Obama “Indentured Servant to Coal”
By Eastan McNeal on April 26, 2009 at 9:15 AM in Current Affairs, Environment, Obama
If a foreign enemy had done to this country what this industry has done to West Virginia, it would be regarded as an act of war.” – Robert Kennedy, Jr.
“If the American people could see what I have seen from the air and ground during my many trips to the coalfields of Kentucky and West Virginia: leveled mountains, devastated communities, wrecked economies and ruined lives, there would be a revolution in this country,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said after a recent tour of West
Virginia while filming his documentary, Crimes Against Nature. Kennedy described the environmental devastation as the worst he’d seen anywhere.
Mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR) is a radical form of strip mining used in the Appalachian regions of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Every day, coal companies detonate 2,500 tons of explosives to literally blow off the tops of mountains in order to reach thin seams of coal beneath the earth. These explosions are equal to the power of a Hiroshima bomb dropping every week, annihilating some of
the most biologically diverse temperate hardwood forest habitat in the world, and destroying and displacing entire human communities.
People who stay in their homes and communities confront numerous problems including contaminated drinking water, damage to homes from blasting, flooding, coal waste impoundment leaks, the threat of coal sludge impoundment failures, and respiratory and other health problems related to mining activities. According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) 1,200 miles of Appalachian rivers and streams have already been buried, and 470 of Appalachia’s mountains have been permanently destroyed. The EPA also estimates that without a significant policy shift, mountaintop removal and other surface mining will destroy nearly 1.5 million acres in the Central Appalachian region by the end of the decade, an area larger than the state of Delaware.
Source: Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition
Robert F. Kennedy: The coal industry and the carbon industry in general are the largest contributors to the political process. So, you know, you have politicians who have essentially become indentured servants to these, and adopt the talking points of these industries.
In his interview with ABC News, conducted last week, Kennedy said, “you have very sensible politicians, including great men like Barack Obama who feel the need to parrot the talking points of this industry that is so destructive to our country.”
The opening Kennedy quote at the top of this article was captured by Filmmaker BJ Gudmundsson who travels into the coalfields and documents the devastation caused by mountaintop removal. She travels around the country presenting her completed works to anyone who will listen. On Thursday Night, 4/23/09 she gave a presentation at the Princeton (WV) Public Library. By coincidence, the coal association had a meeting in the same town, with major politicians invited. A local NBC TV station found the irony of the dichotomy irresistible. They sent a crew to BJ’s show and a crew to the Coal meeting. At 11:00pm they opened their newscast with the “show.”
Momentum is growing across West Virginia to stop mountain top removal mining.
Filmmaker B.J. Gundmundsson says she’s lived in West Virginia her entire life.
However, the day she first saw a mountaintop removal site, she was shaken to the core.
She made it her personal mission to take the public on a journey with her, through the mountains to expose the ugliness she describes as mountaintop removal.
“What had flabergasted me was that not all of West Virginia was not rising up in revolt against this.” Gundmundsson says. “I realized that people weren’t rising up because they can’t see it. You can’t get to it. You can’t just drive up to these places.”
Gudmundsson takes you on that journey in her film, Rise Up West Virginia.
She is now sharing her message and her film with other West Virginians and people around the country.
We’re not only loosing our freedom, we’re loosing our state! We’re being annihilated here! We’ve got the best politicians money can buy. – CNN Hero, Mountainkeeper, Larry Gibson.
King Coal had to respond. They probably did not like the treatment their side of the story received. While they are talking about how great coal is the news producer laced images of blown up mountains into the story.
Anyway. Back to the Ross interview with Kennedy. This will tie together.
ROSS: So when you watched last fall with all the candidates, including President Obama talking about clean coal, what were you thinking when you watched all that?
KENNEDY: Oh, not only was I dismayed to see that, but also, if you looked at the presidential debates, the networks were allowing the coal industry to sponsor the debates. So that every single one of the presidential debates was sponsored by clean coal. So it’s not just that it’s corrupted the political process, but it’s corrupted essentially the American media as well.
Wealthy Politicians
ROSS: Have you seen the commercials they’re running now with President Obama, “Yes, we can” talking about clean coal? What’s your reaction to that?
