Podcast Appalachia: "King Coal"

The latest episode of Podcast Appalachia is now available! In this episode I look at coal. No rock has been more influential or more controversial in Appalachian society than coal; while helping fuel unprecedented economic growth in America and employment for generations of mountain people, it is also very dangerous to mine and has done much damage to the environment. In this episode I present a history of coal mining, as well as discuss the advantages and disadvantages associated with it. You may listen here or view a transcript here.

Mountaintop Removal Bill Dies

This is a real shame. Jeff Woods puts it in perspective:

With a coal company essentially promising to mine by blowing off the tops of Tennessee mountains, lawmakers inexplicably refused to act and all but guaranteed great swaths of ecologically important woodlands will be laid to waste.

The National Coal Corp. threatened to shut down in Tennessee if mountaintop mining were banned. So to save 234 jobs, the sum total of the company’s workforce, lawmakers decided to sacrifice the natural beauty that underpins a gazillion-dollar tourism industry.

There is some hope for next year, but tragedy looms if the legislature doesn't act soon:

Environmentalists say they’ll present their bill again next year, and the governor has indicated he might help this time. There’s a sense of urgency. Mountaintop mining is about to become more familiar to Tennessee. National Coal sold its operations in Kentucky this year to focus on mining in this state. The Tennessee Valley Authority’s coal-fired power plants are about to be fitted with newer pollution scrubbers, making this state’s high-sulfur, dirty-burning coal more marketable, according to Barger.

Via ACK (cross posted at Appalachian Scribe)

ilovemountains.org

What's not to love about mountains? Not only are they breathtaking to look at, their geography makes our region unique and they provide habitat for wildlife, recreational opportunities, and countless resources that are important to our economy.

The folks over at ilovemountains.org definitely love themselves some mountains. So much so that they are doing everything they can to protect mountains that are at risk of being levelled in coal producing areas. Nothing against coal production-coal is one of those important resources we need-but there is a problem with certain methods of how it is extracted.

You guessed where I am going with this, right? Yep, Mountain Top Removal. Well, the ilovemountains.org website has a handy-dandy tool designed to encourage electricity conservation by showing on a zip-code basis where YOUR electricity originates.

They have linked research of MTR sites, coal burning power plants, and your power meter to show directly how our electricity consumption is linked to resource extraction in the mountains.

Go ahead, we'll wait while you check it out: http://www.ilovemountains.org/myconnection/

"Clean coal" is a buzz word on the lips of many people these days. You hear it in Congress, read about it in newspapers, and you've probably even seen commercials about it on television. Those of us from coal producing areas know coal isn't and can never be truly "clean". Ever. Somewhere, a price is paid whether it is at the mine, the prep plant, or the power plant. Contrary to what the fancy commercials want us to believe, coal is inherently a dirty product from start to finish. And it's important that the public gets the real story.

Coal is and will remain a vital part of our economy until a suitable alternative is found. Because of that, it will continue to have impacts, both positive and negative, on the communities where it is produced. Consumers can lessen the impact of coal by turning off a light, turning off the television (or computer when not reading Hillbilly Savants!), or adjusting the thermostat a few degrees to save energy.

Here are some websites with similar information on energy consumption:

U.S. Department of Energy, Lawrence Berkley Lab Home Energy Saver - Designed to help consumers identify the best ways to save energy (and money) in their homes.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Personal Emissions Calculator - Short survey to estimate your personal greenhouse gas emissions.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Power Profiler - shows on a zip-code basis the energy mix (coal, nuclear, hydro, etc..) of your utility company

And to part, here's a video produced by ilovemountains.org on MTR and energy consumption in America featuring Woody Harrelson and Willie Nelson:

Stream Buffer Zone Rule under Review: Act Now to Protect our Streams

Thanks to Kathy Selvage, Vice President of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, for bringing this important issue to our attention. Below is her explanation of why this issue is critically important to those who care about protecting our natural resources.
--April

The Stream Buffer Zone Rule is a 1983 rule which prohibits coal mining activities from disturbing areas within a 100 ft. buffer of an intermittent or perennial stream. It states that coal mining activities cannot disturb these areas unless water quality and quantity will not be adversely impacted.

On August 24, 2007, the Administration proposed a change or clarification in the Stream Buffer Zone. Many people now fear the stream buffer zone rule will totally disappear leaving nothing to protect our stream beds and their headwaters from having mine waste dumped in them.

How important is water today? Just ask the city of Atlanta, Georgia. Given that the region is in a drought situation, our water resources, the health of the streams, and the health of the watersheds are vitally important to all of us.

