March 9, 200916 yr Dan, how is it bad for the economy? 1. We were heavily investing in carbon burial research for the decade beginning with George Bush, but all funding was curtailed towards 2007 and 2008. Obama has allocated billions towards research once again in the stimulus bill. 2. Carbon burials require costly machinery and equipment that need manufacturing. In the stimulus bill, all equipment funded through the bill must be manufactured in the United States. 3. Less coal plant pollution is less mercury in the waterways, less CO2, less ozone in the air. Less coal is used, and fewer mountains are lopped. Not everything is determental to the economy. If we are worried about keeping scant jobs in a coal power plant (an average plant employees less than 30) than creating sustainable, green jobs, then we have our priorities steering in the wrong direction.
March 9, 200916 yr So you think this will result in cheaper power? That's how it will be bad for the economy. All it will do is increase energy costs.
March 11, 200916 yr U.S. Capitol Power Plant cleanup is a struggle AP, March 2, 2009 WASHINGTON - As Congress tries to clean up the nation's energy sources and cut gases blamed for global warming, it is struggling to do so in its own backyard. On the Net: Architect of the Capitol: http://www.aoc.gov/cc/ Leaders' letter: http://tinyurl.com/caeojd Chesapeake Climate Action Network: http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/
March 11, 200916 yr Two new article posted today. Blankenship case takes spotlight at U.S. Supreme Court this week By Lawrence Messina, AP, March 1, 2009 CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A coal executive's bankrolling of a West Virginia justice's election comes under intense scrutiny this week as the nation's highest court considers when judges should step aside from cases involving campaign supporters.
March 11, 200916 yr Yes! Another infringement on our rights. With ELF being labeled as a 'terrorist' organization, and the Shaq5 being labeled as co-conspirators to terrorists, it's good to know our court systems are intact and healthy. More articles posted above from today. Raleigh judge extends ban on protests at Massey sites By Ken Ward Jr., Charleston Gazette, March 10, 2009 BECKLEY, W.Va. - A Raleigh County judge on Monday extended for two weeks his order demanding that environmental activists stop their protests at Massey Energy mountaintop removal sites in the Coal River valley.
March 11, 200916 yr Nothing new. If anyone has ventured up to Kayford Mountain and noted the destruction of historic cemeteries for MTR... As W.Va. coal companies expand, graves go missing By Brian Farkas, Herald-Dispatch, March 10, 2009 CHARLESTON — Walter Young can’t find his great-grandmother’s grave. The coal company that had it moved doesn’t know where the remains ended up. “It always looked like a safe, good place nobody would bother,” the 63-year-old retiree said of the cemetery along Pigeon Creek where his relative, Martha Curry, was buried. “It was up on a hill.”
March 11, 200916 yr Its common practice in Europe to reuse cemeteries. It's a shame though that it can't be found if that was the plan. Bravo for Judge Hutchison.
March 11, 200916 yr You really should space out these articles... like post one or two a day instead of all four at once. It's just a little over whelming and I tend to skim the articles when they're posted in mass like this. Just a little tip that might lead to more people actually reading the articles.
March 11, 200916 yr Well, I haven't checked my RSS reader for articles from West Virginia newspapers in well over a week, and I usually post at work so I can't save them for future use. I do usually leave notes if I've posted more than one article in a thread per day to look above. Dan, we aren't talking about reusing cemeteries. The coal companies have flat out destroyed them. For instance, Massey Energy completely leveled a historic Civil War-era cemetery without doing any reclamation of the bodies or the grave stones. No movement was conducted, and the company won't allow anyone to visit the remains of the site (or prior to MTR to document it.
March 16, 200916 yr Coal braces for big changes in policy By Halimah Abdullah, McClatchy Newspapers, March 16, 2009 WASHINGTON — The coal industry is bracing for a seismic shift as the Obama administration charges ahead with re-envisioned energy policies focused heavily on renewable resources and new ways of storing carbon emissions.
