SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Will President Obama Screen Last Mountain Film at White House -- And Then Abolish Mountaintop Removal?
While The Last Mountain film expose on mountaintop removal mining opened in theaters across the country on Friday, its most important screening should take place at the White House Family Theater.
Jun 05, 2011
While The Last Mountain film expose on mountaintop removal mining opened in theaters across the country on Friday, its most important screening should take place at the White House Family Theater.
And when the lights turn on after President Obama has viewed the devastating film in the air-conditioned confines powered by coal-fired electricity strip-mined from the Appalachian mountains, he should have to turn and face West Virginia hero Maria Gunnoe, who warns the viewer: "Coal is mean, coal is cruel, coal kills... and every American has to find their position: You're connected to coal whether whether you realize it or not."
President Obama is connected to mountaintop removal, one of the most egregious human rights and environmental violations in our lifetime -- as are many Americans across the country.
And nearly 34 years after President Jimmy Carter begrudgingly signed a watered-down federal law that sanctioned the failed regulatory policies for this reckless strip-mining, President Obama needs to take a position and abolish all mountaintop removal operations once and for all.
An epic portrait of one community's long-time battle to take on Massey Energy lawlessness and their Big Coal sycophants in the Coal River Valley of West Virginia, The Last Mountain just might be one of the most timely and game-changing films in years. Beautifully filmed, at once provocative and disquieting, The Last Mountain wonderfully captures the inspiring resistance and indefatigable campaigns of coal mining families -- and their outside supporters -- to stand up and defend their land and lives.
As a powerful and breathtaking addition to the treasury of film documentaries on mountaintop removal -- the heartbreaking Before the Mountain Was Moved appeared in 1969, and recent portraits include On Coal River, Deep Down, Low Coal and Coal Country, among many others -- The Last Mountain forces viewers to come to grips with an enduring crime.
In truth, mountaintop removal provides less than 5-8 percent of national coal production -- it is not only unnecessary, but lethal. A process of literally blowing up mountains and nearby historic settlements with ammonium nitrate fuel oil explosives to reach the coal, mountaintop removal has led to the largest forced relocation of American citizens since the 19th century, gutted traditional underground and union coal mining jobs, and placed a stranglehold on any attempts at economic diversification, leaving the central Appalachian coalfields in ruin.
The widely documented irreversible and pervasive destruction of federally-protected waterways from mountaintop removal dumping takes place in West Virginia -- and Kentucky, eastern Tennessee and southwest Virginia. Other forms of strip-mining have ravaged millions of acres of forests, farms and historic communities in 20 other states.
Directed by Bill Haney, and guided by the star power of environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,The Last Mountain expertly walks the viewer through the Coal River nightmare for residents living beneath a fallout blasting zone of fly rock, toxic silica and coal dust, the impact of erosion and flooding, and the deadly contamination of coal slurry on local water supplies.
In a brilliant juxtaposition, The Last Mountain shifts the viewers from the horror of strip-mining to explore the Coal River Wind campaign proposed by the local residents for a large-scale industrial wind farm that would have provided more jobs and tax revenues -- and a chance for a just transition to clean energy production.
"They're bound and determined to knock the mountain down," legendary Coal River activist Bo Webb says, "and we're bound and determined to stop them."
At the end of this unforgettable film, the question lingers: Will the viewer -- and President Obama -- join Webb, Gunnoe and the legion of others in the coalfields across the United States, or will they simply turn their backs on this subversion of democracy and continue the great denial of coal's staggering human and environmental costs?
Here's the trailer:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Jeff Biggers
Jeff Biggers is the author of In Sardinia: An Unexpected Journey in Italy, and other works of history.
While The Last Mountain film expose on mountaintop removal mining opened in theaters across the country on Friday, its most important screening should take place at the White House Family Theater.
And when the lights turn on after President Obama has viewed the devastating film in the air-conditioned confines powered by coal-fired electricity strip-mined from the Appalachian mountains, he should have to turn and face West Virginia hero Maria Gunnoe, who warns the viewer: "Coal is mean, coal is cruel, coal kills... and every American has to find their position: You're connected to coal whether whether you realize it or not."
President Obama is connected to mountaintop removal, one of the most egregious human rights and environmental violations in our lifetime -- as are many Americans across the country.
And nearly 34 years after President Jimmy Carter begrudgingly signed a watered-down federal law that sanctioned the failed regulatory policies for this reckless strip-mining, President Obama needs to take a position and abolish all mountaintop removal operations once and for all.
An epic portrait of one community's long-time battle to take on Massey Energy lawlessness and their Big Coal sycophants in the Coal River Valley of West Virginia, The Last Mountain just might be one of the most timely and game-changing films in years. Beautifully filmed, at once provocative and disquieting, The Last Mountain wonderfully captures the inspiring resistance and indefatigable campaigns of coal mining families -- and their outside supporters -- to stand up and defend their land and lives.
As a powerful and breathtaking addition to the treasury of film documentaries on mountaintop removal -- the heartbreaking Before the Mountain Was Moved appeared in 1969, and recent portraits include On Coal River, Deep Down, Low Coal and Coal Country, among many others -- The Last Mountain forces viewers to come to grips with an enduring crime.
