Monday, May 5, 2008
Editor:
A big thanks to the West Virginia Young Democrats
for having the courage to bring about positive change in this state by
signing a resolution against mountaintop removal.
They seem to be the only ones looking out for the
children of this state and country.
We Mountaineers must stand together to bring diversity
to our state. Our children deserve a West Virginia with mountaintops and
clean streams.
We told our children to clean up their rooms, but look
at the mess we are leaving them to clean up; shame on us. We're using
their life necessities to pay for our luxuries. Our children deserve
clean air, water and energy. The millionaires of tomorrow will be those
who invest in renewable energy today. We can have a good lifestyle by
starting the transition now.
Thanks to the Young Democrats, we are headed in the
right direction. The youth of America has always been in the lead of
every positive change movement in American history and it is still true
today.
I salute and support this generation of change, the
Green Generation. You rock.
Mary Miller
Sylvester
Huffman promises DEP will be
vigilant when it comes to coal mining regulations. "There's a demand
to get the coal out of the ground, but our job is to make sure the
environment is protected in the process. We don't want to sacrifice
anything in the long-term for short-term gain and short-term
profits," he said. (Well let’s hold his feet to the
fire on this one!)
Friday, May 2, 2008
"You
disturb the ground. There's no question about that, but then we take it
back to what we believe is at least an equal or better state than it was
before," said Charles Kite, vice president of National Coal
Corp. (Good
Grief!)
Most Americans probably have heard
the estimate that the United States has enough coal to meet our energy
needs for another 250 years. But
the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of
Sciences, cannot confirm that.
Soaring energy prices this year will
push a typical Progress Energy household's monthly power bill past the
$100 mark for the first time.
One big culprit for the higher rates: coal.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Coal is booming as world oil prices
soar. Out-of-state corporations that use West Virginia like a colony are
reaping giant profits and boosting production. Massey Energy plans to
open a new Appalachian underground mine every 17 days this year in an
attempt to increase output 25 percent by 2010.
Stop
Feeding the Coal Industry’s Coffers!
The National Coal Corp. threatened
to shut down in Tennessee if mountaintop mining were banned. So to save
234 jobs, the sum total of the company’s workforce, lawmakers decided to
sacrifice the natural beauty that underpins a gazillion-dollar tourism
industry.
The price of coal is skyrocketing, and that means
mining companies are flocking to Tennessee.
One of the most controversial types of mining involves
strip mining. NewsChannel 5 investigative reporter Ben Hall has
discovered where it's happening in Tennessee and why a wildlife area that
taxpayers paid $40 million to protect is in danger.
(Patchwork Films is
happy to have provided footage for this story!)
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Speaking
of Contaminated Well Water Video: Changing Water Filter in
Prenter, W.Va.
Friday, April 25, 2008
The Bush administration and the coal
industry will have to wait another four months to argue their appeal of
the latest federal court ruling to curb mountaintop removal coal mining.
Massey Energy Co. will face a West
Virginia Supreme Court that includes a justice it wanted off the case
when it appeals a $240 million judgment.
A very slow permitting process is
hindering the growth of West Virginia’s coal mining industry, said
international coal executives gathered in Wheeling this week.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Consol subsidiary Fola Coal Co.
already has removed one intermittent stream covered by a new valley fill
permit for its Ike Fork No. 1 and Ike Fork No. 2 mines in Nicholas and
Clay counties.
Massey, meanwhile, has partially filled two streams at
its Twilight surface mine in Raleigh County, according to testimony from
Phil Marsh, president of Massey subsidiary Progress Coal Co.
Tyler Morgan struck its settlement with OVEC before
the hearing and agreed to use just one valley fill at its Fourmile 2 and
3 mines in Kanawha County
Coal
Operators Agree to Limit Valley Fills
Book
and Interviews Open Dialogue About Strip Mining
Health
Needs Suffer When People Seen Only as Workers, W. Va. Bishop says
Marshall
University Sierra Students Celebrate Earth Day
As part of the Earth Day celebration, students
could also speak with Rod Harless, a democratic candidate for the state
senate for Kanawha County. A
focus of Harless' platform is prohibiting mountaintop removal because of
its destruction of water supplies and forests, Harless said.
WVU
– Earth Day Panel Discusses Daily Environmental Improvements
McCain
Visits “War on Poverty” Kentucky Coal Town
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 EARTH DAY!
