STOP Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

rev-o-lu-tion

2009-11-09T21:26:52Z

rev-o-lu-tion: activity or movement designed to effect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation: a fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something.

“War is when the government tells you who the bad guy is. Revolution is when you figure that out for yourself.”

“No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution – Revolution is but thought carried into action”

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Senate confirms Pizarchik for OSMRE

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today praised the Senate’s confirmation of Joseph Pizarchik as director of the Department’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.

Pizarchik currently is director of the Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Mining and Reclamation, part of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. The nomination requires Senate confirmation.

PEER weighs in on Obama OSM(RE) pick

President Obama’s choice to run the Office of Surface Mining signifies that campaign promises to end environmentally destructive coal mining practices, such as mountain-top removal, will be abandoned.

Placating the coal industry is evolving into the central plank of the administration’s environmental agenda.

Battle over coal moves into Raleigh classrooms

The Friends of Coal Ladies Auxiliary wrapped up its first Coal in the Classroom program in the Raleigh County public schools with a field trip this week.

Its pro-coal curriculum was piloted at a private elementary school last year.

Bush’s Stream-Buffer Rule for Mining Will Remain Until 2011

The Interior Department will leave in place George W. Bush-era changes to a rule designed to protect streams from mountaintop-removal coal mining until 2011, according to court documents filed by the Obama administration Friday.

Rahall, Capito question EPA Administrator on mountaintop removal

Both Democrat Rahall and Republican Capito said there is a great deal of frustration and concern in Appalachia’s coalfields over the permitting process for mountaintop removal mining.

They stressed that the administration’s position for more scrutiny of this type of coal mining affects jobs, families and communities.

Mountaintop removal’s environmental double whammy

The increase in mountaintop-removal mining is in part due to a relaxation of regulations in 2002 under the Bush administration, which changed the definition of “fill materials” in the Clean Water Act to include mining waste. In mountaintop removal, the mining company first scares off animal life and clear-cuts the forest, then drops in explosives and massive drag lines to shear off the top 500-800 feet of the mountain. Then it harvests and washes the coal, generating coal slurry. Under previous rules, the rock, dirt, and slurry was considered “waste”, which had to be expensively shipped to approved waste sites. But the new rule reclassified it as “fill material”, allowing companies to dump the whole mess into adjacent stream valleys, which is much cheaper. In 2008, the Bush administration further cheapened the practice by eliminating requirements for “buffer zones” that prohibited mining within 100 feet of flowing streams.

EPA issues clarification on mountaintop removal notice

The Environmental Protection Agency is not halting, holding or placing a moratorium on any of the mining permit applications. Plain and simple. EPA has issued comments on two pending permit applications to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expressing serious concerns about the need to reduce the potential harmful impacts on water quality. EPA will take a close look at other permits that have been held back because of the 4th Circuit litigation. We fully anticipate that the bulk of these pending permit applications will not raise environmental concerns.

Mountaintop removal damage ‘irreversible,’ U.S. Senate hears – DEP official (Randy Huffman) only witness to defend practice

The only witness who defended mountaintop removal was Randy Huffman, who as secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection is the Manchin administration’s top strip-mining regulator.

Huffman said his agency has an “effective and progressive” regulatory program, and that his main concern is that Obama administration efforts to more closely regulate the practice “have the potential to significantly limit all types of mining.”

“West Virginia and the nation need jobs and coal,” Huffman told senators. “Coal production is the leading revenue generator for West Virginia, and many in the state are concerned about losing the opportunities for future economic development associated with mountaintop mining.”

Leaked Memo Proves DEP Head Lied to Congress About Mountaintop Removal

Against the overwhelming evidence (including EPA studies) and down-right commonsense that mountaintop removal coal quarrying (formerly known as “mining”) had very harmful effects on ecosystems, the coal industry and its government could find shelter behind a scientific institution which said otherwise. And though alone in the wilderness, this shelter seemed all the more sturdy since it was none other than the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, the very agency whose members had as a primary duty to diligently guard against any intrusion which would harm the environment. As head of the DEP, Randy Huffman’s contestation that mountaintop removal was benign seemed like the voice of Zeno’s reason, assuring us that we have been manipulated by our senses, that the degradation we see is only a chimera, that the arrow really doesn’t move.

