Coal is shouting itself hoarse and deaf
3. Mountaintop Removal – Is it Really Worth the Waste?

Algae in Big Stone Lake

This is a photo I took of Big Stone Lake in Minnesota the last week of July. On the day I arrived at the campground there, the algae was floating in the water, and four days later it was the water, like a soup of pureed parsley. Naturally, no one would swim or even walk in water like that. It’s good that it’s naturally revolting (and smells bad) because as the algae grows and dies off, it can become toxic and even poisonous. Pets and people can become very sick or even die if they get this slime on them, breath it in, or somehow ingest it. How dangerous is it? From the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency:

What: Harmful algal blooms (HAB) are blue-green (cyanobacterial) algal blooms containing toxins or other noxious chemicals, which can pose harmful health risks.

Why is this a concern? People or animals may develop skin irritation or upper respiratory problems from exposure to HAB, and in extreme cases, dogs and other animals have even died after drinking lake water containing these toxins.

Where: Severe blue-green algal blooms typically occur on lakes with poor water quality (high in nutrients), and look like green paint, pea soup, or a thick green cake (see photo gallery below for examples). HAB often result in extremely low water clarity (less than 1 foot). There is no visual way to predict the toxicity of an algal bloom

What should I do? When these conditions are present, people should avoid contact with the water and they should prevent animals from swimming in or drinking the water. . . . the safest course of action is to avoid contact with all blue-green blooms.

This thick algae is growing in lakes and rivers all over the country lately (even in Florida) and it is caused by human activity, like global warming itself.

Many farms in the U.S. use the land right up to the river banks, where soil erosion dumps the dirt with chemicals and manure into the river. Many states have laws to enforce a 50-foot buffer zone between farming and the water, but many farmers ignore the law. And these practices have long-lasting effects on the water. From an MSNBC report (2005)

“Farmers’ routine application of chemical fertilizers and manure to the land poses a far greater environmental problem to freshwater lakes than previously thought, potentially polluting the water for hundreds of years, according to new research. . . . . Phosphorus in those substances has built up in the soil and will slowly end up in many lakes, where the nutrients lead to plant and algae growth. The environmental problem, known as eutrophication, can turn pristine lakes into smelly, weed-filled swamps with lots of dead fish.”

Local environmental groups in the area on the border with South Dakota have identified some of the pollutants and continue to work to clean up the lake by working with area farmers, but I have never seen it so bad as this year.

But this lake is part of a river, so this is a bigger problem. The Big Stone Lake is a part of the Big Stone River, which flows into the Minnesota River, which flows into the Mississippi River, which flows down to the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf of Mexico water has a problem with lack of oxygen due to the same pollutants which probably lead to the algae growth far up-river. As a result, all this fertilizer and phosphorous and nitrogen and manure pollution from my state ends up creating a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico which is choking out oxygen and preventing any life in those waters. This Dead Zone in the Gulf gets a bit bigger each year and is growing to include much of the U.S. shoreline. Much of the cause of it comes from the upper Midwest where we look the other way as farmers dump chemicals into rivers and streams.

It’s not just the farmers, by the way — it’s also people who want a perfect green lawn without weeds in their perfect grass. Phosphorous fertilizers have now been banned in some states for use on lawns, as a result. Chemical pesticides should also be banned for lawn use as it contaminates the ground water that we all use.

The media nearly ignores these pollution and contamination problems. Americans are being lulled to sleep and shouted into inaction on some very important environmental matters lately due to ongoing propaganda campaigns by a few who seem to think we can live independent of our environment.

If this continues, we will eventually lose the natural resources that we need to support human life; mainly, drinkable water.

If all the fish in this river are killed, if you can get sick just from walking in it, and the chemicals in the river build up year after year, this entire river system is off limits as a future water supply for any purpose — except perhaps to supply the coal plant Big Stone II with the water it needs to further pollute our atmosphere and land.

With climate change creating shortages of water in the future, it seems that we are on a slow track to suicide right now, through pollution of our water sources.

Toxic Algae Contaminates U.S. Water originally appeared on A World of Progress TeamZine on August 5, 20092009-08-05T22:26:24ZF j, Y.

Related posts:

1. Why is non-point pollution so dangerous?

Finally, we have some positive environmental justice news. The EPA has stepped in and declared a public health emergency in and around Libby, Montana. This happened because a vermiculite mining company, W.R. Grace & Co., and three former executives were acquitted on May 4th of this year on federal charges. The charges included that they knowingly allowed residents of northwestern Montana town to be exposed to asbestos from its vermiculite mine. An indictment unsealed four years ago charged that W.R. Grace and several of its one-time executives knowingly endangered the lives of mine workers and other residents of Libby and ignored warnings by state agencies to clean up the vermiculite mining operation.