March 19, 200916 yr Clean coal: Reality or a pipe dream? By Justin McIntosh, Marietta Times, March 14, 2009 Some people suggest clean coal is rather like a healthy cigarette - an oxymoron that doesn't really exist - while others say the potential for clean coal power plants is the only viable alternative energy source for the country in the near future.
March 19, 200916 yr ^Posted another article above in a series. Coal and Nature New emphasis puts the focus By Connie Cartmell, Marietta Times, March 14, 2009 Riding his ATV and overlooking strip mining operations just one farm away from his own, Dave Hawkins of Salem Township, can smile. "I could hear the bulldozers going this morning," Hawkins said. "What this company is doing is both encouraging and enlightening."
March 25, 200916 yr One of the biggest news to come so far regarding mountaintop removal in the past year, and it is positive! Thank you for finally coming to the senses that we need to be basing our decisions on science, not on sole job numbers. EPA to crack down on mountaintop removal coal mining By Andy Mead, Herald-Leader, March 24, 2009 Using a proposed mine in Kentucky and one in West Virginia as examples, the federal Environmental Protection Agency signaled Tuesday that it is cracking down on mountaintop removal coal mining.
March 25, 200916 yr See above for very good news regarding the coal industry! :) TVA buys coal ash properties worth $9.5M AP, March 24, 2009 KINGSTON, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Valley Authority so far has purchased homes and land affected by a massive coal ash spill worth more than $9.5 million. Roane County Property Assessor Teresa Kirkham told The Knoxville News Sentinel that TVA has made 61 payouts on about 40 homes and 210 acres closest to the Dec. 22 spill at the Kingston Fossil Plant. The land produced nearly $63,000 in local property taxes.
March 25, 200916 yr Some of the wording is straight from Shermans article above, but it's not word for word. I applaud the EPA on this one. Mountaintop mining projects put on hold Move comes after appeals court ruling that went against mine critics msnbc.com staff and news service reports http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29862781/ WASHINGTON - Dozens of mountaintop coal-mining permits are being put on hold until the projects’ impacts on streams and wetlands can be reviewed, the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday. Announced by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, the move targets a controversial practice by coal mining companies that blasts away whole peaks and sends mining waste into streams and wetlands. It does not apply to existing mines, but to requests for new permits, a number estimated to be as high as 200.
March 26, 200916 yr Different spin on things! Turning toxic coal ash into bridges, buildings By Jim Kavanagh http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/20/recycled.coal.uses/index.html (CNN) -- Despite the destruction it caused in a massive spill near a Tennessee power plant in December, coal ash has found many uses that benefit industry and even the environment. A billion gallons of ash sludge, laced with toxic materials, spilled from a holding pond and fouled 300 acres and two rivers near the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant on December 22.
March 29, 200916 yr Some in region worried about the effect of EPA mine permit reviews By Tim Huber, AP, March 26, 2009 CHARLESTON -- The Obama administration's decision to hold coal mining permits to a high environmental standard has struck a note of economic fear in Appalachia, where mining -- including the kind of mining that blows up mountaintops -- has been a shield against hard times afflicting the rest of the nation.
April 11, 200916 yr EPA objects to 3 more surface coal mining permits By Tim Huber, H-L, April 9, 2009 CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is objecting to three more Appalachian surface mining permits, saying the operations would cause unacceptable damage.
April 24, 200916 yr What? Collecting fines? What a novelty... Feds get tough with mines owing fines By Dori Hjalmarsonand Bill Estep, Herald Leader, April 18, 2009 Federal regulators are trying to get tougher with Kentucky coal companies that haven't paid overdue fines for health and safety violations, filing two federal collections lawsuits and shutting down one mine so far this year.
April 24, 200916 yr This is clearly one of those situations where the rules on the books are fine, we just need to enforce fully. I'd actually argue that this is really the situation with most arguments about 'doing something'.
