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 culture and their natural heritage. Big coal companies should not be allowed to turn our nations' oldest mountains into molehills, and NRDC is working with local allies to halt this damaging practice.
This just in: Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy, has accepted the challenge to debate environmental champion Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., senior counsel for NRDC, on energy issues. I was with Bobby last weekend in Nashville at NRDC's Music Saves Mountains campaign event, but at that time Blankenship...continued→
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...continued→
On Wednesday, Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, the head of the fourth largest coal company in the nation, said in an interview that "I deny that there is any science that supports global warming." While it baffles me that...continued→
Tomorrow night I have the honor of introducing Bobby Kennedy Jr. at a free event open to the public in New York City. Bobby will be talking about "Our Environmental Future," and I invite you to join us for an...continued→
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...continued→
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...continued→
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...continued→
Rising above a picturesque valley in southern West Virginia, like an oasis in the midst of coal country, Coal River Mountain represents the last, best hope for a community resisting the legacy of dirty energy in this part of Appalachia. ...continued→
What is up with the U.S. Department of Interior these days? Unlike the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which appears to be walking the walk on mountaintop removal coal mining thanks to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's leadership, it's quite another story...continued→
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...continued→
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...continued→
J. Henry Fair is a phenomenal photographer who generously lends his images to NRDC. He has been particularly helpful to me by providing for our use his starkly captivating photos of mountaintop removal coal mining. By hook or by crook, whether...continued→
Bo Webb is a proud and patriotic American who lives in Appalachia. A former Marine who fought for his country in Vietnam, Bo resides in the Coal River Valley of southwestern West Virginia. For years, he has fought for the region he loves as coal...continued→
The message was like a punch in the gut: "The blasting has begun." Coal River Mountain in southern West Virginia, heretofore America's "most endangered" mountain, is now under assualt by Massey Energy, the nation's fourth-largest coal company and the worst offender...continued→
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...continued→
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...continued→
"The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me you are but aliens and tenants. Throughout the land that you hold, you shall provide for the redemption of the land." (Leviticus 25:23-24) "In another...continued→
Go tell it on the mountain! Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking unprecedented action to bring to an end the saga of the infamous Spruce Mine, jamming a stake in the heart of what would have been the largest mountaintop removal project in the history...continued→
"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...continued→
At a congressional hearing today on the Clean Water Act, two House representatives from West Virginia (Nick Rahall and Shelley Moore Capito) shifted the questioning to mountaintop removal coal mining during EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's testimony. Kind of like at a hockey game when...continued→
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...continued→
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, following through on EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's pledge to restore science to environmental regulation, has ruled that all 79 pending applications for mountaintop removal coal mining would violate the Clean Water Act. The agency's review of each permit deemed that...continued→
The coalfields of eastern Kentucky are ground zero for mountaintop removal coal mining. Explosives rock the peaks and echo through the hollows. Twenty-story draglines scrape out enough dirt to fill several dump trucks with every scoop. Earth-movers literally move the...continued→
"Turn on more lights, burn more coal." -- Don Blankenship Don Blankenship is the CEO of Massey Energy, the largest coal producer in Appalachia and the most notorious perpetrator of mountaintop removal mining. Mr. Blankenship, known as "the scariest polluter in America", makes millions of dollars...continued→
Common-sense tells us that blowing up a mountain and dumping the waste into valley streams is bad for water quality. But that logic has yet to thwart mountaintop removal coal mining. So I take it as a positive sign that the U.S. Environmental...continued→
The Environmental Protection Agency is grappling with two critical issues regarding how to protect America's water supplies from dirty coal: permitting mountaintop removal coal mining and regulating toxic coal ash. Mountaintop removal coal mining continues to ravage Appalachia's communities and...continued→
I live in Maryland and am proud to be represented in Congress by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD). Not only does he have a 100% rating from the League of Conservation Voters, but Sen. Cardin is leading the fight in Congress to end...continued→
