Not even Democrat Creigh Deeds is listening. If he hadn't supported MTR on his siding with Obama, he wouldn't be polling so badly by now. After Obama fired van Jones, the Green Jobs project went in limbo. Obama's own home state, IL, is the biggest coal producing state and since Obama has always sided with Big Coal, I had no reason to believe that he would keep his promise of stopping MTR. The piling coal mining tragedies in WV of the past decade will be nothing once MTR goes into effect and it won't be just the miners who will be severely impacted.

"And the blasting of Bee Tree Branch will not only strip the great range of its resources, its tributaries and lush forests, its history and its meaning; it will rob Americans of the possibility of creating long-lasting green jobs and energy. It will resound as the death knell of an American and Appalachian way of life, and a rejection of any opportunities for a sustainable future for the embattled coalfields."

Isn't it pretty obvious that the fossil fuel industry wants to eliminate the possibility of a future competitive source of energy?

q

Unfortunately, my reaction to this on FaceBook would be flagged here. I'll just go with, grrrrr.

There are a few 'mountain tops' I'd like to 'remove', namely the enlarged heads (that look like mountains to me) on these egotistical madmen they call CEO's and such. Not to mention the politicians that follow suit with 'benjamins' hanging out of the pockets.

It is surprising, to say the least, that this article on MTR, with its appeal to people to join Obama's "clean energy" agenda, and protest the latest MTR episode, makes not a whisper of mention of how that "agenda" is playing out. Specifically, he fails to note, what has been covered in the current issue of Mother Jones,

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/10/coal-activists-senators-question-obama-pick-head-surface-mining-office

that "clean energy" Obama has attempted to put in office as head of the Bureau of Surface Mining (including moutaintops) one Joseph Pitarcik from Pennylvania, a "regulator" of mining in PA who quite regularly "regulates" in favor of the coal mining industry. As environmental agencies have reacted with outrage at the impending nomination, only the action of a "mystery Senator" in putting a "hold" on the nomination has stopped the henyard of mountain removal having been already been put in the charge of an industry fox. Rather than, or in addition to, those protests suggested by Biggers, I would think it equally important to protest the Pitarchik nomination, since the holder of that office will have signficant impact on the progress of the destruction of our mountain treasures.

It is a sad fact that coal miners in Appalachia, are between a rock and a hard place. In order to support their families, they must work at a job that destroys their environment. No one should be put in this position. That being said, its also true that most of these same miners, and their families, are vulnerable to the fear-mongering of Republicans and usually vote for them. I was raised in W.Va., my uncle was a coal-miner for over fifty years, and so I understand their point of view. If such conditioning is to be overcome, there must be first, a huge effort to acquaint them with the facts, perhaps searching out their most respected leaders, to see if they might be recruited to assist the effort, and second, a tandem effort to train them for new jobs that are environmentally healthier. King coal uses poverty and ignorance to destroy the sacred mountains of Appalachia, in order to stuff their pockets with more money, while politicians in Washington are paid to look the other way. Only the people can stop this, but will they?

Companies like Massey Energy should be declared TERRORIST organizations, their "leaders" should be hunted down and rounded up and sent to Guantanamo and their HQ should be bombed by drones.

Think about it! Someone who strikes a nail into a tree to hamper logging is on an FBI "environmental terrorist" list while the REAL terrorists are paying off the politicians and raking in the dough while pulverizing Appalachia, a place that Biggers correctly calls a "carbon sink."

We really do need a New American Jihad. This country has been going after the wrong targets. They are in our midst, terrorizing in broad daylight.

-30-

Uranium mining in the Grand Canyon?
http://www.environmentcolorado.org/action/preservation/grandcanyon-email?id4=ES

I think that this other, additional war on the population of the USA for "corporate America" is going to need plenty more than only one day of direct action. One day? Heck, the corporation behind this destruction and insane exploitation of the environment can just tell workers to stay home and return the next day.

And who the heck are the people doing this destruction jobs anyway; are they Americans or foreigners? If they're Americans, then shame the bastards good. If they're foreigners, then put them on planes and send them back where they came from, while adding that they should never show their faces ever again in the USA.

A lot of foreigners in their own countries surely feel the same way about Americans, and are right to feel or think this way.

"Corporate America" is enemy to us all.

have faith in Obama and stop listening to Fox News. Any dissent against Obama is either lies or racism. Obama will do the right thing, he said he would.

the brave souls in that union battle on Blair Mtn were called "rednecks" keep that in mind when you use that union word as a slur. The union fighters wore red scarves or bandanas around their necks.

How about a little ground truth from a West Virginian?
First, pjdf4, WV has many LESS miners than 40 years ago--once 100,000 people mined coal here, now it's 15,000 of which 6000 do the surface-mining-on-steroids known as Mountaintop removal. Second, even if these guys do a fair amount of commuting, they identify themselves as West Virginians and their opponents as out-of-state treehuggers. These guys are making something like $70,000 a year with a high school education in a poor state. You better believe they'll fight to keep these jobs. The alternative is a job flipping burgers or working at Wal-Mart at barely over minimum wage. They are not interested in green jobs unless the jobs are at hand and pay the same--unlikely. Upton Sinclair once said, "It's difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." These men manage to persuade themselves that they are improving the mountains, that climate change is a hoax. Polls show a slight majority of state residents oppose MTR, but in the coalfields people keep their heads down and their mouths shut. All state politicians passionately and constantly support the coal industry, but of late there is beginning to be some change in attitudes in Washington, and so the industry and its workers feel beseiged. The workers are told that any change in the laws will throw them out of work. This battle has been going on a long time but only now are they getting aggressive.
Used to be, mainly environmentalists showed up at public hearings about coal mines or power plants, and no matter how passionately and intelligently and variously they argued the points, the permits were always granted. ALWAYS. But at the recent hearing about the Army Corps of Engineers' proposed change in not using rubber stamp permits on MTR operations, a thousand angry miners showed up (no doubt bussed to the event by their bosses and wound up to a pitch of aggrieved outrage on the way). They turned the "public hearing" into a rally, drowning out the few pro-mountain speakers and threatening those still outside; the police made several of these leave "for their own safety" without even trying to speak. A woman was knocked down--another 80 year old lady was backed up to a wall by a 300 pound thug screaming in her face.
No, we're not all out of state treehuggers--but we sure could use some more of those, for exactly the same reasons outsiders were needed to ratify civil rights legislation on the ground in the South.

what is a "green job" anyway? Working for Greenpeace? That word is used a lot. here in Michigan especially. There are some "green" jobs I guess but they take advance degrees or at least a Bachelor's Degree. Nothing for the laid off UAW workers or the average Detroiter.