KENNEDY: Well, again, I think it’s sad when political leaders feel that they are so indebted to these industries that they, and so fearful of them, essentially, that they have to endorse conditions that clearly are wrong.
ROSS: And you say that about President Obama?
KENNEDY: Yeah. Anybody who looks at this understands that the term “clean coal” is a dirty lie. That coal is neither cheap nor clean. It’s devastating to our country, it’s bad for our economy, it’s devastating towards our communities, and we have wonderful alternatives in this country if we’d only invest in them.
Final update on Princeton, WV. Before the filmmaker got out of town she heard, first hand, how political and angry this debate is. Princeton is raising money to build a new community library. During the film presentation the library director got a phone call from the Mayor. It seems a local coal baron was directing a matching fund to help build the library. He called the mayor and told him because the library was showing “that” movie, he was withdrawing the 50% match.
If you are following indentured servants, then where are you going?
ROSS: And do you think President Obama should reverse his course on this?
KENNEDY: Absolutely. There’s no such thing as clean coal, we’re destroying the Appalachians. And I guarantee you if we could get President Obama to fly over the Cumberland, to fly over the Appalachian mountains and see the destruction that’s occurring there, he would.
Note: Kennedy tried, after the ABC interview to back off the indentured servant comment. ABC then released the transcript of the entire interview. You can judge for yourself. Kennedy’s Backspace. and the full transcript.
I like Bobby Kennedy. He did not endorse Obama in the primary and he has been working to help stop the destruction of our beautiful mountains.
KENNEDY: My loyalties are to my country and not to any particular politician. And you know, I’ve been non-partisan. I’ve been 25 years as an environmental advocate, I’ve been non-partisan and bi-partisan. I don’t believe in partisanship. If somebody does something wrong, I’m going to say it whether they’re Democrat or Republican.
Many environmentalists believe that Obama broke his promise to halt mountaintop removal. That is not quite fair to him. He did not say he would end the practice. I heard his comments to the groups. He said it was wrong and that he would study it. And some hopey followers think that his presence in office is what prompted the EPA to start doing their job. That is not quite fair to the EPA. I talked to regulators last year. They were convinced that, no matter who won the election, they would be un-tethered. They are reviewing certain mining permits. The Army Corps of Engineers, who issued those permits, are fighting on behalf of the coal industry. This is not over yet.
Obama is still promoting Coal-to-Liquid technology. Basically you toss coal in a hopper and then burn some more coal in a furnace to produce the heat that turns to coal in the hopper to a type of liquid fuel. This fuel will burn cleaner than coal, true. But two times the coal is needed for this process. The first batch is burned just like it is at a power plant and it means twice as many mountains will forever be gone. U.S. News (not your average anti-business rag) is not convinced either.
So, do not buy into this clean coal crap. It is like thinking that you can wipe the poop off of a turd. Go ahead. Try it. The video below is just 30 seconds, no poop and it is a hoot.
Film clips courtesy of Patchwork Films.
on sale for only $16.95.
also comes with a special spatula.)
(List Price: $27.95 - Your Price: $15.47)
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By Sarah Palin (Release date: November 17. 2009)
So let me get this straight - No new oil refineries, no shale, no drilling … But we have Coal. Curious.
Personally, nuclear is the way to go for power generation. The whole cosmos is nuclear so why are we stuck on carbon?
i agree it.s the way to go
The other thing West Virginia has massive amounts of is natural gas. There is enough natural gas in those mountains to run the entire country for a century or two, cars and electricity included. I lived in WV for 15 years, and I did a lot of research on natural gas. I had neighbors who used it to heat their homes and chicken houses right out of the ground. The gas line ran straight from the gas well to the house to the chicken house. Any appliance that runs on gas can be used with unrefined gas simply by using a slightly different valve at the point of use. If you add in the gas in KY and Tenn. we have almost unlimited energy already easily available. Someone should mention this to the people whining about how we need coal. We don’t, we can make do with the gas in the mountains that burns a lot cleaner than coal. Gas is a green fuel, coal isn’t. I vote for gas over coal. How about you all?