May 1, 200916 yr Here we go! TOR's on photographers, bloggers and activists. Freedom of speech? Not yours. Hearing Friday on Massey protest TRO By Ken Ward Jr., Mining Tattoo, April 30, 2009 The folks at Climate Ground Zero are reporting that they’ve been ordered to appear in Raleigh County Circuit Court tomorrow morning to face Massey Energy’s request that they be held in contempt of a court order blocking further protests at Massey’s mountaintop removal operations in Southern West Virginia. I thought that a hearing on Massey’s request to convert the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) into a preliminary or permanent injunction had been delayed until June 1. But apparently Massey has gone back to court, after another protest on April 16 at Massey’s Edwight Surface Mine in Raleigh County. Judge Robert A. Burnside has scheduled tomorrow’s hearing for 10 a.m. at the courthouse in Beckley. The case raises some interesting questions, not the least of which concerns the efforts of independent photojournalist Antrim Caskey to document the protests, and how the court order affects her ability to exercise her First Amendment right to inform the public. See the blog for the remainder of the article.
May 1, 200916 yr ^Another article posted above for today. Mountaintop mining activist wins global award AP, April 19 MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- In Maria Gunnoe's 11-year war over the strip mining that has ruined her homestead, there have been casualties: Family dogs poisoned and shot. Her truck's fuel tank stuffed with sand. The innocence of her children, guarded in sleep by volunteers "when things heat up.'' And in what she sees as a grim nod to her American Indian heritage, Gunnoe herself was threatened one day at a southern West Virginia post office. "Dead Woman Walking,'' they called her. See the URL for the rest of the article.
June 6, 200916 yr Judge limits Massey protesters' legal arguments By Ken Ward Jr., Charleston Gazette, June 1, 2009 Read more in Coal Tattoo : http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/ BECKLEY, W.Va. - A Raleigh County judge on Monday significantly narrowed the arguments that anti-mountaintop removal activists can make to oppose a long-term injunction against peaceful protects that shut down Massey Energy operations in Southern West Virginia. Circuit Judge Robert Burnside said he would not allow the activists to argue that mountaintop removal is so damaging to the environment that it justifies their alleged trespassing onto Massey property. And Burnside seemed to indicate he is likely to issue some sort of injunction, at least against activists who have already been cited or arrested during previous protests at Massey mines. Click on the link above for the remainder of the article.
June 21, 200915 yr Citizens scale 150-foot-high dragline protesting Mountaintop Removal Herald-Dispatch, June 18, 2009 COAL RIVER VALLEY, W. VA.— This morning, four concerned citizens entered onto Massey Energy’s mountaintop removal mine site near Twilight, W.Va., scaled a 150-foot dragline machine to drop a banner that says, “Stop Mountaintop Removal Mining.”
June 25, 200915 yr Draglines, protests, arrests and debate, oh my! Authored by Sherman Cahal on June 25, 2009 at American Byways What a pandemonium those free-loving, liberal, hippy, tree-hugger greenies have caused over the past two weeks. On June 18, four environmental activists scaled a 150-foot dragline at a Massey Energy mountaintop removal site and unfurled a banner that stated, "Stop mountaintop removal mining." The dragline, a massive machine that removes blasted rock and earth to expose coal seams, was disabled during the duration of the climb and subsequent encampment. Equipped with satellite phones and a web-camera that was tethered, the climbers gave interviews and performed live action sequences from the top of the dragline. Nine others on the ground deployed a large banner that read, "Stop Mountaintop Removal: Clean Energy Now." By that morning, 14 protesters, including the four that scaled the dragline, were arrested. The incident was the first time that a dragline had been scaled on an active mountaintop removal site, and is the latest in increasingly heated and dramatic protests in West Virginia, the epicenter of the battle against destructive and illegal mountaintop removal and strip mining. The protest ironically came just days after the President Obama administration announced plans to further reform practices regarding strip mining and to instill new policies and guidelines. While coal companies are typically required to return the mountain to its approximate original contour and shape, excess material is often used to bury headwaters and streams and few, if little native vegetation is returned to the site. "It’s way past time for civil disobedience to stop mountaintop removal and move quickly toward clean, renewable energy sources. For over a century, Appalachian communities have been crushed, flooded, and poisoned as a result of the country’s dangerous and outdated reliance on coal. How could the country care so little about our American mountains, our culture and our lives?" -Judy Bonds, Goldman Environmental Prize winner and co-director of Coal River Mountain Watch of West Virginia This was followed up with a several-hundred large protest near Marsh Fork Elementary near Naoma, West Virginia on June 23, in which Actress Daryl Hannah and NASA scientist James Hansen were among 31 people arrested as they protested mountaintop removal mining. All were cited for impeding traffic and obstructing an officer. The elementary school has been the site of numerous demonstrations and protests over the years due to its presence adjacent to a coal storage silo that has raised concerns regarding unfiltered coal dust filtering into the adjoining school. Click on the link above for the remainder of the article.