"I'd seen big crowds. This wasn't a big crowd. It was puny and sort of bored." -- Bill Lynch Forgive me for beating a dead horse, but I just can't resist a parting shot at Don Blankenship's pathetic Friends of...continued→
This morning I was sipping a bottled water and perusing my blackberry in a hospital waiting room while my son awaited treatment for a broken elbow. I came upon an email forwarded by a colleague, which provided a link to a jaw-dropping story...continued→
A few days late and a thousand dollars short. That's how I'd describe the belated victory over Verizon Wireless. I mean, I appreciate the sentiment, Lowell, but really, this embarrassing episode for your company easily could have been avoided. OK,...continued→
Today marks a good day in the struggle to stop mountaintop removal coal mining. Citing concerns about severe water quality impacts, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) blocked all 79 pending mountaintop mining permits until the agency completes a more in-depth environmental review of the...continued→
Thus far, the Obama administration's approach to the controversial practice of mountaintop removal coal mining has been...shall we say...herky-jerky. Some days we're up, as when EPA announced in the spring that all such mining permits are on hold until further review. Other...continued→
Yesterday, thousands of miners and their families trekked to the top of a reclaimed mountaintop mine site in West Virginia to celebrate Labor Day at a free concert and picnic organized by Don Blankenship, CEO of the nation's fourth-largest coal company. The event, essentially a political...continued→
By now it's clear that Verizon Wireless can hear us, but so far they refuse to listen. The company seems inexplicably content to weather the public firestorm it created by choosing to sponsor coal baron Don Blankenship's anti-climate "Friends of America"...continued→
Everyone engaged in the fight over mountaintop removal is anticipating a big announcement next week (possibly Tuesday or Wednesday) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. NRDC and our grassroots partners want to put a stop -- once and for all -- to this extreme strip...continued→
Just as the Fox network is the undisputed television home for conservative political ideology, is Verizon Wireless setting itself up to become the right-wing's exclusive phone provider? Despite all of its attempts to bill itself as a "green" company, in the face of tens of thousands of...continued→
In response to my post yesterday about Verizon Wireless sponsoring Massey's anti-mountain, pro-coal Labor Day rally, a firestorm erupted on Verizon's Facebook page. (If you're in the mood to chuckle, just scroll through the angry catcalls from the climate-hater crowd in the comments section...continued→
As a long-time customer, I was appalled to learn that Verizon Wireless has hopped into bed with Don Blankenship, chairman, CEO and president of Massey Energy, one of the largest coal companies in America and one of the driving forces behind the...continued→
First there was Reclamation Fail (inspired by my new favorite funny website). Now there is... Grassroots Fail The back story is that the coal industry hired a PR firm to concoct this faux grassroots group to support its dirty energy...continued→
The state motto is "Virginia is for Lovers", and Virginians sure love their mountains. Think about what might happen if a coal company proposed to blow up peaks in the beloved Blue Ridge range? No way, no how -- there would be...continued→
If you're looking for guaranteed belly laughs, you gotta check out failblog. There's no sense in describing the insanely funny photos -- the humor is self-explanatory. The site inspired me to create a "fail" for mountaintop removal... Reclamation Fail The above is...continued→
One of the great things about our country is that the government often must give the public the opportunity to comment on something it is planning on doing, and then must actually consider those comments in making its final decision. ...continued→
This isn't usually my beat, but as someone who grew up in western North Carolina, the southern Appalachians (pronounced with a flat "a" in the third syllable, thanks) mean a great deal to me. And, like a lot of normal...continued→
Tsk, tsk ACCCE. This group of "clean" coal propagandists is to blame for the phony "grassroots" campaign that involved hiring a notorious "astro-turf" consulting firm to forge letters to Congress opposing the recently passed climate bill. My colleague Pete Altman shares the latest coverage on dirty...continued→
In about an hour I will leave my office and walk two blocks over to Lafayette Park, located directly across from the White House, for a candlelight prayer vigil being led by religious leaders and organizations calling on the Obama administration to halt the...continued→
If the out-of-state mining companies boycotting Tennessee for not allowing its mountains to be blown up expected sympathy for their lame-brained stunt, they got a wake-up call this morning in the form of blistering editorials in two of Tennessee's leading newspapers....continued→
My recent interview on mountaintop removal is now available on the "Electric Politics" podcast. You can listen to it here. Below is the description of the show: From Heaven To Hell In a horrific sacrifice to darkness, the money men of Washington continue to...continued→
Everyone knows that Dolly Parton is still working 9-to-5, just to try to make a living. But some Big Coal bad-guys, out to make a political statement, are aiming their fire at the reigning queen of country music. A few weeks...continued→