Purity of water should recognize no political boundaries. We don’t often ask if one is a Democrat or Republican before we offer water. The quality of water and life in the watersheds can be embraced by all parties. It is too important for life itself to be merely contained in one party’s view.

We all must accept responsibility for the pollution and for the tremendous loss of streambeds already in Virginia. Between 1985-2001, 500 valley fills were permitted in the state of Virginia and 67.36 miles of streambeds were buried beneath those valley fills.

Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards (SAMS), a young environmental organization in Wise County, pursued numerous attempts to have a hearing granted in Southwest Virginia in Wise County to allow folks who care about their stream beds to express their opinion to their own government. Once again as in many other cases, the voices of the people were not granted permission to be heard as they were in WVA, KY, and TN. That request for a formal hearing was denied. SAMS did in the end accept an offer of a meeting on October 23rd in the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) offices in Big Stone Gap, VA (about 50 people attended) to express their views with the promise that voices would be recorded and placed in the record.

A small extension of time (30 days) has been added to allow the public to comment on the proposed rule change setting the cutoff date at November 23, 2007.

What can you do?

By mail, you may write to: Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), Administrative Record, Room 252 SIB, 1951 Constitution Ave., NW Washington, D.C. 20240. Please identify your comments by RIN 1029-AC04. Tell them of the importance of headwater streams, water resources, and tell them you don’t want them contaminated!

Write to your U.S. Representatives and Senators and ask them to demand that OSM enforce the current law.

Write to your U.S. Representative and ask him to cosponsor the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 2169). It is interesting to note that its introduction was promoted by a Democrat (Frank Pallone of NJ) and a Republican (Christopher Shays of Connecticut).

Write letters to editors to raise public awareness.

Turn off some lights, shower with your spouse, and hug your kids.

Consider speaking out, standing up, or engage others in meaningful conversation about the state of our environment, the importance of our watersheds, and the way forward. It is our collective future, the future of all the inhabitants of the Appalachian region, which is at stake.


Kathy R. Selvage
V-Pres. SAMS

Turmoil in Giles County

Narrows, Virginia

One group wants to let Appalachian Power dump fly ash on a piece of land near the New River as fill material. The land would then be marketed for development. Another group says not in our back yard, or in this case, flood plain. In three weeks, the Department of Environmental Quality will weigh in on the issue. Will the propects of luring in an industry trump the concern to preserve one of Giles County's most marketable features?

Debate over fly ash use heats up in Giles

Professor concerned about fly ash plan

MORE ON THE DOMINION POWER PLANT PROPOSED FOR WISE COUNTY, VIRGINIA

Today I received an email message from John Bolton, M.D., a Southwest Virginia expatriate living in California. Much of his family remains in the St. Paul/Castlewood community which straddles the border between Wise and Russell Counties. I have reprinted below what Dr. Bolton has to say about the electric plant which Dominion Power proposes to build in Wise County. I welcome any opinions or insights about this hugely important issue, which will affect the region for generations to come.

April


The rape of Appalachia began in the late 1800's when wealthy entrepreneurs bought up the area's mineral rights for 25 cents or less per acre. This was possible after they had bribed the state legislatures to authorize the new "broad form" deed which allowed the mineral rights to be sold separately from the surface rights. It was only after this that the railroads were built, and the mining of Appalachian coal began.

The shaft mines employed thousands of miners and brought prosperity to the area, a prosperity which peaked in the 1950's. One after the other, the shaft mines began closing. Today, only a few remain active. Now, strip mining and mountain top removal mining allow wholesale destruction of the environment while employing only a handful of workers to harvest the exposed coal seams.

Unless citizens protest, the rape of the land will continue with unchecked strip mining, little or no restoration of stripped areas, mountain top destruction, holler fills, polluted water, and polluted air. My hometown of St. Paul, VA, could be be choked by rock and coal dust from thousands of trucks carrying waste coal from the old shaft mine gob piles in Russell County through the center of the town to the Virginia City plant two miles away.

If you think that having a coal fired power plant next door to your town will be an asset, drive up to what is left of the community of South Clinchfield,VA, in the shadow of AEP's Clinch River (Carbo) plant. Talk to the residents as I have. Listen to their stories of fumes from the smokestack flooding down to ground level when a cool night brings a temperature inversion. Hear how dust from the trucks coats the skin of their infants and blackens their bath water as if they had been working in the mines. Does it also fill their lungs? Sadly, only time will tell. I do not think that "black lung" benefits will be available to neighborhood children or adults who will be forced breathe rock and coal dust from the waste coal trucks. Add to this the fumes from a coal fired power plant and confine them in the small bowl that contains the town of St Paul. This could be a true witch's brew.