June 25, 200915 yr Coal on the losing end for once. Regulations work! February 2, 2009, 5:26 pm Utility Gives Up on Coal, Pursues Wind Instead By Leslie Kaufman Legislation to curb carbon emissions is still far from a done deal, but apparently it seems real enough that at least one utility is calling it quits on its efforts to build a coal-fired power plant. A rural electric cooperative in southern Montana says it will stop pushing for development of the Highwood Generating Station, a controversial proposed plant near Great Falls, and instead turn to developing wind energy. http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/utility-gives-up-on-coal-pursues-wind-instead/?scp=1&sq=wind%20instead%20of%20coal&st=cse
August 17, 200915 yr The plan: Plant 125 million trees Group wants massive program to reforest Appalachian mine sites By Bill Estep, Herald-Leader, August 16, 2009 A group promoting reforestation in Appalachia is seeking more than $422 million to plant trees on mountains that were cleared or leveled for surface mining, a program that could have far-reaching impact on the economy and environment of the region.
August 24, 200915 yr See the article for the list of PDFs. Five More Forged Letters Uncovered From Bonner & Associates' Work for DC Coal Lobby By Kevin Grandia, DeSmogBlog, August 18, 2009 Five new forged letters fraudulently sent to Congressmembers have turned up in an ongoing Congressional investigation into the Astroturf campaign launched by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) and it subcontractor Bonner & Associates.
August 25, 200915 yr Coal is going to be around in this country until something better comes along, just like wood was. Pretty soon there will be new environmentalists talking about the negative side effects of nuclear power generation, solar power generation, wind power generation, and so on. Then we'll get to antimatter power generation, but there won't be people talking about the negative side effects of that--at first because it has intrinsic 100% efficiency, and later because the negative side effects tend not to leave enough people around to talk about those effects. :evil:
August 31, 200915 yr Boulder damages home after mine blast AP, August 29, 2009 FRANKFORT — State officials are investigating after a surface mine blast in Floyd County sent a boulder tumbling downhill, damaging one home and threatening others.
October 21, 200915 yr Coal is going to be around in this country until something better comes along, just like wood was. Pretty soon there will be new environmentalists talking about the negative side effects of nuclear power generation, solar power generation, wind power generation, and so on. Then we'll get to antimatter power generation, but there won't be people talking about the negative side effects of that--at first because it has intrinsic 100% efficiency, and later because the negative side effects tend not to leave enough people around to talk about those effects. :evil: This is a major public health issue. Something that I highly doubt solar could ever compete with. Toxic sludge can easily end up in nearby creeks and lakes. In 2000, a sludge dam breached in Kentucky releasing 30 million gallons of toxic sludge into river tributaries. You know what's in that sludge? Large amounts of arsenic, lead, mercury, copper amd Chromium. These eventually effect the local water supply. Right now, 45 impoundments in West Virginia alone are considered at high risk for failure. Around 500 mountains have effectively been deforested. You should look at the aerials; it's eye opening. The appalachian mountains comprise one of the most bio-diverse regions in the world and we're destroying it.
