Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
While it's true that the vast majority of mountaintop removal coal mining takes place in West Virginia and Kentucky, make no mistake: coal companies have their eye on Tennessee’s rocky tops. Unlike those other states, the Tennessee legislature currently is considering a bill...
Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
Mountaintop removal is without a doubt the world's worst coal mining -- responsible for landscape destruction, habitat loss and water pollution throughout Appalachia. As if all that weren't bad enough, new research suggests that the global warming pollution from conventional (dirty) coal-fired power plants...
Posted by Rob Perks in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Solving Global Warming
In 2002 the Bush administration created a loophole to the Clean Water Act that allows mining companies to dump untreated mining wastes in America's lakes and streams. From mountaintop removal coal mines in Appalachia to gold mines in Alaska, untreated...
Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
We're going to float / Through the criss cross of the mountains / Watch them fade to nothing / When the world ends / You know that's what's happening now - Dave Matthews, “When the World Ends” I remember...
Posted by Rob Perks in Solving Global Warming
Since the first Earth Day 40 years ago -- and despite incredible progress on myriad environmental problems -- America is now faced with a failing energy policy that continues to reward polluters, undermines the health of the American people, threatens our national and economic security,...
Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
In a reprise of the debate between NRDC's Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Massey Coal CEO Don Blankenship over mountaintop removal coal mining, the Washington newspaper The Hill published dueling pieces by both adversaries in today's edition. Back in January, these...
Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
As a member of the National Press Club, I was pleased to see that Lisa Jackson, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, spoke at a press club luncheon earlier this week. She opened her speech with an "Oscars" reference,...
Posted by Rob Perks in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
James Otto is a giant of a man. Although he’s built to sack quarterbacks in the NFL, he’s blessed with a bourbon-and-molasses voice that has served him well in his chosen profession: country music troubadour. Otto’s breakout year was 2008,...
Posted by Rob Perks in Curbing Pollution , Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
Clean coal, eh? No such thing. The stuff is dirty from the cradle to the grave. Just consider coal ash. Over 130 million tons of this so-called coal combustion waste -- containing nearly 100,000 tons of toxic metals -- is produced every year, as...
Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
Today is the day that tickets go on sale for NRDC's monumental, momentum-shifting, anti-mountaintop removal Music Saves Mountains concert, which will take place in on May 19 at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. This will be the biggest gathering ever of music stars...
Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
"Certainly it is my belief as we learn more and more from outside scientists and inside scientists, we know that there are clear water quality impacts that come from filling in streams -- pretty intuitive -- and from the valley...
Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
Great op-ed today in The Tennessean written by Rev. Ryan Bennet -- of the Bethlehem United Methodist Church in Franklin, TN -- about holding politicians accountable who support mountaintop removal coal mining. Rev. Bennet notes that he attended a recent gubernatorial candidate forum...
Posted by Rob Perks in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
Nowhere is the debate over how far we are willing to go for dirty energy more contentious than in the coalfields of Appalachia. It is there -- between the hollows of West Virginia, beyond the bluegrass of Kentucky, bordering the Blue...
Posted by Rob Perks in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
On May 19th at 8pm a star-studded line-up will take the stage at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium for the Music Saves Mountains concert, presented by the Natural Resources Defense Council. This will be the biggest gathering ever of music stars coming together to raise awareness about mountaintop...
Posted by Rob Perks in Health and the Environment , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming
Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken Then they wrote it all down as the progress...