And on… and on… and on…

Is it time?

The Fallout

2009-11-09T14:48:37Z

The mountaintop removal site I visited yesterday was not working. If there was someone there pulling weekend duty I didn’t see them. Right before cresting the mountain I did hear and then see evidence that another site in the distance was working. I wasn’t on top of the mountain when I heard the first explosion. It was easy to tell the blast was quite a distance from where I was and behind a mountain. I did, however, see the dust plume from the explosion pretty quickly.

I was only about 5 minutes from the top and before I could even crest the top of the mountain the dust cloud had obstructed the skyline over a pretty big area.

Within just a couple of minutes of reaching the top and less than ten minutes from the initial blast, a second blast echoed across the mountains like some prehistoric monster answering the mating call of the first blast.

The second dust cloud joins the first as it spreads out across the mountains and valleys.

From the time I took the photo of the initial dust plume from the first blast to the dissipation of both clouds nearly 20 minutes had elapsed. Using Google Earth I measured the distance and I was just under 5 miles from both blasts. In the last photo the dust cloud is covering an area over 4 miles long. Had the wind been blowing east instead of north I have no doubt the cloud would have made it to me.

Imagine anyone living in the valleys engulfed with the cloud, they are breathing this stuff for a minimum 20 minutes. Marsh Fork Elementary, which supporters of coal will say is unaffected by coal mining, is between me and the dust cloud. Had the cloud been moving east the fallout would have definitely landed on the school at 2.1 miles from the initial blast area.

When I saw the cloud spread out like it did, I couldn’t help but think fallout. I was also thinking… welcome to Wild Wonderful West Virginia… please check your respirators, oxygen tanks, and plastic bubbles at the gate.

I have to wonder why?

2009-11-08T05:51:19Z

To be completely honest, I don’t know why I keep going back. But, I went back today and one reason was for the view.

The photo above was taken from the head of a hollow in Drew’s Creek looking east into Raleigh County. The photos below were taken from the same area looking northwest towards Boone County.

I know it is much too late to prevent the destruction of this mountain or the one in the distance, but yet I keep going back. Maybe it has something to do with morbid curiosity. You know like when you see a car wreck on the highway and you just have to crane your neck to look or a house catching fire and everybody stops to watch the flames eat the house away to nothing all the while asking the folks gathered around if anybody was hurt in the blaze. There is nothing you can do about it… it’s just morbid curiosity.

I keep going back to watch the mountains become something else entirely. They go from being gently sloping hills and beautiful valleys to signs of desperation, greed or both seemingly overnight.

I say desperation and/or greed because I don’t know what the prime motivator is for mountaintop removal coal mining. If we are using the MTR method because it is the only way to get the thin seams of coal near the top, which is quoted a lot, then I would have to say the prime motivator for mountaintop removal would be desperation. If we are willing to destroy so much and jeopardize so much more to get thin seams of coal near the surface then we must be running out of reserves. If we justify MTR with jobs then first we have to forget the loss of jobs to mountaintop removal while at the same time not saying we are to dumb to do anything else, we’re desperate.

If mountaintop removal coal mining is done because it is the most economical and cost effective method of mining coal, which is also quoted often, then I would have to say greed is the prime motivator. Also, if we are doing MTR because we need 1000’s of acres of flat land for future development, yeah people really say it, then I think that is a sign of greed as well. Promising future development for these sites is like a West Virginia politician saying trust me. Uh… yeah… when pigs fly.

Not too long ago someone asked me, sarcastically of course, if there was a developer willing to build the Coal River Wind Farm? I would have to ask an equally sarcastic question back… is there a developer willing to build anything on the mountaintop removal site pictured? Or hell for that matter, the one in the distance or the new MTR site going on Coal River Mtn.? Do any of those properties have a developer? No… ?? I would say no is the only logical answer simply because if the coal industry had developers for these wastelands then every time we turn on the radio or TV we would have that information getting shoveled down our throats right behind clean coal and carbon neutral.