Please sign this petition and pass the link along to family and friends. We need to work together to save the air, water, and land of the Appalachian Mountains. http://www.samsva.org/?page_id

Thanks,
John Bolton, MD

OSM Proposes Weakening MTR Rule

MTR Valley Fill, Massey Energy Corp,

Lyburn, WV

The Office on Surface Mining has proposed a new rule to weaken regulations regarding stream buffer zones at Mountaintop Removal mining sites.

The current rule requires mining operations to obtain a variance showing no impact to water quality or quantity for activities within 100 feet of a stream, but the rule is often disregarded with MTR valley fills. The rule change proposed by OSM would lift the buffer zone protection altogether.

A recent survey conducted by the non-partisan Opinion Research Corporation found that two-thirds of Americans oppose the administration's proposed rule. More details on the survey can be found at: http://www.700mountains.org/release091307.cfm

OSM is required to receive public comment on the rule change through October 23. Comments can be submitted to the Federal Register at: http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=OSM-2007-0007

Documents on the rule change can be found on the OSM website: http://www.osmre.gov/

Related Media:

http://sundaygazettemail.com/section/News/2007091423

http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/158147.html

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070825/BUSINESS/708250406

http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/news.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2007-08-19-0010.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/24/AR2007082401206.html

http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_65215.shtml

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/331392_mining13.html

Industries pony up for lawmakers on energy panels

Electric utilities, oil companies, automakers and mining interests donated nearly $4 million during the first half of 2007 to lawmakers in the three House and Senate committees responsible for writing energy legislation, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Looks like Big Energy, Big Oil, and King Coal continue to hold court. Read on:

http://www.earthportal.org/news/?p=409

Larry Gibson featured on CNN Heroes

A great feature on Larry, one of Mountain Top Removal's staunchest opponents, on a major cable network. The mainstream media is really starting to sit up and take notice of what is happening in the Appalachian coalfields.

View the video on CNN.com.

Our First Award

The blog is doing pretty darn good here lately - really solid recent posts, some complimentary links, over 42,000 visits in just over a year, and now, (throwing confetti) we have received our first award - - - the Thinking Blogger Award!

Bam.

I am freaking ultra-cited about this, but before I get carried away in my own giddiness (dance party, Old Crow Medicine Show, and RC Cola anyone?), let me make some key statements.

First, we here at HS want to thank the folks over at Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi for nominating us. It means a heckuva' lot, guys - for ya'll who haven't checked out HCMCM do so - - - it is an damned excellent read.

Second, the Thinking Blogger Award is a nifty sorta' thing - it works on the principle that good bloggers know other good bloggers when they see'm. Makes sense, eh? Sure enough. So every blogger who receives the award is obliged to nominate five other "thinking blogs" who, in turn, do the same. I know, I know. It is brilliant. Of course blogs that have already been nominated can be renominated, but (as far as I can tell) not by their previous nominator. Regardless, it is a really interesting system creating networks of linked, high quality blogs that, I'd imagine, gradually become more and more diverse. Really interesting stuff.

Well, here at HS we're always interested in other blogs anyway - it is sort of an obsession for a few of us (when we're not distracted by our "jobs" or our "spouses" or our "responsibilities"). So we feel pretty darned qualified to nominate a few outstanding sites. And stuff. I dug through our links and found some doozies who 1) aren't contributors here at Hillbilly Savants (yet) and 2) absolutely deserve some national attention (Let me just say that I narrowed it down from our extensive link list to almost 30 sites from which I winnowed further - - - what does that mean? Our peer Appalachian sites are so good its like trying to choose a valedictorian from the Children of the Corn. Keep it up everyone. ). Consider:

1) The Bluegrass Blog: A great blog for anyone interested in virtually any topic or sub-topic having to do with Bluegrass. Listenlicious.

2) Lincoln Walks At Midnight: West Virginia politics and government covered in a clear, straightforward, easy to digest way. Politicalrific.

3) North Carolina Mountain Dreams: A tremendous read - the North Carolina Appalachian Mountains as seen by a Texan. Immigrationdacious.

4) The War in Appalachia: A blog obsessed with the politics and economics of coal mining and use - the sort of blog that makes you remember to turn off the light. Environmentalismo.

5) The West Virginia Hot Dog Blog: A blog about an incredibly narrow subject - hot dog culture in the Mountain State. How? Why? No one knows. And yet you will read. You will read.

For you guys nominated by us humble hillfolk, well, let me quote you the rules from the thinking blog that started this whole mess - ahem:

The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

That was that! Please, remember to tag blogs with real merits, i.e. relative content, and above all - blogs that really get you thinking! It is the first time I am starting something with my blog so I hope it doesn't come back to haunt me.

Awesome. And Ilker Yoldas, thanks for putting this whole crazy mess together in the first place.