It's pretty clear the coal industry is getting some professional PR help to fan the flames of its flimsy protest against Tennessee for refusing to let mining companies level the beloved Smokeys. The latest coverage of the bone-headed boycott over mountaintop removal comes courtesy of the Washington Post....continued→
I own a pick-up truck that my neighbors sometimes borrow. One neighbor, who usually uses the truck to haul away lawn debris, always returns the truck in meticulous condition. No matter how often I tell him not to bother, he...continued→
When I checked into the hotel in Nashville I was tickled to find on the nightstand a complimentary copy of the magazine "Gardens & Guns." The evocatively silly name, which I must admit instantly appealed to me as a son of the South, belied...continued→
The Associated Press is reporting on an issue I blogged last week -- the boycott of Tennessee by coal companies, sparked by what the industry says is that state's "hostility" toward mountaintop removal coal mining. As the AP story explains, "angry"...continued→
Today the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in compliance with new Obama administration policy on mountaintop removal coal mining, has proposed eliminating the use of its streamlined permit process for the approval of surface coal mining in Appalachia. For far too long,...continued→
About 10 years ago St. Louis-based Arch Coal, the nation's second-largest coal mining company, launched an ill-fated PR campaign with full-color newspaper ads touting mountaintop removal as "the right thing to do." It now looks like the company is trading soft persuasion for hardball tactics with its newest...continued→
I'm looking forward to attending the world premier of Coal Country in Charleston, West Virginia this weekend. This documentary -- by the directors of the award-winning PBS series Appalachia -- captures the struggle of miners and activists in the battle over the world's worst...continued→
This evening, shortly after dusk, I'll join millions of my fellow Americans simultaneously celebrating our nation's liberty by gazing skyward to watch explosions in the sky. When you think about the 4th of July, you think one thing: fireworks. And lots of them, as loud as possible!...continued→
(Photo by J. Henry Fair) It is a national shame that mining companies are allowed to blast America's oldest mountains to smithereens -- all for the sake of dirty coal. Indeed, it is unfathomable that here in America, where...continued→
Pollution and poverty caused by the development of oil reserves have deprived tens of million of Nigerians their basic human rights, according to Amnesty International, which calls oil a "resource curse" for the region. "People living in the Niger Delta have to...continued→
Retired professor wants to build car-free village in a San Francisco suburb. Rock snot is invading New York. Vermont farmers change cows' diets to lower their emissions. Coal mining costs five times more in deaths than it provides in...continued→
Today at 3:30 pm EDT the U.S. Senate will hold an important hearing on mountaintop removal coal mining. This is the most extreme strip mining in use and it has resulted in the destruction of some 500 mountains in Appalachia, along with the forests,...continued→
As a reminder, later today will be a critically important Senate hearing before the Environment and Public Works subcommittee on "The Impacts of Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining on Water Quality in Appalachia." The hearing (which I'll be Tweeting live!) is being...continued→
It does not bode well that the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday ruled 6-3 in favor of treating America's waterways like dumps. Specifically, the Court decided that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can legally permit the disposal of polluted wastewater...continued→
Obama Administration officials announced today that they are taking "unprecedented steps to reduce the environmental impacts of mountaintop coal mining" in the six Appalachian states of Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The announcement focuses on plans to...continued→
Seriously, I read it in Grist, not The Onion. Reminder: In West Virginia a lot of coal is removed by...wait for it...actually removing the tops of the mountains. Below are a few photos I took in the so-called "Mountain State"...continued→
Last week, the Mayor and City Council of Keyser, West Virginia formally endorsed a proposed 23-turbine Pinnacle Wind Farm, a $125 million project that will generate an average of $432,000 in annual local taxes, create 150 construction and six permanent jobs, and help...continued→
Here we go again: Today the federal appeals court (4th Circuit) in Richmond rejected a request by public interest groups to reconsider its decision last month to overturn a lower court ruling that had curtailed mountaintop removal coal mining in West Virginia. With a...continued→
First the Oscars, then Major League Baseball, followed by the NBA...and now the "Great White Way." That's right. With the guidance of my colleague Allen Hershkowitz, NRDC is helping Broadway green up its act to save energy and the environment. The BROADWAY GOES...continued→
My friend Jeff Biggers, a noted author on Appalachia and a strong ally in the fight against mountaintop removal, just emailed me the link to his latest HuffPo blog with a one-word note: "depressing." One click revealed the shocking, utterly heartbreaking news that...continued→