I guess I get a little irritated when I visit a mountaintop removal site. To stand on a mountain that is being destroyed for coal and look out across numerous mountains and valleys getting destroyed for the same reason, it just seems senseless and I have to wonder why? Not a single one of the readily available justifications seems to work with the sheer amount of destruction right in front of my eyes.

Maybe we should search for new innovative ways to achieve sustainability, to achieve economic stability, and to generate electricity instead of relentlessly searching for new innovative ways to justify mountaintop removal coal mining.

Coal In The Classroom

2009-11-02T06:27:07Z

This is one of those things that was going to happen for the simple fact that King Coal owns West Virginia.

Battle over coal moves into Raleigh classrooms

BECKLEY, W.Va. — The Friends of Coal Ladies Auxiliary wrapped up its first Coal in the Classroom program in the Raleigh County public schools with a field trip this week.

Its pro-coal curriculum was piloted at a private elementary school last year.

On Tuesday, Stratton Elementary School’s fourth-grade class traveled to the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine for a firsthand look at an underground mine.

First of all, I can’t even begin to put into words how pissed off I would be If I had a child in any Raleigh County public school. I’m afraid I would be right up in someones face demanding this nonsense end immediately.

Below is a comment posted to the article above. As far as I’m concerned this person hit the nail square on the head.

Granted that coal is part of our history, but what these kids are going to get is nothing more than pro coal industry propaganda. Do you think they’ll be talking about the mine wars? No. Do you think they’ll learn about the “judicious mixture” that Justice Collins developed in his mine camps? No. Do you think that they’ll learn about the Baldwin Felts thugs and their later incorporation as the West Virginia State Police? No. What they will be programmed with is that the coal industry loves them and that everything to do with coal is decent and good, and when you grow up you can be burned to death in a methane explosion which will be fine because we’re all friends of coal.

I have to stick by my beliefs and maintain the battle over coal simply should not be in an elementary school classroom. The absolutely only way I would concede, reluctantly, to the idea of coal in the classroom is if the class was taught by a certified teacher knowledgeable specifically in not only the history of coal as it relates to West Virginia and the Nation, but also to both positive and negative aspects of coal as it relates to now and the world. That would be the only way that a child could still decide for themselves the right path for them to take. A class being taught by a friends of coal ladies auxiliary, to fourth graders for crying out loud, is nothing more than taking those children by the hand and leading them down the path you would prefer they go. That is just wrong on so many levels. Most folks want what is best for their children… tell me… can anyone honestly say they want their child to be a coal miner?

From the Raleigh County Board of Education website -

Responsibility
Achievement
Leadership
Excellence
Integrity
Growth
Honesty

Obviously the first letters spell Raleigh. I think they should find some new words for some of them because responsibility, integrity, and honesty have definitely flown the coup.

The United Nations are going to be talking climate change in Copenhagen this year while in Raleigh County, West Virginia we will be teaching our fourth graders the benefits of burning coal for America.

Speaking of Copenhagen, briefly… I don’t think America should be allowed through the doors in Copenhagen. I think climate change ranks somewhere around 9 on America’s priority list with corporations and campaign contributions dominating the number 1 spot.

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Update – I’m glad I’m not alone in my thinking on this issue. Pro-coal curriculum doesn’t belong in classroom

Sunny Day Breach

2009-10-30T01:03:57Z

With mountaintop removal starting on Coal River Mountain, which means blasting is going to be occurring uncomfortably close to the Brushy Fork slurry impoundment, I thought this would be a good time to talk about the emergency warning plan for the Brushy Fork dam. All calculations in the plan are based on a sunny day breach. Sunny day breach obviously means no contributing adverse weather conditions just some type of failure with the dam itself.