October 21, 200915 yr ^I've heard (don't have the data at the moment to back it up) that the rate of forest growth is currently a net positive due to successful regulation of the logging industry. There's a sustainable and responsible way to utilize every resource and we're much better as country at understanding that today than we were even 20 years ago. That being said I find most environmentalists to be idiological and unreasonable. I wish they would come up with real solutions instead of demanding unnecessary, industry-killing change. Is it that they think they need to push that far to get ANYTHING changed?
October 22, 200915 yr ^I've heard (don't have the data at the moment to back it up) that the rate of forest growth is currently a net positive due to successful regulation of the logging industry. There's a sustainable and responsible way to utilize every resource and we're much better as country at understanding that today than we were even 20 years ago. That being said I find most environmentalists to be idiological and unreasonable. I wish they would come up with real solutions instead of demanding unnecessary, industry-killing change. Is it that they think they need to push that far to get ANYTHING changed? First let me say I'm not a hardcore environmentalist; in fact I can't stand a lot of snot nosed environmentalists who are too righteous to put anything other than artichokes on their pizza, but I do think this is a serious issue. They've already destroyed like 500 mountains with the fill/waste (whatever you want to call it) being dumped over the side, into waterways. A lot of these waterways are now filled in, meaning they've lost their ecological function. The mountains will never be what they were before but if they were reforested it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. I'd be happy if they did that because it would spur a hell of a lot more economic development in those Appalachian communities than coal energy ever will. It seems superficial to look at it from an aesthetic point of view but Tennessee makes a lot of tourism dollars from their natural beauty. These communities in WV, and KY don't have that chance unless they use it as an on site location for The Lorax - The Movie. The contaminated water is a public health isssue that would seriously discourage economic development despite people thinking these mountain tops can now benefit from rezoning and a flat grade. Mountain top removal is the worst kind of coal removal for job creation since dynamite replaces workers but a lot of people have been sold on the idea of coal being the region's livelihood. I think the realistic solution right now would be to pass legislation that would stop this radical form of coal mining which pollutes more and provides way less jobs. It would cause energy prices to go up but as long as coal energy is cheap with relaxed and unenforced regulations, they have very little incentive to research and develop more sustainable methods.
October 22, 200915 yr ^Ahhh... moment of clarity. Yes, mountain top removal coal mining is bad all the way around. We agree on that. A more responsible method of extraction needs to be utilized and the runoff needs to be controlled.
October 22, 200915 yr The mountains will never be what they were before... Even without the mining, the mountains aren't what they were before. They were once like the Rockies.