There is a problem brewing with natural gas extraction. The modern method for getting the most gas out of the shale is to pump water – lots of water into the well and force the gas out. The water that exits is so toxic that giant sludge ponds, bigger than a football field are located beside the wells. The water that does not exit enters the eco system. So if the drinking water wells don’t go dry from the taking of the water they become unusable for over a century by the toxins, including naturally occurring radioactive material from the one mile depth, released during the process. And, still nobody has figured out what to do with the sludge ponds when the gas runs out. My preference is that people who want this energy should dig and drill in their own towns. The Marcellus Shale Formation runs from NY to TN. The biggest concentration is under the city of Pittsburgh. So why not drill there?
In the area where I lived they usually just got gas wells by accident when drilling for water wells. No extraction needed. It’s there, just poke a hole down and suck it out. What you are talking about is extraction, not simply using existing wells. There are capped wells all over WV, and I am sure the people who own them would be delighted to make some money selling the gas to others.
As usual it is a case of Obama talking out of both sides of his mouth–One side to the Left–the Other side to the Right. Nothing for the center.
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=38638
Obama promised to bankrupt the coal industry, or leastwise coal fired power plants.
Yes, he did. But then he went to a meeting with some businessmen in Northern WV and promised to support “the Saudi Arabia of coal,” WV. I find he is difficult to trust.
I find him (Obama) impossible to trust. But then I don’t like him to begin with. Difficult is probabely a better word. It’s a no win for any of us. The coal industry and the electric power industry will not take a loss in profit, they will pass it on to the consumers. This is 100 times worse than a tax increase, especialy for the poor and unemployed. They will pay for the icrease in cost of power whether they have a job or not. The coal industry will destroy the landscape, and natural habitat, and the invironment at will. Obama will get his tax(es), the coal and energy industry will get their profits and we will get the shaft. Polotics as usual. No Change and No Hope of Change.
It’s a bit more than that. I wouldn’t trust him with my garbage.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I live in the region; it’s a nightmare. Clean Coal? Ya think? Well, don’t drink the water, don’t live downstream from one of their “holding ponds” [TVA's recent coal ash disaster poisoned the Tennesee River!] and don’t bother going to see the beautiful treasure of the Appalachian Mountain region. America doesn’t deserve this.
No Quarter: Please Take the Blogger’s challenge and add these tools here to help spread the word to save our beautiful Appalachian Mountains and stop the devastation.
http://www.ilovemountains.org/bloggers-challenge/
mountainaires, thank you for posting an action to participate in.
Eastan McNeal, thank you for putting this blog post together, with all the videos. Some of those aerial views reminded me of footage I have seen of the terrible deforestation scars in Haiti. This whole coal issue is so complicated but there is no doubt that permanently destroying the mountainscape and exploiting the people of WV feels wrong and immoral. It’s sad.
I’d like to learn more about how many native West Virginians work in the coal industry and how there is a sort of a manipulated co-dependency.
Around 12,000 work in the industry. It was 120,000 when they used only underground mines. Heavy equipment replaced most of the workers. The “manipulated co-dependency” is often discussed. http://www.ohvec.org/ is a good starting point for ALL issues related to the subject.
Thank you, Eastan. I’ve been looking over the website and thinking about all this. I appreciate it.
I have a hard time believing especially that Sens Byrd and Rockefeller could not be re-elected at this point without whoring themselves to the industry. Although Rockefeller, to his credit, did try standing up to coal in the beginning — lost badly and has never looked back.
But for two of the most powerful Senators to continue vigorously acquiescing to a practice that is destroying the state, the people, the communities they live in, and that West Virginians reject in overwelming numbers makes absolutely zero sense.
I have some ideas about how to restore the mountains when we boot the coal companies out. The method is also good for energy-saving housing and farm buildings. It’s called “ferrocement”. It involves crimped wire and cement, basically. Check out these links..some are for architects who work with it, but in some of the pics you can see the method of construction.
This is one of my favorites..
http://www.arquitecturaorganica.com/inicio_i.html
Green Trust page re ferrocement
http://www.green-trust.org/2003/ferrocement/default.htm
There are two basic sites, one is .net and one is .com
http://www.ferrocement.com/
http://www.ferrocement.net/
There are wonderful ways to use this stuff..and it’s sustainable, very low maintenance, and cheap. Check out this site with concrete housing. Most of this can also be done with ferrocement.
http://www.geocities.com/flyingconcrete/
Scroll down to Tim Sullivan’s house, on the right column, for a great tour of a fascinating and beautiful home.