Two different scenarios are possible with a failure to this particular impoundment. The first is a breach of the main dam which is primarily what the warning plan focuses on. The second failure would be into abandoned underlying mine works known as the Brushy Eagle mine which would be as devastating.

The following excerpts are from this document (click to download a copy, this is a 17mb .pdf file) -

The data outlined in the first few excerpts below were outlined by me just to help you understand the data.

Using Pettus as an example (click images for a larger view) -

At mile 3.64 is the distance from the dam to Pettus. Gage zero = 847.00 feet is ground level. Max elevation reached by flood wave = 919.52 feet is pretty self explanatory. 72.52 feet is the difference between ground level and max elevation of the flood wave. When added with the following time schedule, also from the plan, what it means is that if the dam were to have a major breach, an estimated 12 minutes after the breach a wave of toxic sludge over 72 feet tall would hit the small community of Pettus.

The document contains the calculations for all of the communities on the list above. I’ve decided to list all of them here.

I found it frightening that at Peytona, the community furthest from the dam included in the plan, at over 26 miles, would still be hit by a wave nearly 40 feet tall in the event of a sunny day breach.

I have seen the number 998 used quite a bit in relation to expected casualties from a major breach of the brushy fork dam but I really believe that number is a lot smaller than what would actually occur. For instance, in the town of Whitesville alone there were 520 residents listed for the 2000 census. Whitesville would be hit by a wave just over 51 feet tall an estimated 18 minutes after the dam breached. I can’t imagine how any of those folks could get out in time and for those that were lucky enough it would take a run for their lives. There are only two ways out of town. One way would take you straight into the flood and in the other direction one would be trying to outrun the flood and if you are in a vehicle, you would be hoping like hell you didn’t hit the inevitable panic laden traffic jam because literally every second would count. One figure I didn’t highlight, probably should have, was max flow. As far as Whitesville is concerned the wave would be moving at a volume of 406092 cubic feet per second, that translates into 3,037,779 gallons per second. One cubic foot per second is equal to a volume of one cubic foot flowing every second. 1 cubic foot per second = 7.4805 gallons per second.

I have seen no documents from studies that should be conducted stating that it is safe to use explosives in the vicinity of the dam. I live just over 7 miles in a straight line from the nearest MTR site. I hear the explosion every time they set one off and in most cases I can feel it as well. Imagine the concussion that would ripple through the impoundment area just a couple hundred feet from the blasting. I actually think there would be more of a chance of the impoundment failing into the old Brushy Eagle mine works. Which as I stated at the beginning of this post would be just as devastating as a main dam breach. You would still have about 8 billion gallons of coal slurry on its way downstream after exiting from two suspected Brushy Eagle mine portals.

Stopping the mountaintop removal operation on Coal River Mountain would not only preserve the mountain for a more sustainable future such as the Coal River Wind project but stopping the blasting just may save lives. How far are we willing to go, how much are we willing to destroy, what are we willing to risk for coal, a non-renewable resource?

BTW – considering the plan was drawn up under sunny day conditions I would have to assume that would leave God open to take the blame should a failure occur during adverse weather conditions.

Visit iLoveMountains.org and Get Involved!!

For more info and an interactive map visit Journey Up Coal River.

TAKE ACTION!! Help Save Coal River Mountain!

2009-10-25T20:24:03Z

UPDATE – EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: Battle at Coal River Mountain Explodes; Green Jobs v. Big Coal Showdown
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From The Huffington Post -

Matt Wasson
Director of Programs for Appalachian Voices

BREAKING NEWS: Reports are coming in from residents of West Virginia’s Coal River Valley that Massey Energy has begun mountaintop removal mining operations on Coal River Mountain. Sprawling across thousands of acres of diverse and pristine hardwood forests, this mountain is home to the tallest peaks ever permitted for destruction in the state of West Virginia. The mountain also became a powerful symbol of hope for a better future in the Appalachian coalfields after a study showed those peaks and ridges have wind resources as high as “Class 7,” which is the highest rating on the scale.