Some 300 National Guard troops are pouring into southern West Virginia by order of Gov. Joe Manchin III. The soldiers are being dispatched to aid in disaster relief in the wake of flooding over the weekend caused by a wave of powerful storms that...continued→
This just in (courtesy of Ken Ward's Coal Tattoo blog): The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which under the Bush administration simply rubber stamped mining permits, yesterday suspended its controversial approval of A&G Coal Corp.'s Ison Rock Ridge Surface Mine in Wise...continued→
Calling mountaintop removal mining "the worst ongoing environmental tragedy our country has ever endured," NRDC Senior Attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is helping our push to persuade Congress to enact legislation that will end the destruction of Appalachia. Kennedy is enlisting concerned citizens to...continued→
What a horrible tragedy last week when 21 polo horses mysteriously collapsed and died. According to the toxicology reports, the horses likely perished from an overdose of selenium in an incorrectly mixed vitamin supplement. The accidental overdose brought to mind the slow selenium poisoning of Appalachia's drinking water due to...continued→
J Henry Fair is a fine friend and fabulous photographer who has graciously granted NRDC permission to use his photos of mountaintop removal coal mining. He and his amazing work -- more like works of art, really -- were profiled...continued→
On the eve of President Obama's 'First 100 Days' in office, Jeff Biggers provides an excellent recap of where the administration stands on dirty coal. As he points out, in general the outlook is good but current conditions are still hazy. ...continued→
U.S. News & World Report conducted an in-depth interview with Lisa Jackson, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. When asked point-blank about EPA's scrutiny of mountaintop removal, she gave this encouraging -- and courageous -- response: Q. The EPA...continued→
Congratulations to Maria Gunnoe for winning the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, which is considered the "Nobel prize" for grassroots environmentalists. Maria, one of six activists from different continents to earn the $150,000 award, is a native West Virginian who has put her life on the...continued→
Get this: The Appalachian region is home to the nation's least happy people, according to a recent Gallup opinion poll. While it makes perfect sense that Hawaii is the state with the happiest residents, it's surprising that Kentucky (#49) and West Virginia...continued→
Fact: The Appalachians are the nation's oldest and the world's most biologically diverse mountains. (Consider that more plant, tree and animal species can be found in one acre in the North Carolina Blue Ridge mountains than in all of Europe's forests.)...continued→
I must confess that I'm too busy to blog today. But for the latest on mountaintop removal do yourself a favor and check out Ken Ward's always informative Coal Tattoo blog. Today Ken writes about how the EPA has objected to three more...continued→
Great editorial cartoon that appeared in the Knoxville News-Sentinel on March 30th....continued→
What do Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, Kathy Mattea and "Big" Kenny Alphin (of Big & Rich) have in common? Sure, they're all popular country music artists. And, yes, they all make their home in Nashville, the geographic center of that genre's recording industry. They also love mountains...continued→
When you look at the photo above what do you see? Some might see the classic image of mountaintop removal -- a former Appalachian peak leveled and left lifeless by the most devastating and senseless stip mining method ever devised. More of a...continued→
As a bill to ban mountaintop removal in Tennessee comes up for a vote today in the State Legislature, it's great to see the Knoxville News-Sentinel come out strongly in favor of the legislation. In urging Gov. Phil Bredesen and legislators to "consider serious restrictions on...continued→
In the news this week: Turn out the lights, please! Earth Hour is on Saturday at 8:30 pm (find out which sites will go dark). NRDC's Rob Perks makes sense of the EPA's mountaintop removal announcements on his Switchboard blog...continued→
Greenwire reports that the Army Corps of Engineers reinstated a permit yesterday for a controversial Kentucky coal mining project hours after the EPA had publicly pledged to review pending mountaintop removal projects. It would appear then that the Corps has little regard...continued→
Perhaps not content with EPA's mixed message on mountaintop removal, Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) today teamed up to introduce legislation that would end the dumping of mining waste into streams. Senator Cardin, Chairman of the Water and...continued→
Yesterday was a wild ride on the mountaintop removal front, with many people suffering whiplash from EPA's dueling press releases. Appalachian-based environmental journalist extraordinaire, Ken Ward, Jr., offers some after action perspective in his Coal Tattoo blog this morning. Today's...continued→
A few hours ago I applauded EPA's move today to revisit two pending mining permits at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that would allow mountaintop removal in Kentucky and West Virginia. Like many others, I held out hope that EPA's action would lead to...continued→
According to the following press release issued today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the agency is weighing in on the federal permit process for the controversial coal mining technique known as mountaintop removal. It's too early to tell what this may mean but it seems like a...continued→