Enjoy the tours!! and do consider ferrocement for your next home. It will save you energy costs and maintenance.
I’ve lived in the TN Smokies, my family is now on the North Carolina side, and the Appalachians are absolutely an irreplaceable environmental treasure. But as heartbreaking as it may feel, The Magic of The Mountains is still worth seeing, believing in and fighting for.
Thank you for this post and I continuously thank RFK Jr on his work, but MAN, did he disappoint me in this election.
He did NOT put country before policies or party. See, I think if someone claims that, they should LIVE that.
Because HE KNOWS, he was not happy with Obama the politician. He knows Obama proposed policies SUCKED. NRDC spoke out against Obama’s proposed bill to use tax dollars to give to the energy companies to give us Liquid Coal, which is so polluting, it would have been like replacing every car with a Hummer.
Leave it to Weary Barry to try to give us something that is so polluted, just when we are making strides in the Climate and Environment fight, and something they’ve been trying to find a SUCKER to finance and allow since the 70’s.
And, hah, loved that debate with WEary Barry in the summer.
question”What steps have you taken in your personal life on Global Warming”
Wear Barry “well my campaign planted [aprox]1000 trees across the country.”
Questioner”No you, personally”
Weary Barry “Oh come one, I thought that was pretty good. Well, I’m thinking about changing some lightbulbs with my two daughters”.
….woooooa-hold me back Barry!
So, when RFK Jr decided to be political and just promote the EMPTY one during the campaign, because of his loyalty to party over country, that put a big x next to his name in my book.
When he chose not even if he couldn’t promote John McCain, who has a much stronger record on environmental issues, but to stay NEUTRAL, especially given how horrendous Weary Barry is and was on this subject, this has put a major damper on my participation, just like removing my name from Al Gore’s mailing list for his broken promises that “Climate Change” “doesn’t have a political party”. And he ‘will be neutral, wait to see which candidate proposes the best policies”. BUT HE DIDN’T DO THAT, EITHER. Instead, he chose PARTY and endorsed Weary Barry who had a far worse record on the environment, before the General Election even got under way, in the beginning of June after Hillary suspended her campaign.
I hope Weary Barry’s Obots are continuing your efforts, because mine have been severely curtailed.
Coal mining ravages Appalachia mountains
VIDEO: Mountain Top Mining
RICK EGLINTON/TORONTO STAR
An aerial view of mountaintop removal mining.
Video: Mountaintop removal mining They’re ripping the tops off mountains in West Virginia coal country to feed our insatiable appetite for power. It’s cheaper that way. And the trees and the animals and the flooding? It may not be pretty, but we’ve got all those dishwashers to run
Must read, but I warn you, it will break your heart, if you have one. It makes me cry, but then I love my mountains with all my heart.
http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/Environment/article/306165
blah, blah, blah; the leftists’ jihad against mining is just another one of their ignorant, misguided, popular fads. as they say in the mining business - if it can’t be grown, it has to be mined. anybody got another way to come up with the raw materials that make this world go around? they don’t just magically appear out of thin air, you know.
mining has come a long way in the last 50 years or so, in terms of mitigating it’s environmental impact, and this is where critics should focus their energy - not in some clueless knee-jerk bashing of all mining activities. i have a B.S. in mining engineering and have worked in the industry for a while, and i can tell you that modern environmental controls on mining in the US are very strict. they can’t just “dump waste in streams,” etc., and all the ground that they disturb (as shown in those pictures) will have to be revegetated and returned to something near its original state, as according to the mine’s reclamation plan, which they are all required to have.
it has also been my experience that the local people actually living in the vicinity of mines are their strongest supporters; mines provide good jobs and contribute a lot to the communities and countries they exist in. the biggest problems come from old, abandoned mines or situations where a company has gone bankrupt (and now that the SuperFund for clean up is gone, this is probably getting worse).
lastly, what difference does it make if (surface) mining is done by taking off the top of a mountain or just digging a hole in a flat piece of ground? underground mining does have less visual impact on the environment, but it is also more expensive, labor intensive, and dangerous.