November 11, 200915 yr Carbon Fees: More Efficient Than Cap and Trade http://www.carbonfees.org/home/ Here are our main points: (a) A cap-and-trade approach is inherently inferior to carbon fees; (b) the most efficient approach would be escalating carbon fees on all fossil fuels at the point of importation or extraction, along with appropriate carbon tariffs and international outreach as soon as the United States has taken appropriate action domestically; and © there is also a need for other interventions, including a ban on new coal-fired power plants without effective carbon sequestration. A. Defects in “Cap-and-Trade ”: While recognizing that there are many variations on the cap-and-trade approach, here are the problems that cut across the board and would delay achieving the large emissions reductions needed to adequately address climate change: Problems Verifying Emissions in Many Sectors: There are many barriers to a comprehensive system that would accurately report greenhouse gas emissions. A cap-and-trade system without accurate verification of emissions is an invitation to fraud and would significantly delay reductions. While it is possible to require accurate greenhouse gas reporting from large industrial facilities and electrical generators, there are many other sectors of the economy from which it will be difficult or impossible to insure accurate reporting. In Europe, the methods used to estimate greenhouse gases are believed to have resulted in wide-spread under-reporting, which has helped to undermine the effectiveness of the Kyoto treaty. In our experience, the detective work needed to determine whether such under-reporting has occurred can be extremely complex. As a result, we do not think a reliably accurate system can be put in place for enough sources of emissions and offsets within the necessary timeframe. Problems in Setting a Starting “Cap” on Emissions: In virtually all prior cap-and-trade systems, setting of the initial cap on emissions has been extremely contentious and has resulted in a cap that was significantly inflated above actual emissions. Setting the cap too high delays meaningful reductions and creates serious market distortions. Policing of Trading will be Complex: Assuring that mitigation offsets and allowances that are bought and sold represent true reductions, not just paper credits, will be extremely difficult and resource intensive. Industry and its consultants will have tremendous financial incentives to understate actual emissions and overstate the amount of emission reductions or carbon sequestration offsets. Misplaced Market Theory, Uncertainty, and Economic Harm: Market theory is based upon the exchange of real goods and services. In contrast, cap-and-trade proposals to address climate change are based upon the unproven hope that a market in a totally contrived commodity (allowances and mitigation offsets) will produce the technological innovation needed to adequately reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This reckless leap of faith is unjustified. The few and relatively minor experiments in emissions trading in our country have produced virtually no technological innovation, much less the kind of innovation necessary to power our economy on renewable resources rather than fossil fuels. In addition, the process of allocating allowances, either by auction or based upon historic emission levels, and creating mitigation credits is cumbersome and excruciatingly complex. This is further complicated by the “safety valve” provisions in many of the proposed laws, which allow greenhouse gas sources to pay to pollute if allowances reach unacceptably high prices. The volatility and uncertainty of such a system is inherently inefficient from an economic perspective. For businesses, this will make the cost of energy much harder to anticipate and economic planning far more difficult. This will cause a variety of problems that disrupt business and delay the incentives to invest in lower emitting technologies. Shifting of Assets to the Polluters: Unlike carbon fees, whose proceeds can be used to cushion the impact of higher energy costs on individuals, cap-and-trade programs, like the European carbon market, have tended to enrich polluting industries and their consultants, while producing minimal decreases in emissions. While this could be addressed in part by having the polluters pay for all greenhouse gas allowances, this is not what is proposed in the cap-and-trade bills currently being considered by Congress. B. Why Carbon Fees are the Winning Solution:[/b] As recognized by the February 2008 U.S. Congressional Budget Office report, carbon fees are the most efficient means to achieve meaningful emissions reductions in the necessary time-frame. They are also a means to regain the international credibility necessary to influence other countries. Predictability and Effectiveness: Escalating carbon fees will have a more predictable impact on energy prices and will immediately create incentives for conservation and investments in alternative non-polluting energy technologies. Getting Started Quickly: Carbon fees can be enacted and phased in much more quickly than a complex cap-and-trade system. Simplicity: Carbon fees are more transparent and understandable. In cap-and-trade, failures and manipulations can more easily be hidden and are labor intensive to uncover. Failure to pay carbon fees on fossil fuels at the point of extraction or importation would be much easier to uncover. Incentives Spread Quickly to All Sectors of the Economy: Carbon fees imposed on all fossil fuels will spread the incentive for conservation and non-polluting innovation quickly throughout the economy Funding Rebates, R&D and International Assistance: Carbon fee revenues can help protect individuals from the impact of higher energy costs by providing rebates in the form of reduced payroll tax or periodic payments to every person. In contrast, the costs of cap-and-trade systems are likely to become a hidden tax, as dollars go to market participants, their lawyers and consultants. A portion of carbon fees could also be used to fund the research and development needed to improve non-polluting energy technologies, and to create technology-transfer programs to assist developing countries, including China and India. Phase-in of Carbon Fees and Carbon Tariffs: We encourage you to enact carbon fees that would be phased in gradually, starting with relatively low per ton fees on fossil fuels and increasing each year, until we have achieved effective controls, along the lines suggested by the Carbon Tax Center and Representatives Pete Stark and John Dingell. Please consider including appropriate phased-in carbon tariffs, reflecting the level of emissions control in exporting countries, in order to protect American business from suffering a competitive disadvantage. ...more....