Read more… and Take Action!!

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From iLoveMountains.org –

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The mountaintop removal site in the foreground is what I refer to as the Edwight MTR site. Just to the left of Coal River Mountain is another MTR site associated with Montcoal and Twilight. Both are Massey Energy mountaintop removal sites.

On the back side of Coal River Mountain in the first photo is the location of the Brushy Fork Slurry Impoundment also a product of Massey Energy. Imagine what this view will be if Coal River Mountain is destroyed as well.

I’m not trying to be negative, just realistic. In order for windmills to appear in the same photo as a Massey Energy owned, or probably any, mountaintop removal site there will have to be a revolution in this state plain and simple.

Your voice is needed, comment NWP21

2009-10-23T17:51:42Z

As many of you know the Army Corp of Engineers hearings on the proposed modification and suspension of Nationwide Permit 21 was nothing more than federally sponsored coal rallies. However, all hope is not lost.

Until Monday, Oct 26 your voice can still make a difference.

From an Earthjustice email -

The Corps’ plan to suspend and modify “Nationwide Permit 21″ will stop the rubber stamping of mountaintop removal permits and lead to better scrutiny of the environmental impacts of this mining practice. Strong public support—your support—is needed now to eliminate the NWP 21 loophole.

I encourage every person fighting for justice in the coalfields to make your voice heard and help eliminate the NWP21 permit process. It only takes a few minutes to submit your comment. Is saving our communities worth a few minutes of your time?

A stronger permitting process, among other things, would allow for more comments and concerns from coalfield residents during the permitting process instead of after permits are issued. This is something the coal industry does not want. Give us our voice and we will put an end to the destruction to our home.

So, please, make your voice heard and help save our mountains, streams, and communities of Appalachia.

The following link is a direct link to the comment form -

http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#submitComment?R=0900006480a2019e

PLEASE join me in taking this important step towards stopping the rape of Appalachia by the coal industry.

Remember you only have until Monday, Oct. 26.

Reclamation… Maybe??

2009-10-21T04:06:51Z

Hey it could be. As good a job as they do reclaiming these mountaintop removal wastelands, this would probably pass for reclamation… uh… that is, if it wasn’t buried upside down. They never claimed to be experts, just coal miners. Well hell they can just spray some hybrid miracle grass on this thing and it would look just fine from the air. At least they have that going for them.

Mountaintop Removal, Future Economic Development & Marsh Fork Elementary

2009-10-22T00:10:28Z

Before I get into the reason for this post I want to post a video from an action that took place at the West Virginia State Capital yesterday where 7 activists were arrested.

The main thing I want to point out about this video is the reference to the state as being an “extraction state” by Governor Manchin.

Personally I’ve always thought/heard/seen on billboards/postcards/been taught that West Virginia was the Mountain State. It would seem as if some folks have conveniently forgotten that. West Virginia Extractioneers… hmm, that just doesn’t work. We are the Mountain State although in some areas of the state that is no longer quite as evident. Which brings me to the rest of the story.

For the sake of argument, let’s assume these sites are for future economic development. Forgetting, if we can, for a second about the lack of infrastructure to support any kind of development. The size of the majority of these sites are large enough to fit the towns they surround on the site many times over. Case in point, Kayford Mountain and Dorothy, West Virginia.

(click photos for larger images)

In the photo, the mountaintop removal site stretches off into the distance as evidenced by the lighter shades of green and the brown naked landscape. To say the site is huge is an understatement. What kind of development could you put on that site that would benefit the small community of Dorothy, West Virginia sitting right there at the base of the mountain? I would say a shopping mall is out of the question simply due to lack of patrons. I would say an airport is out of the question unless of course every single person in Dorothy is in dire need of air transportation… 3 to 4 times a day. I think we can rule out a jail complex unless of course we finally do the right thing and arrest those responsible for the destruction to begin with. Only in that case would we need a large amount of flat land. But we still don’t need multiple huge expanses of nothing.