"We're tearing up the Appalachian Mountains because of our dependence on fossil fuel." -- Barack Obama At a campaign stop in Kentucky last fall, then-candidate Barack Obama denounced mountaintop removal coal mining. It remains to be seen whether President Obama will...continued→
Today the Tennessee legislature will hold its first hearing on a bill to ban mountaintop removal coal mining in the state. The Scenic Vistas Protection Act would outlaw mining on ridges in Tennessee over 2000 feet, but places no restrictions on...continued→
Right now more than 150 activists from around the country are walking the halls of Congress, urging their elected leaders to end mountaintop removal coal mining. We're trying to persuade Congress to pass the Clean Water Protection Act (H.R. 1310), a bill that would close...continued→
In the news this week: Lawmakers in a Long Island county have voted to approve what would be the nation's first ban on baby bottles and sippy cups made with bpa. Florida wants to charge bottled water companies by the...continued→
I can feel the momentum shifting in the fight to end mountaintop removal coal mining. Last week, bi-partisan legislation to help halt mountaintop mining was introduced in Congress. The Clean Water Protection Act (CWPA), a bill that would prevent coal companies from legally dumpining...continued→
Earlier this month -- on Friday the 13th -- a federal appeals court in Richmond, VA dealt a devastating blow to the environment by overturning a 2007 lower court decision curtailing mountaintop removal, the world's most destructive coal mining technique. I blogged this bad news. Clearly, the...continued→
Earlier this month, state legislators in Georgia introduced a bill (HB 276) that would outlaw the use of coal mined by mountaintop removal for power generation. This followed similar legislation introduced last year in North Carolina. Although this controversial strip...continued→
Most parody songs are done tongue-in-cheek. Not so this heartfelt, heartbreaking twist on John Denver's famous ode to West Virginia, put together by the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. In under four minutes this particular parody, paired with powerful video footage, succintly tells the...continued→
On this unluckiest of all days, there is a horror story for those trying to save Appalachia's mountains from senseless destruction in pursuit of the world's dirtiest fossil fuel. A federal appeals court today overturned a lower court ruling curtailing mountaintop removal --...continued→
Watching TV yesterday I stumbled upon a great mountaintop removal film now airing on the Sundance channel. I recall hearing about "Burning the Future" last year while it was being filmed, but I hadn't realized it was out. This movie even features a cameo by...continued→
Although the price of coal is unfortunately up compared to historical levels, I found it interesting that the financial website Motley Fool singled Massey Energy out as a risky investment. To wit: "Of all the deep-value prospects within the embattled coal-mining sector, I...continued→
It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before me; the whole land will be laid waste because there is no one who cares. (Jeremiah 12:11) My heart lept at the news that a Christian environmental group in Tennessee...continued→
In the battle to save the Appalachian Mountains from being "removed" by rapacious coal companies, many are advocating a clean energy alternative: wind power. Some good news on that front: The wind industry now employs more people than coal mining in...continued→
Here's some good news... Today, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said his agency will revisit the Bush administration's last-minute industry-friendly rule changes, including those paving the way for oil shale development in the Rockies and easing federal mining restrictions that served as the...continued→
I recently returned from a trip where I saw environmental destruction worse than anything I saw during my week in China. I saw something that I just can't believe is happening in the United States of America. It's called Mountain-Top...continued→
I wasn't planning on coming to work today. After partying until the wee hours at an Inaugural Ball, I certainly didn't feel like dragging myself to the office this morning. I was all set to take a vacation day to...continued→
The 80-square mile Hobet 21 mine (above), near Danville, West Virginia, is due to expand fivefold -- like other mountaintop removal operations it will yield one ton of coal for every 16 tons of terrain displaced. This mine is the...continued→
Our friends at Appalachian Voices have a campaign to save America's Most Endangered Mountains from "strip-mining on steroids" -- otherwise known as mountaintop removal mining. The latest mountain in the cross-hairs of Big Coal is a ridge top above Wilson Creek in Kentucky. Here...continued→
We, as Americans, tend to take water for granted. When we turn on the tap we simply expect that it is clean enough for washing, bathing and drinking. Even though some may prefer to drink filtered or bottled water, my guess is...continued→
Great column in the Knoxville News-Sentinel on what the Bush administration's latest giveway to the mining industry means for America's mountains, including the majestic Smokies. A taste: On the eve of its final Christmas in the White House, the Bush...continued→