You’re right. I’ve lived in East Tennessee for 14 of the last 21 years and love the Appalachians. I hate what this type of mining does but I do concur with the danger element. It is a conundrum. On the one hand I don’t want miners injured but on the other, this type of mining is ugly beyond belief. I have no answers.
Bullshit.
they’re supposed to have to restore a site to something with equal or higher value. MONETARY VALUE. LIKE A F#CKING FLAT PARKING LOT OR A WALMART THAT GENERATES TAX REVENUE but is NOTHING LIKE A MOUNTAIN. And they don’t remediate in any meaningful way like you suggest either. Not 5% of the MTR mines have been remediated. They’re freaking moonscapes.
As for people who live nearest being the strongest supporters: that was certainly true previous, but less so today, as tourism can generate more revenue for individuals than mining and is certainly safer than either underground or mountain top removal mining. MTR has cut the number of mining jobs by more than half because it is so mechanized. Not to mention, a lot of people really don’t want to live next to a f$cking moonscape.
So they can’t dump waste in streams? On his way out the door Bush removed regulations prohibiting dumping directly into streams, and even previously the regulations only limited dumping within 100 yards of a stream: not exactly a large buffer.
http://earthfirst.com/a-round-up-of-bush%E2%80%99s-midnight-regulations-on-the-environment/
WV has, temporarily anyway, successfully beaten these new regs: not so for all the other states whose companies practice MTR.
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/090331b.asp
This doesn’t mean the mining companies are done with litigation. They want the same half-assed kind of mitigation set up as wetland draining gets now: you know the one with no federal standard as to what constitutes mitigation? Even now, the only restrictions are on water quality, and sometimes contamination of people’s land with hazardous materials but no penalty for destruction of environment.
“lastly, what difference does it make if (surface) mining is done by taking off the top of a mountain or just digging a hole in a flat piece of ground? underground mining does have less visual impact on the environment, but it is also more expensive, labor intensive, and dangerous.”
The difference is that when they blow the top off of a mountain they blow everything on the mountain up with it. You know, trees, animals, streams? They don’t magically reappear out of the freaking ether when the blasting’s done. Even in the paltry instances where “remediation” is performed the reultant soil acidification and destruction to the earth does not facilitate growing anything like the previous species that inhabited the site. Instead of even attempting to actually mitigate some of their incredible destruction, they plant F#CKING LIRIOPE, an invasive foreign grass, and other trash that doesn’t belong there and won’t support the native ecosystem. The difference in impact is a hell of a lot more than just “visual”.
My mother is from Logan WV: I have seen the results of first strip mining and now MTR all my life. No one in their right mind would advocate for it.
Just a few more links [apologies in advance if these are already in your post, I missed them]
From MSNBC First Read, Sept, 2007:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/newenergy
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/29/1463840.aspx
An older article, but a nice graph:
Clean Coal: The Myth Ends Today
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/667/
RFK Jr. Slams Obama on Clean Coal
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/04/22/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4961750.shtml
http://www.cleancoalusa.org/
Sourcewatch on “CleanCoalUSA”–Who they are, their agenda:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Coalition_for_Clean_Coal_Electricity
In the primaries BHO said re-MTR: “We have to find more environmentally sound ways of mining coal, than simply blowing the tops off mountains.” He made numerous statements that he did not support MTR. He did imply that he would stop MTR. No that is not a promise, though his promises do not seem to trouble him overmuch either; but if he thinks it’s wrong, wtf has he not moved to end it?
An account from his own website: http://www.barackobama.com/2007/08/27/obama_fires_up_crowd_in_lexing.php
“He said the country also needs a forward-thinking energy policy, and he alluded to his disapproval of the coal mining process of mountaintop removal.
“We’re tearing up the Appalachian Mountains because of our dependence on fossil fuels,” he said, sparking loud applause.”
The permitting process for MTR is under review and at present they may not issue new permits, but presently there is a flood of new permit applications and the existing permits will last another 5 years.
If BHO outlaws MTR tomorrow, it is not going to end until the 5 years minimum, and probably a lot longer. How long do you think those new permits will be for, if they are approved?
Less than 5% of all sites have been remediated, and remediated does not mean restored. HOW CAN YOU PUT BACK A MOUNTAIN??
