coal

Obama's First 100 Days of Coal: A Few Honest Words, Please

If you're going to lead my country,
If you're gonna say it's free
I'm gonna need a little honesty
Just a few honest words
-Ben Sollee, "A Few Honest Words"

With those proverbial first 100 days coming to a close, here are ten moments--some good, some confusing, some hair-raising--in the short swift time of coal in the Obama administration's new era of "clean, renewable energy that will lead the 21st century."

Posted in coal

US Seeks to End Bush Mountaintop Coal Mining Rule

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Interior Department said on Monday it will try to overturn a Bush administration rule that made it easier for coal mining companies to dump mountaintop debris into valley streams.

Calling the rule "bad policy," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he will ask the Justice Department to go to the courts to withdraw the Bush regulation and send it back to Interior to stop the policy.

Salazar said the Bush-era rule allowed coal mine operators to use "the cheapest and most convenient disposal option" for mountaintop fill.

Posted in coal, mountaintop removal, water quality

RFK Jr. Blasts Obama as 'Indentured Servant' to Coal Industry

"Clean coal is a dirty lie," says environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who calls President Barack Obama and other politicians who commit taxpayer money to develop it "indentured servants" of the coal industry.

Despite a series of expensive false starts and failures, President Obama proposed $3.4 billion in stimulus legislation to fund continued research on "clean coal" projects.

"Clean coal is like healthy cigarettes, it does not exist," says former Vice President Al Gore.

Posted in coal, obama

Big Coal Defeat! Rednecks and Greens Announce Victory at Blair Mountain

After 500 mountains in Appalachia have been blown to bits by mountaintop removal, one peak was most likely saved today: Blair Mountain in West Virginia, the site of the largest armed insurrection in the United States since the Civil War, was officially approved by the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places to be placed on the National Register.

This is a huge victory, as the tide continues to turn in the movement to stop mountaintop removal in Appalachia.

Posted in coal, mountaintop removal

Hope in the Mountains

Yesterday was a great day for the people of Appalachia and for all of America. In a bold departure from Bush-era energy policy, the Obama administration suspended a coal company's permit to dump debris from its proposed mountaintop mining operation into a West Virginia valley and stream. In addition, the administration promised to carefully review upward of 200 such permits awaiting approval by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Posted in coal, mountain top removal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 24, 2009
5:22 PM

CONTACT: Center for Biological Diversity
Tierra Curry, (503) 989-2148

Statement on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Decision to Halt New Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Permitsoal

PORTLAND, Oreg. - March 24 - The Center for Biological Diversity applauds EPA’s announcement today that it will halt new mountaintop removal coal mining permits so that water-quality impacts can be fully assessed. Mountaintop removal is a devastating form of coal mining that blasts away up to 1,000 feet of mountain peaks and then dumps the remains directly into streams, annihilating forest and stream life and causing downstream pollution.

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At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature - to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law, and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters, and climate that species need to survive.

Center for Biological Diversity Links:

Posted in coal, Environment, mountaintop removal

EPA Halts Hundreds of Mountaintop Mining Permits

WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency put hundreds of mountaintop coal-mining permits on hold Tuesday, saying it wants to evaluate the projects' impact on streams and wetlands.

The decision, announced by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, targets a controversial practice that allows coal mining companies to dump waste from mountaintop mining into streams and wetlands.

It could delay 150-250 permits being sought by companies wanting to begin blasting mountaintops to access coal.

Posted in coal, Environment, epa, mountaintop removal, water quality

End of the Coal Era

While it may seem hard for most of us to look beyond the economy right now, there are legions of young people with their eyes fixed on the planet's future. In Chicago, high-school students wearing respirator masks are hurdling over coal piles and racing past power plants in the 2009 Coal-Olympics competition. These community-minded young people are urging President Barack Obama to do something about the two coal plants nearby that are making their families sick and causing global warming.

Posted in coal

Mountaintop Mining Fight Heads to Washington

About 140 Appalachian residents traveled to Washington this week to urge Congress to pass the Clean Water Protection Act.

"We want them to restore the Clean Water Act to its original intent and protect it from the president being able to make changes, like the George W. Bush administration did," said Bo Webb, a Naoma resident who met with Obama administration officials and members of Congress Monday and Tuesday.

Environmental groups and coalfield residents say mountaintop mining is dangerous for those living near it and is harmful to the environment.

Posted in Activism, coal, Energy, Environment, mountaintop removal

Stop Mountaintop Removal

In the United States, 100 tons of coal are extracted every two seconds. Around 70 percent of that coal comes from strip mines, and over the last 20 years, an increasing amount comes from mountaintop-removal sites in Appalachia.

Posted in coal, mountaintop removal