So my argument always comes back to two questions really. 1) How much flat land do we need in the extraction mountain state? 2) When are we going to start to develop the land? To claim future development of these sites is absolutely ridiculous. To include such a statement in any type of post land use agreement is to assume everyone involved is just plain ignorant and that is… well… just plain ignorant.

The next couple of photos are not Kayford but they are sites in the flight path from Charleston to the last site in this post. I think it would definitely not be too far-fetched to say that a large portion of Charleston itself would fit on this site. With that in mind, who could possibly be the targeted patrons for any type of future development located here? The entire eastern US? Again… can you say infrastructure?

The next site is the one which first prompted me to start fighting this atrocity. The Edwight* mountaintop removal site behind Marsh Fork Elementary owned and operated by Massey Energy, hopefully the first inhabitants of our new mountaintop removal jailhouse.

I didn’t realize it when I took these photos but a couple of them shows the school, the coal silo, Goal’s Coal prep plant, the slurry pond w/dam and the huge mountaintop removal site topping it all off.

If you can honestly look at the following photographs and still maintain this a healthy learning environment for children without any dangers then that would cause me to write a short note to self… short note to self, the new mountaintop removal jail requires padded cells… lots of them cause these people are nuts.

The school is just out of view in the second photo. However you can see the corner of it directly to the right of the silo. The following photos are of the MTR site behind the school.

From the friends of coal coal fact sheet, in 2007 there were 271 surface mines in West Virginia. Can you imagine? In all of my photos if you will notice one significant fact, and no it’s not the fact mountain ranges have been wiped out although that is significant but there is a strange lack of development even on the so-called reclaimed sites. And how many more of these monstrosities are permitted with future economic development in the post land use agreement?

I have to wonder most of all… just how gullible are we?

gul-li-ble: adjective – easily deceived or cheated. Synonyms: credulous, trusting, naive, innocent, simple, green.

Nuff Said!!

Stop mountaintop removal coal mining or come up with a more believable lie.

Shameful Displays of Intimidation

2009-10-14T20:09:43Z

The following post is a coalfield resident’s reaction to the shameful conduct of coal supporters at the Nationwide 21 Permit Hearing in Charleston, WV.

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Click below to watch a video of the permit hearing.

Nationwide 21 Permit Hearing, Charleston, WV.

The events that occurred at the EPA hearing in Charleston, WV, on Tuesday, October 13, are a disgrace to humanity. I cannot believe that our Law enforcement was so disengaged from upholding the law!

My God, how did this happen? Do people not have some sort of Voice in America? Do Americans not have a constitutional right to be heard?

What would these coal thugs have done if someone had backed their Mother or Grandmother against the wall like they did that elderly lady in the video? If that poor, little woman would have had a heart attack would these coal thugs have cared? NO! Not one of them would have cared. I am totally blown away by this.

I did not attend this hearing for this very reason. I expected something like this would take place.

I’m just SO absolutely disappointed in our system. In the past, I have tried to believe that we could come to an agreement to disagree and allow the powers that be to decide what needs to be done. But this looks like something from overseas and not something that could happen in the United States of America.

This is total disregard for the Right to Free Speech. I just don’t know how to put my feelings into words for the group of people who disrupted this hearing. My husband is a retired Coal Miner and I am almost ashamed to be associated with the term. The West Virginia Coal Association is almost worse than the Taliban. And the Government has a list of ECO-terrorists? What would you call this group?

I just can’t believe what was allowed to occur in the Charleston Civic Center at an official hearing by the United States government.

No matter what side you are on, respect for human life and even if we disagree with them, people with different opinions should at least be given the chance to voice their opinions. This is what I was taught in school. But then school ain’t what she used to be.

Please watch this video and have someone make a public statement of apology to the people that just wanted their opinions to be heard…and didn’t get to speak due to the total disregard for human rights and the blatant intimidation by the coal industry and its minions.

I was under then impression that the LAW was here to protect all of us. Not just one group of people.

Totally Disgusted by our system,

Maria Lambert

Boone County, WV.