MEANWHILE OVER 400 MOUNTAINS ARE ALREADY GONE.
One of the mountains being obliterated is Blair Mountain, Logan County, the site of the battle where our beloved government (Pres. Harding) brought in the army to drop bombs from planes on civilians who were attempting to unionize (and subsequently brought in federal troops as well). Blair Mountain is supposedly on the list of protected places in accordance with the National Register of Historic Places.
I love mountains is a great site, also, http://www.appvoices.org/
http://www.crmw.net/
http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/wordpress/category/front-page/
I hear you mountainaires: I am half West Virginia mountains and 1/2 North Carolina mountains. My ancestors have lived in these mountains since the early 1700s.
Poet Wendell Berry (a lead spokesperson against MTR in Kentucky) at I Love Mountains Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AwIvz9AWyU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGoOOPMBseM
Thank you Easton - Excellent Post.
In our overwhelming concern for the financial meltdown, the environment is seemingly being put on a back burner by many politicians and citizens. And those that can are using the opportunity to further compromise environmental advancements.
This is a huge disappointment. We could have so used the stimulus and other investments as opportunity to correct so many environmental wrongs and create a firm base for a strong, health, economy and country. There is so much opportunity but as long as intrenched interests remain in control and use their power to protect their own selfish interests, we will continue to slide backwards.
Liquid fuel from coal is not new. Kerosene is made from coal and/or petroleum (crude oi). Another name for kerosene is coal oil. We burned it in lamps and stoves and furnaces when I was a kid. Kerosene is also used for jet fuel–labeled as JP1-2-3-and so on. How clean does jet fuel burn? Not very clean. But it burns cleaner than diesel. Gasoline is the cleanest burning of those three fuels. On quart kerosene lamps can put out as much pollution (soot)as a tank of good grade gasoline. Diesel is even dirtier. So what do the coal and electric industry think they are trying to sell us by converting to liquifide coal? It may be a little cleaner than hard or soft coal but it is still dirty as h–*. And we will pay more for the cost of electricity if and when they begin to use it. BS!
Liquid fuel from coal is not new. Kerosene is made from coal and/or petroleum (crude oi). Another name for kerosene is coal oil. We burned it in lamps and stoves and furnaces when I was a kid. Kerosene is also used for jet fuel–labeled as JP1-2-3-and so on. How clean does jet fuel burn? Not very clean. But it burns cleaner than diesel. Gasoline is the cleanest burning of those three fuels. One quart kerosene lamps can put out as much pollution (soot)as a tank of good grade gasoline. Diesel is even dirtier. So what do the coal and electric industry think they are trying to sell us by converting to liquifide coal? It may be a little cleaner than hard or soft coal but it is still dirty as h–*. And we will pay more for the cost of electricity if and when they begin to use it. BS!
Brava to Filmmaker BJ Gudmundsson. For taking on such an important mission. May her video’s save mountains and lives.
Thank you. I will pass that on to her. Capturing this footage is not a walk in the park. Coal executives convince their employees that these tree-huggers are costing them their jobs. These heavy equipment operators (they are not real miners) follow film crews, tail gate them and harass them. Last year a priest took his congregation to the top of a mountain to bless it, just as one would a body before it is laid to rest in a grave. The thugs showed up and interrupted the service by hurling curse-laden insults to the mothers and children there. I have witnessed a stubborn, quiet courage in these people who just want to save their home.
There has been controversy over Duke Energy building Cliffside, a new coal-burning facility west of Charlotte. When completed, the Cliffside plant will release an estimated 6 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually.
Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy, appears on “60 Minutes” tonight. Here’s a link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4964182n
Obama doesn’t care about the destruction of the countryside because this is not his country!
I’m from central PA where they have been strip mining since I was a little girl. I guess the differince in that area from West Virginia is that it isn’t so mountainous. But they do the same thing, blast for the coal and dig it out from the top of the land. They are required to restore the land and not leave huge “stripping holes” like they did when I was a kid. However, the landscape is permanatly altered. My home farm was stripped in the seventies because it had been in my grandfather’s will. The land was so altered that I was never able to show my children my 350 acres of my childhood “playground”. It broke my heart. The land is nice but it doesn’t in the least resemble what is was originally like.
