COLUMBUS – It has only been 56 days since April 1, when the Obama Administration lowered the boom on future permits for mountaintop removal coal mining. Since then, three events have shown that there is no going back to the way it was.
1. On April 5, Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia exploded, killing 29 miners. The credibility of the coal companies collapsed in the explosion, and Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship became a national symbol of reckless disregard for human life. Blankenship had been the chief spokesman for mountaintop removal coal mining.
2. On May 5, U.S. Senate President pro tempore Robert Byrd of West Virginia issued a new statement, going well beyond his startling December remarks. This time Byrd said outright that mountaintop removal coal mining “should be halted.” Here is the excerpt in context:
If the process of mining destroys nearby wells and foundations, if blasting and digging and relocating streams unearths harmful elements and releases them into the environment causing illness and death, that process should be halted and the resulting hazards to the community abated.
Byrd’s new position is stronger than that of the Obama Administration, which only intends stop the vast majority of future mountaintop removal permits. Byrd defines the effects of mountaintop removal and then says it should be halted. This would include current mountaintop removal projects as well.
3. On May 18, the U.S. EPA held a public hearing on its proposal to veto the Spruce Mine permit, the largest mountaintop removal permit in West Virginia history. The hearing was held at the 1,000-seat Charleston Civic Center, anticipating a stand-room-only crowd assembled by Faces of Coal, the coal company lobby group. Half the seats were empty.
— Paul Ryder, Organizing Director, Ohio Citizen Action
This cartoon depicting the true nation of Don Blankenship was right on. I really liked it.
I was recently watching a special on the plight of the west Virgina in regards to mountain top stripping and was deeply moved. How can I join in the fight to save your beautiful homeland and secure you and your childrens health. Very truly yours, Stephen E Jones Sr.
Mr. Jones,
Thank you for wanting to get involved with stopping mountaintop removal coal mining. Currently, there are two pieces of federal legislation which would effectively ban mountaintop removal: House Bill 1310 The Clean Water Protection Act, and Senate Bill 696 the Appalachian Restoration Act. Contacting your representatives and senators in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate to co-sponsor this legislation is key. Without this legislation, the regulation of mountaintop removal will be determined by the presidential administration. Write your reps letters and call the D.C. and local offices. Please feel free to contact me at our Columbus Office at 614-263-4600. I can talk with you in more detail and send you more information. Thanks again!
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