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Issues: Health and the Environment

Interior Department Comes Out Strong (Rhetorically) on Mountaintop Removal

November 19, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
appalachia, coalmining, dirtycoal, EPA, fill, fillrule, interior, mountaintopmining, mountaintopremoval, MTR, salazar

The Interior Department announced yesterday that it is taking immediate steps to strengthen oversight of state-approved surface coal mining operations -- including mountaintop removal -- and to impose tighter restrictions on the dumping of mining waste in steams. In a statement issued by the agency, Assistant Interior...

Mountains, Mining and Mayflies

November 16, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
appalachia, coalmining, dirtycoal, EPA, mayflies, mayfly, mountaintopmining, mountaintopremoval, MTR

When I started my environmental career working as a grassroots coordinator for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Virginia, one of my favorite parts of the job involved occasionally accompanying CBF educators on canoe trips to teach students and teachers the...

Coal Ash: A Clear and Present Danger

November 13, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
coalash, coalspill, dirtycoal, EPA, tennessee, tennesseevalleyauthority, TVA

The horror is unimaginable.  A community suffering severe health effects, with more than a thousand residents blaming coal ash contamination for causing their sickness, including grisly birth defects in their children.  This, according to a recent investigative story in the Miami Herald.  Go to the article to see a...

Country Stars Come Out Against Mountaintop Removal

November 12, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
appalachia, bigkenny, countrymusic, emmylouharris, gibson, kathymattea, mountaintopmining, mountaintopremoval, MTR, musicsavesmountains, nashville, robertfkennedy, sherylcrow

Nashville is "Music City", the home of country music -- but the heart and soul of this celebrated American musical genre lies a few hundred miles east in the Appalachian Mountains.  Yes indeed, Appalachia is where country music was born.  And more...

Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining 101

November 11, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
appalachia, coal, coalmining, dirtycoal, mountaintopmining, mountaintopremoval, MTR

I have blogged countless times about mountaintop removal, the world's most destructive coal mining.  My posts explore the various ecological, economic and cultural harm caused by this reckless strip mining.  I've also highlighted specific people and places most affected by the...

EPA: Coal Ash Poses Significant Health Risk

October 28, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
coal, coalash, coalpollution, coalspill, coalwaste, dirtycoal, EPA, powerplants

Without a doubt coal is dirty and dangerous. Consider that the nation's power plants spew out 130 million tons of coal combustion waste every year.  Much of this so-called coal ash, which is what's left at the bottom of the smokestacks after coal gets burned...

USA Today Editorializes Against Mountaintop Removal

October 27, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
appalachia, coalmining, dirtycoal, dirtyenergy, mountaintopmining, mountaintopremoval, MTR, USAToday

Kudos to the USA Today for coming out strong in its opposition to the worst of the worst coal mining: mountaintop removal.  Today's excellent, hold-no-punches editorial declares "it's time to protect forests, streams from environmental degradation." It kicks off this way: Buried...

Support Wind, Save a Mountain: The Battle for Coal River Mountain

October 27, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
appalachia, coalmining, coalriver, coalrivermountain, dirtycoal, dirtyenergy, massey, mountaintopmining, mountaintopremoval, MTR, obama, solar, wind

Let me get this straight. President Obama, touting his administration's support for clean energy, visited Florida yesterday to tour the DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center, with its solar panels sprawling across 180 acres that can generate power for 3,000 homes. Yet on Coal River...

Beware the 'Hidden' Costs of Dirty Fuels

October 21, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
airpollution, climate, coal, dirtycoal, globalwarming, mountaintopmining, mountaintopremoval, MTR

Since many of our elected leaders seem to be worried about costs, they should consider this: fossil fuels cost the United States about $120 billion a year, according to a study by the National Academy of Sciences.  This cost is measured primarily by thousands...

Tell the Army Corps to Dump Mountaintop Removal Permits

October 20, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
appalachia, coalmining, corps, dirtycoal, EPA, mountaintopmining, mountaintopremoval, MTR, water, waterpollution

Now that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has made it clear that mountaintop removal coal mining poses a severe threat to the environment -- most notably to water quality -- in Appalachia, the fate of this abominable practice appears to rest...

How About a Coal Drink of Water?

October 18, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
coal, coalash, dirtycoal, drinkingwater, water, waterpollution

Are you drinking water contaminated by coal pollution?  Apparently, that's what folks living in the shadows of the South Carolina Electric & Gas coal plant fear.  A chilling story published in the Charleston Post & Courier tells how local residents "have wondered for years about...

Congress Gets in the Act on Coal Ash

October 16, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
coalash, coalspill, congress, dirtycoal, EPA, kingston, tennessee, tennesseevalleyauthority, TVA

Kudos to Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) for bird-dogging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the need to regulate pollution from coal-fired power plants.  Yesterday, Rep. Markey sent a letter to EPA requesting information on the agency's findings related to the...

Appalachia: Leveling and Plundering Coal Country

October 16, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
appalachia, coalcountry, coalmining, dirtycoal, levelingappalachia, mountaintopmining, mountaintopremoval, MTR, plunderingappalachia

"You can't put a mountain back."   -- Judy Bonds Across the Appalachians, companies are blowing entire mountaintops to smithereens to get at the thin coal seams below.  The communities of the region are paying the cost in their health, their...

Coal-Fired Power Plants Shifting Pollution from Air to Water

October 14, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
coalash, coalspill, dirtycoal, EPA, lisajackson, tennessee, TVA, waterpollution

On the heels of last month's jaw-dropping New York Times expose of widespread water pollution in the U.S., the newspaper just published this follow-up story focusing on one of the culprits: pollution from coal-fired power plants. The NYT story highlights...

'Scary Times' in Appalachia: Mountaintop Removal Hearings Pushing People to the Brink

October 14, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
appalachia, coalmining, Corps, corpsofengineers, dirtycoal, EPA, lisajackson, mountaintopmining, mountaintopremoval, MTR, obama

  Right now the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is holding public hearings in six Appalachian states on mountaintop removal coal mining.  This controversial practice is at long last under intense scrutiny by the Obama administration, with the U.S. Environmental...

Rob Perks
Rob Perks
Director, Center for Advocacy Campaigns
Washington, D.C.
I run NRDC's Center for Advocacy Campaigns. Our shop exists to guide NRDC's policy and...
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