I was in a terminal at
Reagan National Airport recently and an electronic ad drew my attention. It was
the beautiful face of a middle aged gentleman creased by time, worries, and
hard work. He introduced himself as Sid. “I’m proud of my Appalachian roots,”
he said. “And I won’t give up on our mountains.” In smaller letters, at the
bottom of the ad sponsored by Earth Justice, earthjustice.org/MyStory, was one
sentence, “Tell us your story to help stop mountaintop removal coal mining.”
I became intrigued and
decided to check this story out. After all, I want to keep mountain tops intact
and our environment as clean as possible. I love nature and marvel at God’s
magnificent creation. I also realize that nature can unleash so many disasters
on our planet that land formations are forever destroyed and areas no longer
look the same.
The Congressional Research
Service published a recent report, “Mountaintop Mining: Background on Current
Controversies,” describing the practice of removing the top of a mountain in
order to recover coal seams trapped in the rock within, currently done in six
Appalachian states, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania,
and Ohio on 12 million acres. (Claudia Copeland, Specialist in Resources and
Environmental Policy, April 29, 2013)
The issues she described
involve both the critics and the proponents of this type of mining:
-
Critics want it
stopped entirely because the mining fills the valleys with tons of broken rocks
and dirt, affecting stream water quality and the habitat of aquatic life and
wildlife
-
Proponents claim
that it is not economically feasible to discharge the rock and dirt somewhere
else and this type of low sulfur coal is needed
-
Environmental
groups were able to stop mountaintop mining project permits at the federal
district court level, sometimes overturned on appeal, and then reversed again
-
Environmental
criticism caused “some regulatory changes” to reduce the harmful environmental
impact from mountaintop mining in Appalachia
-
Environmental
groups were critical that the EPA’s restrictions did not go far enough with the
enhanced permit review process
-
The additional
scrutiny has angered the coal industry; EPA has vetoed a mine permit in West
Virginia, was overturned by a federal court, and that ruling was recently
reversed on appeal
-
111th
Congress sought to restrict the practice of mountaintop mining but also issued
legislation to block the Obama Administration’s regulatory actions
-
113th
Congress introduced bills to clarify or restrict EPA’s authority to veto Clean
Water Act (CWA) permits issued by the Corps (H.R. 524 and S. 830)
According to federal law,
the rock, broken with explosives and moved with massive draglines, a type of
earth moving equipment, must be placed back in the mined areas, “returning the
lands to their approximate original contour.” That is something hard to do
since broken rocks take up more volume than the original intact boulders, and any
pile of broken rock becomes unstable. Thus the excess rock is “typically placed
in valley fills on the sides of the former mountain,” burying streams flowing
through the valleys, stream chemistry is harmed, and aquatic life is impaired downstream.
Why is mountaintop mining
then popular? According to the Congressional Research Service Report, there are
three main reasons:
1.
“There is a
demand for the relatively clean-burning, low-sulfur coal found in Appalachia.
2.
Coal supplies
near the surface have been significantly depleted.
3.
The development
of large surface mining equipment (draglines) can move 100 cubic yards of earth
in a single scoop.” (p. 1)
In the case of mountaintop
mining, regulatory valley fills fall under two federal statutes, the Surface
Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA, 30 U.S.C., par. 1201) and the Clean
Water Act (CWA, 33 U.S.C. par. 1252).
Section 404 permits are
issued by the “Corps for the discharge of dredged or fill material, using
guidelines promulgated by EPA in conjunction with the Corps.” Permits are
issued for a “particular site and nationwide (general) for categories of
discharges that are similar and have a minimal impact on the waters of the United
States.” Enforcing the Endangered Species Act (35 U.S.C. par. 1531) and the
Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (16 U.S.C. par. 661) is the responsibility
of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) which considers how fish and
wildlife are impacted and ensures that endangered species are protected. (p. 3)
I have seen a mountaintop
mine in Pennsylvania and I can attest that it was unsettling to see a barren
and dark grey area which used to be covered by lush forests and mountainous
landscape. It reminded me of a lunar landscape.
At the same time,
everything we do in our modern life involves the use of electricity which is
primarily obtained from fossil fuels, especially coal. I don’t want to reverse
our daily life back to early middle ages – I prefer a carefully managed middle
of the road approach to “stewardship” of the environment, to use a word highly over
advertised by Agenda 21 proponents. If we are not willing good stewards of
everything, we must be nudged and forced by the deciders of what is good and
proper - liberals, environmental NGOs, and the EPA octopus.
I am not sure
environmentalists are willing to give up all their electronic gadgets, homes,
cars, and everything else that is based on fossil fuels and electricity
generated with fossil fuels, and move into caves. Renewables, at the current
state, do not provide enough energy to supply over six billion people with
their daily power needs.
Erosion of mountain tops
occurs naturally over time due to wind, rain, ice, snow, avalanche, and
deforestation from tree disease, unusual droughts, fires, earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions; it is not solely caused by man-made activity such as tree cutting
and coal mining.
The Earth Justice website paints
a bleak picture of strip mining which has “devastated Appalachia,” claiming
that “in the past few decades, over 2,000 miles of streams and headwaters that
provide drinking water to millions of Americans have been permanently buried
and destroyed. An area the size of Delaware has been flattened. Local coal
communities routinely face devastating floods and adverse health effects.”
If so many miles of
streams that provide drinking water to millions had been buried, how do these
millions get their drinking water? I also wonder if the cancer rate and lung-related
illnesses are higher in these areas and if so, do we have factual evidence?
The 13,000 plus people who
added their signatures on the Earth Justice website are demanding an end to
mountaintop strip mining. Beautiful, young, and smiling faces, writing from
various campuses around the nation, add their support to the cause of
protecting “the people, communities and waters of Appalachia.”