For decades, W.R. Grace and Co. mined asbestos-contaminated vermiculite in Libby, Montana. As the people of Libby began to get sick and blamed it on the vermiculite being mined, they brought class-action lawsuits against the mining company. Accusations during the trial were that W.R. Grace knew about the health hazards of asbestos, but covered it up “so they could continue making money as well as avoid liability,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kris McLean said during closing arguments in the trial. There were also allegations of prosecutor misconduct during the trial.

Despite all the evidence, charges against two executives were dropped during the May trial, and the jury acquitted 3 remaining executives of the company.

Attorneys for some Libby residents blame tremolite asbestos for about 2,000 cases of illness and about 225 deaths in and around the community. Asbestos can cause cancer and various lung diseases in those who breathe it regularly, often leading to death. Tremolite is one of the deadliest kinds of asbestos. It’s described as “needle-like” and pierces the lungs of those who inhale even a small amount of it. Libby residents have succumbed to various asbestos-related incidents over the years, including lung cancer and mesothelioma. Asbestos exposure also causes asbestosis, a severe scarring of the lungs that worsens with time and impairs the ability of its victims to breathe. Gayla Benefield of Libby, who suffers from asbestos-caused health effects said, at the time of the May decision, “They have gotten away with murder. That’s all I can say.” The people of Libby have been fighting the mines as a human health hazard for years and finally, their quest for justice is recognized.

That was last month. Now the EPA says a public health emergency exists in Libby and in the surrounding area.

What is vermiculite used for? It was once commonly used in potting soil and some may still be present in some mixes.

Vermiculite was also widely used for building insulation. (If you suspect you have it in your home, it will have to be removed by professionals who wear protective breathing gear). Vermiculite was also a major ingredient in industrial and commercial talc.

This is from a mesothelioma site that discussed the Libby mine.

“According to the EPA spokesperson, it is not known how many homes across America contain asbestos-contaminated vermiculite, but estimates place that number in the tens of millions.

The vermiculite mine in Libby was originally operated by the Zonolite Company. The mine was so vast that at one time in US history; it was the source of 80 percent of all vermiculite insulation in America. W. R. Grace later purchased the mine in 1963, and closed it down in 1990.”

It would also be a good idea to not use potting soil with vermiculite in it. This is from a gardening website:

Is there asbestos in the vermiculite sold for gardening uses?

Not all vermiculite garden products contain asbestos, but an EPA study showed that some contain low levels of asbestos. Asbestos was found primarily in the unmixed vermiculite product sold separately as a soil amendment.

However, some was found in premixed potting soil. Because the Libby mine closed in 1990, newer products are not expected to contain significant amounts of asbestos. It is possible, however, that some older products could still be on store shelves.

If there is vermiculite in your potting soil it should be listed in the ingredients on the bag. If it’s in there, I’d recommend not using it!

EPA Declares Asbestos Health Emergency in Montana originally appeared on A World of Progress TeamZine on June 18, 20092009-06-19T00:54:12ZF j, Y.

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I remember the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. While most of the world believes that the demonstration was a cry for freedom voiced by students, the fact remains that ordinary Chinese citizens and workers bore the brunt of the repression. Of the 50 protesters that remain in jail, most were workers at the time. Not one of them was a student.

Read the BBC Report from That Fateful Day

It started with a vigil on April 15, 1989 to commemorate the death of Hu Yaobang, a progressive leader who had sought reforms in China. The vigil became an ongoing protest in the square on May 4 and was crushed by military force on June 3-4 1989, seven weeks after it had begun. Although news sources state 2,000 people were killed or wounded that day, no reliable estimates of deaths and casualties exist. News was quashed, cameras confiscated and reporters were arrested and forced to confess to crimes against the state.

Twenty years later, the repression continues. In fact, if you were in China and search on Google.cn, you would be unable to locate the information I have provided above. As for the unknown man and the tank commander who did not run him over, little is known. It is believed the tank commander was executed by a firing squad and the young man is living in Taiwan. They both live on in our memories of that awful day in Tiananmen, the Gate of Heaven’s Peace.

Be at peace, heroes of the working people of Beijing.

Tiananmen Square: 20 years later originally appeared on A World of Progress TeamZine on June 4, 20092009-06-05T03:31:36ZF j, Y.

AWOP contributing editor, environment
Author of Endangered Spaces

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