So, do we want energy independence or not? I will put my money on Obama doing as Easton wants. Cap N’ Trade will kill the coal industry indirectly. (Remember what Obama said on tape when he was a state senator)?
But, it will also assure that we do not achieve energy independence as far as the eye can see. Some of you may not care about that now with gas under $2.00 a gallon. But when it goes north on $3.00 a gallon it may be another story.
Cap and Trade is actually a license to emit more pollution, and I oppose the concept.
Under today’s rules your company will be fined and/or shut down if you emit too much pollution into the environment. Under the TRADE part of Cap and Trade you can buy from another company the right to exhaust or dump more toxic material into the air. As long as you can afford it, and as long as your customers will keep paying for it, you can buy as much pollution as you want. Under Cap and Trade there are possibly no limits to what you can spew into the atmosphere. The system is designed around a socialistic formula that calculates how much or how little pollution all the industries in the U.S.A., combined, should be allowed to emit.
Capitalism requires the internalizing of externalities. That means, if you pollute the commons - in the case of strip mining coal, for example, destroying water tables and forests, thereby killing wildlife and forcing the re-location of human populations - you pay to clean it up. It is the cost of doing business, under real capitalism. Polluting the commons, with the acquiescence of bribed politicians is not capitalism; it is public corruption and could be prosecuted under existing laws.
These are not just any mountains. Appalachia is the largest eco system in the world. I watched PBS’s 3 part series on the beauty of appalachia with Sissy specek narrating..It’s eye candy..
But now to see the wreckage is shocking and sad.
GE is heavily committed to nuclear energy. With Obama’s ties to GE, I just can’t help but think that when all the dust clears on the energy issue, our government will be pushing nuclear energy as the way to go. Obama’s debt to GE is a huge one.
I can only add a bit to this wonderfully presented
thread on the history of the energy tycoons who have
been raping the Appalachians for generations. MTR
is only the latest edition of an unfolding true
American tragedy.
PBS–the series on Appalachia, its mountain
treasures, its strong, self-reliant people, its
continuing exploitation by greedy profiteers who
have reduced great swaths of once-verdant land to unearthly moonscapes. And driven local economies
and communities into ruin.
In the late 19th century, huge trees were cut with no thought to reforestration or the result of denuding enormous old-growth forests. Catastrophic flooding on rivers in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia were the logical aftermath.
Once the discovery of vast coal reserves under the mountains was made public, the race was on to harvest that resource. Local farmers were induced to sell mineral rights on property in the hopes they could at least save humble homes from the oncoming coal industry jugernaut. Many found that promise
was an illusion.
Railroads had been built throughout fragile mountain environments to haul out trees and coal during the height of the robber barons’ reign. Where clear-cut forests were left to rot, entire ecosystems changed dramatically. Both animals and humans were left bereft of a natural ability to sustain life.
The once viable social systems built around farming and bartoring were laid to waste, in the same way the mountains are being destroyed. Parts of Appalachia may never recover from this final onslaught. Not in our lifetime.
We must find alternative sources of energy rather
than relying on finite fossil fuels. What is there
about that fact we fail to understand?
How bizarre to grow up looking at a certain mountain skyline…and now it is gone!
There is a certain mountain that I have grown up admiring and simply can’t imagine it being destroyed for profit. Sad that these communities had to see it.
Obama…eh…he will land on the side of big business. No mystery there.
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_55639.shtml
300 Organizations Collectively Say “No To Open-Pit Mining”
…“These companies come here to destroy our mountain, our water supply, our food security and our right to protest. They put us under surveillance, hire civilians to intimidate us and now they want to try and indoctrinate our children,” she says. “We won’t let them, we have been fighting them for three years now and we will continue to fight them until they are all gone.”…
“The neoliberal model pursued in particular by President Menem and which continues to a large extent today is one which values business interests and profit over the environment and the well-being of the population,” says Ramon Gomez of the Citizen’s Assembly of San Juan. “This model was imposed on us–there was no consultation whatsoever despite the fact that the arrival of multinational companies and the plundering of our natural resources, has a massive impact on our lives. It would have been suicide for us not to react–we had to come out and defend our lives and the environment. And so we began to organize and to present alternatives.”