According to the website,
Earth Justice, Appalachian Mountain Advocate and Public Justice are “working in
federal courts” on behalf of Coal River Mountain Watch, Ohio Valley
Environmental Coalition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Sierra Club,
Kentuckians for The Commonwealth, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, and
Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM).
I pondered how many real
miners and those employed in mining-support jobs are members of these environmentalist
organizations (NGOs) and if they are on board with losing their jobs and their
livelihoods derived from mining activities. I also wondered how many communities were
actually relocated because of mountaintop mining. Come to think of it, was re-settlement of
mass populations not one of the goals of Agenda 21?
I checked the website for
links that connected to medical studies, CDC illness data, cancer rates related
to mountaintop strip mining, but I must have missed them.
Another group mentioned, Statewide
Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM), located in Tennessee, is “working
for social, economic, and environmental justice for all.” Their mission states,
“We are committed to the journey of becoming an anti-racist organization.
Recognizing our interdependence, SOCM is committed to overcoming social and
institutional racism and embracing our diverse cultures.” I pondered what overcoming
social and institutional racism and embracing our diverse cultures had to do
with mountaintop strip mining. http://www.socm.org/
Southern Appalachian
Mountain Stewards (SAMS) are “concerned community members and their allies who
are working to stop the destruction of our communities by surface coal mining,
to improve the quality of life in our area, and to help rebuild sustainable communities.”
The citizens are concerned
about the new mountaintop coal removal project in Dickerson County, Virginia. SAMS, the Sierra Club, and allies have asked
the EPA to deny permit for this mine because it “would destroy local
communities, pushing people out, property values down, and hope for a better
tomorrow away. This mine would poison local streams that provide an economic
lifeline through growing eco and adventure tourism in the area.” I am not
trying to diminish these grievances, but what is eco and adventure tourism? Is
that euphemism for hiking? http://www.samsva.org/
The alternative proposed
is to build U.N. Agenda 21’s sustainable communities. Agenda 21 advocates for
solar energy, wind energy, biking, no cars if possible, walking, commune type
living that does not harm the environment at all and leaves as little human
foot print as possible. Exempted, of course, are the Hollywood types,
politicians, billionaires, and elites in general who can own as many jets,
McMansions, and expensive cars as they can possibly afford. Their use of fossil
fuels is perfectly excusable; they are the all-knowing elites who tell us what
to do.
Kentuckians for The
Commonwealth are an organization formed by a “community of people, inspired by
a vision, building new power and a
better future for all of us. Together, we organize for a fair economy, a
healthy environment, new safe energy and an honest democracy.” I’ve seen this word, vision, before, used in the “visioning committees” of ICLEI, the
infiltrating agents among city planners who developed Green Growth/Smart City
rezoning around the country in line with Agenda 21 goals, land owners be
damned. If rezoning does not work, eminent domain is a powerful tool of land
confiscation in the name of public good. Like the light purple rail being built
in northern Virginia – a country club fought with developers and won some
concessions because the rail was an ugly addition to their green grass golfing
paradise. But 100 or so homeowners were not so lucky, they were bought out.
This particular
organization’s vision involves “good
jobs without damage to the water, air, and land,” “companies and the wealthy
pay their share of taxes and can’t buy elections,” people have health care,
shelter, food, education, and other basic needs,” “children are listened to and
valued,” “discrimination is wiped out of our laws, habits, and hearts,” and
“voices of ordinary people are heard and respected in our democracy.” I
honestly don’t know what all the above community organizing/social justice/children
belong to the community/election/progressive propaganda has to do with
mountaintop strip mining and I am not sure that good jobs exist or any jobs without
coal generated energy or jobs that don’t do any damage to water, air, and land.
Even teaching, preaching, or indoctrination is not entirely environmentally damage
free. They do exhale CO2 just for starters. http://www.kftc.org/about-us/mission-vision
At this point, I was tired
of searching these propaganda websites. I did not see one miner who advocated for
the loss of his job and of his livelihood in order to give these organizations
and their supporters their pristine land back without any human footprint or
coal exploration.
The Daily Caller wrote
recently that the James River Coal company is closing several mines in eastern
Kentucky and laying off 525 employees. The GOP blames the EPA regulations. Rep.
Hal Rogers (Kentucky-R) told the Daily Caller, “Deliberate anti-coal energy
policies are sending thousands of families in my region to the unemployment
line.” Lower priced natural gas is the second culprit as it is fast replacing
coal in generating electricity. Rogers blamed President Obama’s “War on Coal”
for 6,200 unemployed eastern Kentucky miners and thousands more laboring in
mining support businesses.
The Kentucky Energy and Environment
Cabinet (KEEC) reported that a total of 12,342 people are working in Kentucky
coal mines, the lowest number on record since statistics were kept in 1927.
As the EPA bans the
construction of new coal-fired power plants unless carbon capture and storage
technology are used, an impossibility since capture and storage are not
commercially available yet, more mines will be closed and miners will lose
their jobs.
While denying that a “War
on Coal” exists, the Obama administration provided $8 billion in loan
guarantees to biofuels, carbon capture, and storage technology development.
As I look back at the
electronic ad in the airport, I wonder, what our green energy quota will be in
this country, as utilities will struggle to meet the outrageous demands coming
from the federal government, while more and more coal-generating power plants will
be closed, and more miners will lose their jobs. Mining will become the
elephant in the room relic while we will strain our eyes to read by an anemic
CFL bulb mandated by the EPA, said bulb requiring a Hazmat suit to dispose of
in case it breaks. Our nights will be very dark in the near future with less
ambient light in the sky. What will happen to nightlife in Vegas? Will United
States’ night view from space be like North Korea’s?