The West Virginia
Young Democrats have called for an end to new mountaintop removal mining
permits, adding to a debate that pits factions of the Democratic
coalition against each other in the country's second-largest
coal-producing state.
Be It Resolved by the West Virginia
Young Democrats
That the WVYD supports enforcement of
set regulations around safety and environmental laws with respect to
mountaintop removal and if necessary implement new legislation around
concerns
That the WVYD opposes a high
concentration of mountaintop removal sites in a geographic area
That the WVYD supports a moratorium on
new permits until further study can be done on the effects of mountaintop
removal while active sites which comply with current regulations remain
active
That the WVYD supports further
investigation into the long term ramifications of continued coal mining
on the health of communities surrounding mining
That the WVYD moves that the
reapportionment or increase of the coal severance tax should be reviewed
in order to provide additional investment in renewable energy
That the WVYD supports alternative
methods of mining coal
That all Democratic legislators on all
levels of government publicly, vigorously, and quickly act to protect
safety standards in deep mines and bring good paying green jobs through
reclamation, renewable energy, sustainable industries, and other areas of
the economy to all areas of WV
As
part of the University of Vermont's Focus the Nation events that took place
recently, I attended the talk by keynote speaker Judy Bonds and learned
about one of the most disturbing practices happening today.
State Environmental
Laws Drive Power Producers to Renewable Resources
Monday, April 21, 2008
In W. Va. Mining companies Sheer Off
Peaks and Transform Landscape in Search of Coal
Opinion: Janice Nease, Judy Bonds and Vernon Haltom
Friday, April 18, 2008
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
must stop stonewalling environmental group requests for information about
new mountaintop-removal mining permits, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Corps
Accused of Violating Permit Ruling
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Coalfields
Turn Into Battlefields
Friday, April 11, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The good folks of Ansted, WV, along
the beautiful New River Gorge, have been fighting increased mining in
their communities for a long time, but the battle just recently
intensified. It seems that the coal barons in West Virginia are
tired of hearing that tourism is West Virginia's future and have set
their sights on levelling one of the few regions of the state that is able
to support itself without Big Coal's teats--the New and Gauley River
Valleys--home to the finest white water rafting in the United States.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
WEST Virginia Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin was
elected in 2004 because Massey Energy's CEO spent an astounding $3.5
million to defeat Benjamin's Democratic opponent. On Thursday, Benjamin cast the deciding vote to
hand a $77 million lawsuit victory to Massey, in a 3-2 ruling.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Sierra
Club Film Festival – Solutions for a Warming Planet
Films include “Rise Up! West Virginia” and “Mountain
Mourning”
ANSTED, W.VA. — Early Saturday
(April 5) morning, dozens of mountaintop removal opponents converged on Gauley
Mountain for Blessing of the Mountain II, intending to pray near a
mountaintop removal operation above the Fayette County community of
Ansted. But, a similar number of employees of CONSOL coal company were
already there, blocking access to the prayer site.
If Obama means he wants Appalachia
to be a vast and trackless wasteland incapable of supporting human life,
just like Saudi Arabia, we’re well on the way thanks to mountaintop
removal and don’t need any more “help.”
Friday, April 4, 2008
Coal Boss: If
You Take Photos ‘You’re Liable to Get Shot’
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Chronic Ailments More Likely Near Big Coal
Mines: Study
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Energy Companies Plug Coal’s “Clean” Benefits
with $40 Million Ad Campaign
"They are trying to mislead the public,"
said Bruce Nilles, who directs the Sierra Club's national anti-coal
campaign. "They run around saying 'clean,' like they have created
some new version of coal."
Monday, March 31, 2008
W. Va. Gov. Manchin Plans No Investigation of
Coal, Health
Thursday, March 27, 2008
West Virginians who live in the state's coalfield counties are more
likely than other residents to suffer from chronic heart, lung and kidney
disease, WVU researcher Michael Hendryx reports in one of a series of new
scientific papers.
Rod Harless, who is challenging 17th District Sen. Dan
Foster, D-Kanawha, in the May primary, said his issues are banning
mountaintop removal mining, enacting election law reform, and opposing
tort reform. He said the Chamber of Commerce is "trying to
extinguish the right to sue."
Asked why he opted to run against Foster, regarded as
one of the more progressive members of the Senate, Harless said, "I
advocate prohibition of mountaintop removal mining, and he does
not."
Suit Aims to Block Western Greenbrier
Co-Generation Plant
|
