“Everybody wants into da act”. Even, in this case, when it is a school play. This blog will get its review of the MTR Follies in early. “… a delightful show, wherein Gilbert and Sullivan Meet Sweeney Todd.”
“What is he on about now?”
The fight to end mountaintop removal, an incredibly destructive form of coal mining that accounts for only 7 percent of coal production in these United States.
“Fight! Fight!”
The Massey site is quite proximate to Marsh Elementary School, thus well-chosen as the spot for more arrests, to include the arrest of NASA’s chief climate scientist. By quite proximate we mean the elementary school playground, in which several hundred protesters gathered, is less than 300 feet away from Massey Energy’s Goals Coal preparation plant.
And, by everybody, that is to include, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Work Committee’s Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife. According to HuffPo contributors Bruce Nilles and Mary Anne Hitt, the subcommittee is holding a hearing: “The Impacts of Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining on Water Quality in Appalachia.”
The hearing comes on the heels of major arrests during a mountaintop removal protest on Tuesday in the coalfields of southern West Virginia. NASA climate expert Dr. James Hansen, the actor Daryl Hannah, 94-year old retired Congressman Ken Hechler, and Goldman Prize winner Judy Bonds were among the two dozen people arrested in front of Marsh Fork Elementary School, which is located next to a coal processing plant and directly beneath a dam holding back billions of tons of mining waste. As Dr. Hansen told the Charleston (WV) Gazette:
“The reason I have come to West Virginia is that coal is the number one issue in solving the climate problem. It is the cause of half of the excess carbon in the atmosphere. And mountaintop removal is the place that we should start.”
Well, let us hope, Dr. Hansen that environmental justice prevails. Meanwhile, we move the scene from climbing a dragline and a massive protest to the first Senate subcommittee hearing ever on the environmental impacts of mountaintop removal mining.
But, first, a sip of water, as I am thirsty.
“Judge Turpin: Antagonist. A corrupt and depraved official. An upholder of justice who twists the system to serve his own ends.”
Speaking of water quality, “The Supremes” have been in the act, too, with a major decision. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a case involving the Kensington Gold Mine in Alaska, ruling that the mine could dump all its waste into Lower Slate Lake even though all that waste will kill everything in the lake.
How is this related to mountaintop removal, rhetorically asks Matt Dernoga?
Because the justices referred to a Bush Administration era definition of “fill” under the Clean Water Act, a rule change made to accommodate coal companies that wanted to dump their mountaintop removal waste into streams.
This ruling is terrible news for those around Lower Slate Lake, but it also has national implications. The implications of this ruling increase the pressure on Congress and the Obama administration to restore the original definition of “fill” – if they do not, mining companies will continue dumping their waste into streams in Appalachia and beyond.
“Hundreds of anti-mountaintop removal activists gathered today at the Marsh Fork Elementary in Sundial, WV, deep in the Appalachian mountains. Hundreds of pro-coal counter protesters also turned out, resulting in constant interruption of speakers and musical performers and culminating in charges of battery against a local woman who struck Goldman Environmental Prize winner Judy Bonds in the face.
In this blog’s opinion, federal policy makers are missing a “twofer” here. They could be herding those geezers right into a Massey gasifier, producing CLEAN ENERGY FOR THE FUTURE and cutting HEALTH CARE COSTS at the same time. Let’s get those Yes Men thinking caps on, shall we!
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OTOH, to put the slugging of Bonds into perspective, a former Revolutionary Guard member reports that while Mousavi won the election there is a ‘Military Coup’ underway in Iran to keep Ahmadinejad in power. Soldiers are firing at protesters from helicopters and even worse from an American praxis, the Iran Government controls the cell phone system and the Internet is down!
Post cards from the edge… Another appeal to President Obama from Dr. Hansen
“We’re not making this up although we wish we were”… Daryl Hannah explains why she flew across the country on her own dime (yes, to include offsets) to Coal River, West Virginia, knowing that she would most likely end up in jail in one of the poorest parts of America.
“I have great respect for, and am deeply indebted to the miners working in coalmines and on MTR projects who risk their lives daily to bring power to our country. I understand they feel threatened by anything that might take away their jobs. And, I don’t want to see them lose more jobs…”
Speaking of telling the story of those, who risk their lives daily to bring us electric power, “Coal Country” is a new film on the cradle-to-grave process of generating our coal-fired electricity. “It will be hitting the theaters next week,” writes Jeff Biggers. (Well, cinemas, if not Washington Theater.)
Speaking of risking lives, Dave Massey risks the lives of school children every school day at Marsh Elementary School. “If the Marsh Fork dam were to break, students would have about 17 seconds before the sludge reached their school.”
Image annotated and uploaded by the advocacy group Appalachian Voices
Marsh Fork Elementary in Sundial, West Virginia—precariously set about 400 feet downhill from a massive 2.8-billion-gallon pool of toxic coal sludge.