UPDATE: I've added video of the testimony to the end of this post. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a senior counsel for NRDC, is a long-time, prominent critic of mountaintop removal coal mining. Today he testified in Congress before the House...continued→
UPDATE: After taking too many lumps, ACCCE pulls plug on Coal Caroler campaign!! See details. Hooray Rachel Maddow, for ridiculing the cuddly yet craven Coal Carolers on her MSNBC show last night. Like she said: "Where are the 'War on Christmas'...continued→
Our friends at Coal River Mountain Watch have been fighting to save their mountain from being decapitated by Massey Energy Co. to mine coal. Through their teriffic Coal River Wind project, they've been able to show that there is a clean, renewable energy alternative...continued→
The Bush Administration's "midnight rule" change to allow more mountaintop removal coal mining may have grabbed a lot of attention last week, but that likely short-term win for Big Coal was overshadowed by some bad news that isn't going away...continued→
Great news: One of the biggest banks in the land is saying NO to the baddest strip mining on earth -- mountaintop removal coal mining. This summer, after months of conversations, some top executives from Bank of America agreed to accompany...continued→
Today is a yet another day that will live in environmental infamy for the Bush administration. On its way out the door, the Bush EPA has just given the mining industry a big going-away gift by deciding to weaken a...continued→
Back in the seventies and eighties, I got called names because of the work I did: "tree hugger" was a favorite, so was "bleeding heart." But that was a long time ago, before energy security and green enterprise became mainstream...continued→
As many of my colleagues are describing today, NRDC and a host of partner groups in the environmental, conservation, and public health community have created a document, called "Transition to Green," which lays out a detailed set of policies that we...continued→
Hollywood couldn't script a better corporate villain than Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy, the nation's fourth largest coal company. He has built his company up largely by tearing down the mountains of his home-state of West Virginia. Under his control,...continued→
Forgive me, but I thought it worth sharing comments posted in response to my blog yesterday about Massey Energy's role in mountaintop removal coal mining. "Rob, I can't thank you and NRDC enough for involving yourselves in the struggle to end mountain top...continued→
"Government is the biggest risk we have to our way of life." Those words were uttered by Don Blankenship, the notorious CEO of Massey Energy -- the nation's fourth-largest coal company and without a doubt the biggest perpetrator of so-called mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia....continued→
With all the concerns over energy these days, much has been made of the need to wean our nation off oil as a way to lessen our dependence on imports from other countries that don't particularly like us. Imagine how...continued→
A majority of Americans (85%) oppose mountaintop removal mining, according to a new nationwide poll. Perhaps not surprising but very encouraging. Of course, residents of Appalachia have long opposed this practice of blowing off the tops of mountains to get...continued→
When is a stream no longer a stream? In other words, if you fill it, will it still flow? When mountaintop mining occurs the waste rock, rubble, dirt and other debris that results from blasting gets push off the cleared ridge-top...continued→
Yesterday I blogged about the Bush administration's new effort to weaken laws so coal companies can dump mining waste into America's rivers and streams. I posted a photo I took of a mountaintop mine. As one person commented, "More people...continued→
The moonscape below is a former fully-functioning ecosystem -- now devoid of forests, wildlife, wetlands and waterways that are characteristic of a mountain. This is so-called mountaintop removal coal mining -- the most destructive strip mining practice on earth --...continued→
Three cheers for our friends at Coal River Mountain Watch for their continued persistence in fighting Massey Energy Company's efforts to gain approval from federal and state authorities so they can blast the mountain into oblivion to mine coal. A...continued→
Throughout the fall, you will hear Republican leaders use the phrase “All of the Above” to describe their energy policy. The idea is that our energy crisis is so significant that we need to take all the options on the...continued→
I had to reread this story to be sure it wasn't actually from The Onion. Taxpayer dollars going to spew propaganda to children about the wonders of coal and the benefits of MTR?Unbelievable. Sadly, outrageously, this is totally true. Yet...continued→
It looks like changing your name is the new trend in the coal industry. A few weeks ago I wrote about ABEC (American’s for Balanced Energy Choices) changing their name to ACCCE (American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy), and if...continued→
It's good to know that Kentuckians have laws to protect their communities from the abuses of our throwaway society. While spending time recently in the eastern part of the state, I was relieved when I read a front page story...continued→
Last week, we got a tip from a friend in the know: "Head on down to Shining Rock Wilderness this weekend, the blueberries are in." And so on Saturday, my family and I got out onto the roof of southern Appalachia and...continued→
How to generate millions of jobs, break our dependence on oil and reduce the pollution that causes global warming.