November 17, 200915 yr Thunder Ridge mine suit settled Coal company settles with environmental groups that sued By Andy Mead, Herald-Leader, November 17, 2009 Two environmental groups have settled a federal lawsuit that they had brought against International Coal Group's Thunder Ridge Surface Mine in Leslie County. The settlement with the Kentucky Waterways Alliance and Sierra Club allows the coal company to build a fourth and final valley fill at the mountaintop-removal mine. It originally had planned on five such fills.
November 19, 200915 yr Official denied mining permits, got fired FORMER HEAD OF DIVISION SAYS HE REFUSED TO APPROVE ILLEGAL MINING By John Cheves, Herald-Leader, November 18, 2009 The former head of Kentucky's mine permit division, who was fired last week by Gov. Steve Beshear, said Tuesday he had been trying to block what he called illegal mining permit practices. Ron Mills said he refused to issue about a half-dozen mine permits requested over the past year, chiefly by the politically connected Alliance Resource Partners of Tulsa, Okla., because they did not comply with federal and state mining law.
November 26, 200915 yr Judge sides with environmental groups in coal case The Associated Press, November 24, 2009 CHARLESTON — A judge has ruled the Army Corps of Engineers violated federal environmental laws by failing to give the public enough of a say before issuing permits for two mountaintop removal coal mines.
December 7, 200915 yr E-mail raises questions about mine permits director's firing By John Cheves, Herald-Leader, December 6, 2009 An Alliance Coal executive wrote an e-mail to his colleagues Nov. 13 to announce the firing of the state director of mine permits — just minutes after the firing happened. "Ron Mills will be asked to resign this morning and will be replaced by Allen Luttrell on an acting basis," wrote Raymond "Rusty" Ashcraft, Alliance Coal's manager of environmental affairs and permitting at the company's Lexington office.
December 7, 200915 yr Beshear sees no reason to investigate firing of mine regulator By Jack Brammer, Bluegrass Politics Blog, December 7, 2009 FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear said he sees no reason to investigate the recent firing of a state mining regulator who blames political pressure from the coal industry for his dismissal. Beshear said he is not aware of anyone in his administration contacting Alliance Coal about the firing of mine permits director Ron Mills and can’t explain how an Alliance executive knew about it within minutes.
December 8, 200915 yr http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-wv-mountaintop-mining-kennedy,0,2237885.story ... Mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia is a crime, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Monday that if the American people could see it, there would be a revolution. "You could rob a hundred banks and you wouldn't be committing a crime as awful and heinous as that," he said. Kennedy said coal, which is burned for electricity, is neither cheap nor clean, as the industry claims. Though it may cost just 9 cents per kilowatt hour, he said, Americans pay the price elsewhere — with polluted air that leads to mercury contamination of waterways and fish, and myriad health problems. When a pregnant woman eats fish contaminated with mercury from coal-fired power plants, Kennedy said, her child faces possible developmental problems.
December 8, 200915 yr I would take any environmental claims by NIMBY Kennedy with a grain of salt. http://www.grist.org/article/capecod/ He's your typical "do as I say not as I do" politician. "Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago." - Warren Buffett
December 9, 200915 yr ^I don't think bfwissel "attacked" Kennedy. It's important to understand someones history before you determine how you are going to receive that persons message. Clearly Mr. Kennedy isn't only for a cleaner environment he's also for a view of a clear horizon from his Cape Cod retreat. As far as environmentalists go he's one of the more hypocritical ones.
December 9, 200915 yr Ohioans are advised not to eat fish from Ohio's waterways because of mercury. Are you ok with that?
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