In truth, mountaintop removal provides less than 5-8 percent of national coal production -- it is not only unnecessary, but lethal. A process of literally blowing up mountains and nearby historic settlements with ammonium nitrate fuel oil explosives to reach the coal, mountaintop removal has led to the largest forced relocation of American citizens since the 19th century, gutted traditional underground and union coal mining jobs, and placed a stranglehold on any attempts at economic diversification, leaving the central Appalachian coalfields in ruin.
The widely documented irreversible and pervasive destruction of federally-protected waterways from mountaintop removal dumping takes place in West Virginia -- and Kentucky, eastern Tennessee and southwest Virginia. Other forms of strip-mining have ravaged millions of acres of forests, farms and historic communities in 20 other states.
Directed by Bill Haney, and guided by the star power of environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,The Last Mountain expertly walks the viewer through the Coal River nightmare for residents living beneath a fallout blasting zone of fly rock, toxic silica and coal dust, the impact of erosion and flooding, and the deadly contamination of coal slurry on local water supplies.
In a brilliant juxtaposition, The Last Mountain shifts the viewers from the horror of strip-mining to explore the Coal River Wind campaign proposed by the local residents for a large-scale industrial wind farm that would have provided more jobs and tax revenues -- and a chance for a just transition to clean energy production.
"They're bound and determined to knock the mountain down," legendary Coal River activist Bo Webb says, "and we're bound and determined to stop them."
At the end of this unforgettable film, the question lingers: Will the viewer -- and President Obama -- join Webb, Gunnoe and the legion of others in the coalfields across the United States, or will they simply turn their backs on this subversion of democracy and continue the great denial of coal's staggering human and environmental costs?
Here's the trailer:
Jeff Biggers
Jeff Biggers is the author of In Sardinia: An Unexpected Journey in Italy, and other works of history.
While The Last Mountain film expose on mountaintop removal mining opened in theaters across the country on Friday, its most important screening should take place at the White House Family Theater.
And when the lights turn on after President Obama has viewed the devastating film in the air-conditioned confines powered by coal-fired electricity strip-mined from the Appalachian mountains, he should have to turn and face West Virginia hero Maria Gunnoe, who warns the viewer: "Coal is mean, coal is cruel, coal kills... and every American has to find their position: You're connected to coal whether whether you realize it or not."
President Obama is connected to mountaintop removal, one of the most egregious human rights and environmental violations in our lifetime -- as are many Americans across the country.
And nearly 34 years after President Jimmy Carter begrudgingly signed a watered-down federal law that sanctioned the failed regulatory policies for this reckless strip-mining, President Obama needs to take a position and abolish all mountaintop removal operations once and for all.
An epic portrait of one community's long-time battle to take on Massey Energy lawlessness and their Big Coal sycophants in the Coal River Valley of West Virginia, The Last Mountain just might be one of the most timely and game-changing films in years. Beautifully filmed, at once provocative and disquieting, The Last Mountain wonderfully captures the inspiring resistance and indefatigable campaigns of coal mining families -- and their outside supporters -- to stand up and defend their land and lives.
As a powerful and breathtaking addition to the treasury of film documentaries on mountaintop removal -- the heartbreaking Before the Mountain Was Moved appeared in 1969, and recent portraits include On Coal River, Deep Down, Low Coal and Coal Country, among many others -- The Last Mountain forces viewers to come to grips with an enduring crime.
In truth, mountaintop removal provides less than 5-8 percent of national coal production -- it is not only unnecessary, but lethal. A process of literally blowing up mountains and nearby historic settlements with ammonium nitrate fuel oil explosives to reach the coal, mountaintop removal has led to the largest forced relocation of American citizens since the 19th century, gutted traditional underground and union coal mining jobs, and placed a stranglehold on any attempts at economic diversification, leaving the central Appalachian coalfields in ruin.
The widely documented irreversible and pervasive destruction of federally-protected waterways from mountaintop removal dumping takes place in West Virginia -- and Kentucky, eastern Tennessee and southwest Virginia. Other forms of strip-mining have ravaged millions of acres of forests, farms and historic communities in 20 other states.
Directed by Bill Haney, and guided by the star power of environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,The Last Mountain expertly walks the viewer through the Coal River nightmare for residents living beneath a fallout blasting zone of fly rock, toxic silica and coal dust, the impact of erosion and flooding, and the deadly contamination of coal slurry on local water supplies.
In a brilliant juxtaposition, The Last Mountain shifts the viewers from the horror of strip-mining to explore the Coal River Wind campaign proposed by the local residents for a large-scale industrial wind farm that would have provided more jobs and tax revenues -- and a chance for a just transition to clean energy production.
"They're bound and determined to knock the mountain down," legendary Coal River activist Bo Webb says, "and we're bound and determined to stop them."
At the end of this unforgettable film, the question lingers: Will the viewer -- and President Obama -- join Webb, Gunnoe and the legion of others in the coalfields across the United States, or will they simply turn their backs on this subversion of democracy and continue the great denial of coal's staggering human and environmental costs?
Here's the trailer:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy