Appalachian apocalypse: Controversial Coal Mining Method Gets Obama's OK

Singer-Actress Ashley Judd speaks during a rally in Frankfort, Ky. on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009 calling for an end to mountaintop coal mining. (AP Photo/Roger Alford)

by Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten

WASHINGTON - With the election of Barack Obama, environmentalists expected to see the end of the "Appalachian apocalypse" -- their name for exposing coal deposits by blowing the tops off of whole mountains.

But in recent weeks, the Obama administration has quietly decided to open the way for at least two dozen more "mountaintop removal" projects.

The decision to clear a path for the controversial projects was never officially announced, but instead conveyed in a letter this month to a West Virginia congressman and coal ally, Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall. The letter said that the Environmental Protection Agency would not block 42 of 48 mine projects that it had reviewed so far, including some of the most controversial mountaintop mines.

In mountaintop removal, explosives blast away a peak and expose coal seams. Coal companies say the practice is safer and more efficient than traditional shaft mining. Critics say the process scars the landscape and dumps tons of waste, some of it toxic, into streams and valleys.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/06/02-4

Come fucking on! 42 of 48 projects will not be blocked? How many of those were projects were OK'd by the Bush admin? 48? That's all the better Obama can do?

151 are still pending review. Comment on whitehouse.gov, if you so wish.

I'm glad that Team O is making a preliminary effort to stop some projects, although no final decisions have been made yet.

Yeah, really. Everything bad is STILL his fault. He so powerful.

the environment would just do that it would get someone's attention. Thanks.

I agree. :hi:

I'll take care of that.

So if 151 are still pending, I guess we can expect 147 more of these from Team O. Great.

that this is unacceptable. Who should we write/call/fax/etc? Obama makes mistakes but he will change his mind if we stand up and make noise. This is a horrible policy and all concerned should shout it out. If someone could provide a link to email, etc. that would be appreciated. We shouldn't just complain here on DU we must get our message to the top. Thanks.

I don't know what they're using to make that determination, but obviously that's where we need to put the most pressure. Sounding off to the WH and Congress is a bonus.

(dashed off the top of my head, so I apologize that it's not polished...)

Dear President Obama,

I am writing to ask you to explain how the Mountain Top Removal method of coal mining, and the resultant valley-fills can ever be considered in compliance with the Clean Water Act.

I have seen the results of Mountain Top Removal, and it truly is an Appalachian Apocalypse. The inevitable contamination of ground and surface waters, plus the elimination of numerous streams and entire hydrologic ecosystems are a crime against this nation.

I urge you to reconsider this issue, and instruct your EPA to comport themselves with the spirit and letter of the Clean Water Act and related laws. Once they do so, a total ban on future Mountain Top Removal projects is the only possible course of action.

Such a policy would not only protect the southern Appalachian forests and waterways, but the jobs created in alternative wind energy, eco-tourism, and similar ventures would dwarf the scant and ill-distributed rewards that Mountain Top Removal generates.

Mountain Top Removal destroys families, communities, biodiversity, land, and water resources in a region that already must struggle with substantial challenges. I urge you to uphold the law and reject all Mountain Top Removal permit applications. This horrendous practice has no place in a sustainable future for America. I truly hope that you can and will do better.

Regards,

-appal_jack (though I signed my real name in the original of course)



Please feel free to borrow and/or modify any of this verbiage for your own letters DU.

-app

:loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

I hope he changes his mind.

We are so fucked, do you realize how fucked we are? This is the guy we were all counting on to end environmental degradation and stop the killing of wildlife across America. More hopes dashed by the corporate puppet Obama. Obama is Clinton II, progressive on the face but corporate to the core. And this was our best option, I know McCain would have been 10 times worse, but this is the best we can do? Obama also appointed a Republican congressmen to be the secretary of the Army today, WTF? Progressives have no voice in this country anymore, we are all surfs in a corporate fiefdom.

:nodding:

I am glad I expected nothing from BO...I knew long ago that he was bought and paid for. And now he's considering taxing health benefits for people who get them from their place of business.

I saw my first 'Impeach Obama' bumper sticker today with another that said 'If you're not appalled, you're not paying attention.'

I don't believe a word he says.

Link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=132&topic_id=8448068&mesg_id=8448068

rid of GM and its unions has nothing to do with socialism. Hugo has a good sense of humor and I understand why he said what he said.

Prez O is a lover of rich boyz....and has shown this great love by giving billions to the white boy banksters. Manufacturing gets BANKRUPTCY.

WASF.

First, TARP was BushCo's idea. President Obama inherited the mess but added strict regulations as to how the monies should be spent. As for the "billions" they are being paid pack with 5% interest as we type. "BANKRUPTCY" was the only way GM could survive and the unions got a good deal from the government (considering the alternative) while bondholders got 10 cents on the dollar.

what 'strict regulations' are you talking about? The Banksters have completed the Greatest Heist ever.

I see no Transparency from this Administration regarding the Bailout...I don't trust Geithner nor Summers one iota. Geithner can't even pay his taxes.

And these banks are carrying their derivatives at whatever value they want. This mess is far from over.

You sound naive or maybe you're being paid to spin this for the Administration.

60,000 union members are now 20,000. Why didn't Citigroup declare bankruptcy? Or is that because one of the mighty Princes of Saudi Arabia owns 20% of Citi???

Now I hear Prez Obama will put taxing health benefits on the table. This is the Decline of the American Empire and don't think the Administration doesn't realize that.

Don't bother to apologize for this disappointing and lying Administration.

Though Edwards in hind sight would not have helped us either...



I think this *engineered* false "choice" we had then is now becoming more and more evident!

Link: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/05/22/obama_signs_into_law_sweeping_new_credit_card_reforms/
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/13/AR2009051302393_pf.html

"Obama administration accused by GOP of favoring unions over investors in GM bankruptcy talks"
Link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8443229&mesg_id=8443229

After all, it's not as if President Obama was ever a DLC corporate whore, right? I am glad I was never so stupid as to ever support the DLC candidate in any election. In four months, President Obama has done more to move progressive domestic causes forward than any modern president in the same time period because he's not saddled with that bankrupt philosophy which is just a watered-down version of the GOP "free market". The banks and the Chamber of Commerce and their DLC conservaDem minions in Congress hate his sweeping regulatory push, so your characterization is off-the-mark.

is the membership card.

One need not be a card carrying member to carry out DLC policies.

"Today, for all our political challenges, what matters most is coming up with ideas and solutions that work, and the new DLC will be devoted to the battle for reform and ideas, not politics. It will be a reform think tank dedicated to developing, promoting, and enacting an agenda as bold and pragmatic as America's new president. It will work closely with allies in Congress and the administration to make sure President Obama and his reform agenda succeeds."
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=254927&kaid=86&subid=84

Then what the hell does 'progressive' mean?

'Sweeping regulatory push'? You must be joking.

The OP puts the lie to your statement.

And how about those wolves ?

The "wolves" issue is now in court, where it belongs. President Obama believes solving state issues should be settled via the rule of law.

to his version of real change. If you really want change vote for a real Dem next time ...suckas.

Kucinich 2012

The name Kucinich evoked some fierce ridicule here last year.
So many invitations to come back to "reality" and vote for someone "practical".

but 'tomorrow's bacon' is what I'm hungering for.

I'd love to vote for someone like Feingold who is progressive and has an actual record of accomplishments, but he didn't run, so the point is moot.

get involved in any local protests to stop the practice or at least direct people to where they can make some noise we have people calling Obama a corporate tool. The article at least gives a good reason why it might be done considering the fact that people do depend on it for jobs. In any case hopefully there are people making better use of their time.

PS are the EPA and WHite House switchboards open at 9PM?

How about Letters to the Editors to the newspapers reporting on this? As someone said the EPA reviewed it. Unhappy with the result of the review DO something. Instead of ragging on Obama I would love to see people give facts and arguments that could be used and spread to counteract the arguments of the coal industry.

To you and to anyone interested in this issue I have a link for you:

http://www.appvoices.org/index.php?/frontpage/

I'd also like you to read this entry from my journal, posted back in 2007:
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/theHandpuppet/92

To some of us these recent developments are no surprise. I just wondered how long it would take. :(

How can he tolerate all this ragging :cry:.

I gave a link to whitehouse.gov upthread but only one person even acknowledged its worth. The rest are indeed "ragging on Obama".

Criticizing people about not doing anything useful while posting on DU at the same time is an automatic disqualification. :P

:hide:

:shrug:

No, not because of your joke. Can't believe you're asking that, really.

No smilie, no sarcasm tag...it seemed an honest post by you to me. Not sure how I was supposed to know who or what had inspired your feeling that DU isn't for you, when it's my post you say it in to reply to. I gather now that you may have been talking in response to the OP, but I didn't know. :shrug:

Our wires are totally crossed lately, so I'm just going to not reply to you for a bit. Through not fault of your own, you've caught me at a time in my life where I have zero patience with even the merest hint of drama in my life, and I'm not saying it's you causing it. Maybe I'm just more fucked up than usual in my thinking lately, I don't know. But for whatever reason, I'm taking your posts wrong, you're taking my posts wrong, and I think it's best if I just let you be for awhile.

No, it isn't even in response to the OP. It's not in response to anything except the pervasive 'anything to bash Obama' mood around here.

I dunno, I thought maybe you'd noticed that I was getting beyond fed up with it... obviously I was wrong.

And yeah... I hadn't noticed the wires crossed thing... but yeah... other people who I thought I got along with have told me I make them want to puke, so... yeah.

I've never said anything negative about you. Here or elsewhere...ever.

This is crazy, and this is why I want to take a break from conversing with you (and most of the rest of the world, for that matter). I said that it wasn't even you that was the problem, and still it came across like I was somehow dumping on you. I think you're a great person, I just want to take a break before more of this kind of misunderstanding of each other happens again. I was just planning on letting you be for a couple of weeks until we were back on the same page a little better.

other people who I thought I got along with

Two things: I'm not "other people". Good or bad, take me for me without the comparison to them, and judge me by what I say to you, not what they say to you. Again, I've never said anything negative about you or to you (or even thought it). Second, we still are friends, and we'll get along fine down the road. That's why I wanted to take a break for a bit, so we can stay friends, not because I want to give up on the friendship.

today it just got to be too much, what with that Scahill shit.

A message board should never be "too much", "something to laugh off" etc. at least IMHO.
The internet shouldn't be a substitute for an actual life.
Politics is serious and important stuff but the squabbles on DU are really not. These are mostly about personality plays and OTT hatred or love for political figures.

considering all the "OMG I FEEL SO BETRAYED!" shit we see here every frickin day. You ever give that line to that crowd? If so please post a link... I won't hold my breath.


And thanks so very, very much for your sincere concern... but this is hardly a 'substitute for real life'... :eyes:

I guess I can understand being upset over a political figure a lot more than I can over other (powerless) DU members :shrug:. Whether they are Freepers or not, ultimately most of the people posting here don't have much influence on anything. I can see people getting upset at Dem politicians and venting here as much as venting about Repukes.

But many of the hard core Obama supporters here seem to get very emotional and angsty over DUers, DU politics, bannings/PMs etc. which just seems very highschool and silly.

And thanks so very, very much for your sincere concern... but this is hardly a 'substitute for real life'...

Whatever you say..you do appear to have close to 80,000 posts and thats way more than most people in this thread who have been here on a comparable timescale and you did seem angstier than everyone else on this thread-sorry for leaping to conclusions.

and have a boring job.

Great job, Sherlock. :eyes:



As for your rationalization of why I deserve your condescending pity... save it. No sale.


Or hey, how about this... all the "Stop trying to silence our dissent!" threads... ever give them the song and dance about how logging off is a good idea? Please say yes.


Actually, nevermind. You're right. I'm done.

:thumbsup:

to see such misdirected anger and waste of energy.

:)

It's about complaining about things you don't like. You haven't figured that out by now?

and somehow still found that those 42 projects weren't going to harm the environment.

I'm glad Ashley Judd is speaking out... I wonder if she did any cutesy "this isn't the change I voted for! I'm disappointed in Obama! I feel so betrayed!" sloganeering. Somehow, I doubt it.


Yeah, we're going to have to actually do some work ourselves to get the EPA to come clean about what criteria they are using to somehow determine those projects are safe. Boo fucking hoo.

When this topic came up a few weeks ago, the usual cheerleaders bemoaned the hatred and whined that we needed to wait (a common request) to see what would happen. After all, those projects were being reviewed. The president was going to stop them. Just wait and see.

I didn't just wait. Three emails and a letter to the White House. Two futile letters to my senators, both from Texas so anything for a power company is okay with them.

But we now see what the waiting got. More planet destruction from an EPA that seems to be all holdovers from bushco.

We have lots of people who can't bring themselves to complain to our new president, the usual excuse is that he is just the president, that he can't do anything about anything. I don't buy it. I voted for him because he said he would make things change, that he would be the one to stand up for us, that he would do the right thing, that he would take charge. Too often, it seems the buck doesn't even pause at his desk. Directing the EPA is exactly the kind of thing a president can do. Therefore, my complaints are to the man I helped hire to do this job. I think he needs to pay attention and pay attention to someone besides bankers and corporate fat cats.

If you think his job is protecting the rich and the powerful, then you are right to defend him here. If you think his job is to turn us back from the corporate monopoly we have, he just isn't doing his job.

The devastation.

http://www.epa.gov/epahome/comments3.htm

Also of course go to whitehouse.gov. Pass it along to other interested people. If someone has a link to a petition or agencies doing protests please add them.

Did a search, here is link where you can find groups or petitions to stop mountaintop coal mining. Sign whatever petition you find if you haven't already or do your own specific search.

http://www.bing.com/search?MT=petiton+to+stop+mountaintop+coal+mining&srch=5&prov=&utf8=

Can you imagine what he'd do with this sort of decision happening with him being head of the EPA or another relevant cabinet position? Just like Howard Dean's been kept out of Health and Human Services cabinet position or surgeon general for his more populist/progressive views on health care and things like that, I'm guessing RFK, Jr.'s stiff opposition to coal mining practices have kept him out of this administration too!

Comments by Al From, March 2009:

The DLC has exceeded the dreams I had for it when I formed it in 1985 with a small group of reform-minded governors, senators, and house members.

*snip*

It will be a reform think tank dedicated to developing, promoting, and enacting an agenda as bold and pragmatic as America's new president. It will work closely with allies in Congress and the administration to make sure President Obama and his reform agenda succeeds.


http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=254927&kaid=86&subid=84

DLC's definition of reform obviously means destruction of progressive ideals.

The DLC is in trouble (see story link). Al From can try to get some reflected glory off President Obama's success but that's all it is.

Whether he's saying he is explicitly or no!

Especially when progressives are being kept out... It isn't "balance" that he's trying to claim he's doing. It is throwing that as an excuse to hire more DLC types in his cabinet that are representative of the failed past, even though he's campaigning on "change" (whatever that really means)...

Statements by Al From, March 2009:

I am immensely proud of the DLC's success. The DLC has exceeded the dreams I had for it when I formed it in 1985 with a small group of reform-minded governors, senators, and house members.

Now, with a new Democratic President in the White House and strong majorities in both houses of congress and among statehouses, the mission we set out to achieve in 1985 has been accomplished and the first phase of the DLC's work is finished.

the new DLC will be devoted to the battle for reform and ideas, not politics. It will be a reform think tank dedicated to developing, promoting, and enacting an agenda as bold and pragmatic as America's new president. It will work closely with allies in Congress and the administration to make sure President Obama and his reform agenda succeeds. http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=254927&kaid=86&subid=84

The DLC needed leverage and by nearly being able to take their candidate up into the final contests, they were able to exert enough pressure to get their people put in the right places.

Sadly agreed re RFK jr. and all other genuine progressives.

Workers, peace activists, environmentalists, punked.

More evidence of our two party/same corporate master system of government at work, "change" we can believe in:eyes:

W.VA is still getting RAPED. I've been in those mountains. I've seen the towns literally washed away by floods.

They won't grow back!
How can we do this? How can we allow it to continue?

on other people's properties and they fill common streams and valleys with their dung. These companies should be required to clean up every ounce of debris and they should be required to restore the beauty of thet land and the mountains. That would be equitable and would probably take care of the problem of coal altogether. I want Obama to tell me he wants toxic waste thrown on his property in Chicago to damage his children's health and lower his property values. We need a president and reps who are willing to lead the life they foist on the innocent citizenry. What is his reason for this decision? Helping another big business? He certainly is not helping eradicate global warming with this decision/another campaign promise down the drain.

have talked much and done little.

Surface mining is safer and cheaper than subsurface mining, but is incredibly destructive in the short term for the environment, and even after vegetation and wildlife return one can debate the natural status of the reclaimed land.

Subsurface mining provides more jobs and leaves the natural environment less obviously damaged, but it also is dangerous work for the people sent down into the mines, is liable to cause mine subsidence, and can leave some really nasty issues with water run off from old mine shafts, which gets even worse when abandoned machinery with stuff like PCBs is part of the whole complex. You can't see it because it's underground, but a mining operation is just as polluting as building a factory down there.

I'm from a town where there used to be mining. First subsurface back from about 1900 and then strip mining that started in WWII but must have ended as the place became a suburb in the 50's, 60's and 70. I've had a look at some maps of known mines (they make no claim to know every shaft that might have been dug. Some were home-coal mines. Looking into the records I am surprised sometimes to learn what areas had been strip mined. You wouldn't be able to tell from looking at them unless you had prior knowledge of the landscape or were attuned to look for geological anomalies given the history of the area's formation.

the (mainstream) candidate who was most likely to listen to the concerns of his supporters. That's why I voted for him, twice.

So I'm sending off emails to the WH and the Dept of the Interior, and I hope other people who are concerned about this practice are too.

what, if any, type of response you get. I'd be interested to hear about it.

Thanks.

Just more proof positive that Gore should have run in '08! :argh:

Granted, he's very loudly proclaiming how terrible it is now... I don't remember him being so outspoken when he was in a position to do anything about it.

I'm there.. :argh: