Peabody Energy Turned OFF You Tube Comments To This Video.... WHY? whatch it & you will see why!
YOU CAN STILL COMMENT HERE !!
Peabody Energy is lying about the cleanliness of this new coal/gas powerplant. What they don't want you to know is that while it is somewhat cleaner burning than older powerplants, it is still horrifically polluting land, air, and water on a massive scale.
Peabody Energy doesn't want you to know that they produce the gas for this plant (and hundredes of others) by pumping nearly 500 chemicals into America's water table in a process called Fracking. Peabody Energy doesn't want you to know that Dick Cheney allowed the industry to aquire private and public lands for "thousands" of gas fracking sites accross our nation.... or that Dick Cheney exempted the industry from the Clean Water Act and The Clean Air Act so that none of these chemicals or their affects on people and the environmnet would need to be reported to anyone. Americans who live near these fracking sites are getting sick from contaminated water. In some cases, the water even catches fire right out of the household tap.
Peabody Energy doesn't want you to know that the Bush administration's environmental advisor, who is trained as a lawyer, and also an executive in the petroleum industry: changed Official Climate Change Reports (meant to be seen by the american public)and written by the leading PhD Scientist on environment at Nasa'a Goddard Center. This lawyer/petroleum executive changed this PhD scientists words from: global "warming is a threat" to "might be a threat." This lawyer/petroleum executive changed: " the fossil fuel industry contributes to green house gases" to "does not contribute to green house gases."
Peabody Energy doesn't want you to know that since the very beginning of the fossil fuel industry, governmnent has always been on the side of the industry owners, and not on the side of the industry workers, or the rest of the people who live near their operations, both overseas, and right here at home on U.S. soil.
Peabody Energy doesn't want you to know that the fossil fuel industry as we know it has only existed for 150 years, and that since the 1970's we have known that the fossil fuel industry could cause our own human extinction, and the taking of all other life on earth with us, if we don't change what we are doing, which of course, we havn't yet.
Peabody Energy doesn't want you to know that the other two biggest electricity produces in America (Duke Energy and Massey Energy) follow the same practices, and are guilty of causing the same national and global destruction that they are guilty of.
Peabody Energy doesn't want you to know that natural gas can blow up in huge fireballs from damaged pipelines that run right through populated places like San Bernadino, CA and Bellingham, WA both of wich have had explosions that have killed people and destroyed homes. Peabody Energy doesn't want you to know that transporting CNG (compressed natural gas) is EXTREMELY dangerous.
Peabody Energy doesn't want you to know that BILLIONS of gallons of midwest groundwater which has been there since the ice age: has been completely drained and contaminated to make coal slurry, so that coal too, could also flow through pipelines. This water, like the water contaminated by fracking could have been used to grow crops but is so contaminated that it is no longer usable for human/animal consumption or crops.
Peabody Energy doesn't want you to know that coal mines can blow up and kill workers, or that they are blowing up entire mountains to get to the coal. Peabody Energy doesn't want you to know that the coal industry causes severe respiratory problems for people living near mines, mountain tops, coal fired powerplants, and the trains which carry the coal to the powerplants.
Peabody Energy doesn't want you to know that Fracking for natural gas is necessary because we are almost out of natural gas, and that the cost of natural gas will skyrocket because of this. Peabody Energy doesn't want you to know that "Peak Oil" means that the world consumes more oil than we can produce, and that we have already found all the oil there is to find, and that there is no more to discover. Peabody Energy doesn't want you to know that the price of gasoline and oil will also skyrocket.
Peabody Energy doesn't want you to know that the reason they still want to use coal is beacause of their own personal greed. Peabody Energy doesn't want you to know that they do not understand that the "trillions of dollars worth" of coal in america is actually worthless in terms of the future of earth and all of humanity.
At least Peabody Energy told us how much they plan to spend on this new plant, "$3 billion dollars." I have three questions with which to address these corporate/government crimes against nature and humanity:
1. Why not build a Thermal Solar Plant with all that cash?
2. How many Wind Turbines could be built with $3billion dollars?
3. Wouldn't workers in coal, natural gas, oil, and gasoline production be better off with safer jobs in the Clean-Green Energy Sectors?
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Stop The Black Mesa Project: Peabody’s Massive Coal Mining Expansion Plans
October 11, 2008 by admin d
Filed under Action Alerts, Latest Posts, Mining & Water
ALERT: The Permitting Process for Massive Coal Mining Expansion Plans, The Black Mesa Project, has been Re-opened and Comments for Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) Were Issued the Day After Election!
Both Republican & Democratic parties have consistently expressed support for the development of so-called ‘clean coal’ technology to help solve the nation’s energy problem while claiming to be interested in fighting pollution, global warming, and human rights. While many environmental and scientific groups have questioned whether the burning of coal can ever be clean, for First Nations in the Four Corners area ‘clean coal’ is also a matter of ethnic cleansing and of their survival.
At this moment the decision makers in Washington D.C. are planning ways to expand their occupation of tribal lands to extract mineral & other resources. Peabody Coal, the world’s largest coal company, is currently pushing through plans to massively expand dirty coal strip-mining operations targeting the Dine’ (Navajo) & Hopi peoples sacred ancestral homelands of Black Mesa, AZ. The Office of Surface Mining (OSM) has recently re-opened the Black Mesa Project – Final Environmental Impact Statement which outlines harmful impacts to every level of the ecological and cultural systems on Black Mesa and has global repercussions.
If we don’t stop these plans, Peabody will have the green light to:
- Establish permanent mining rights until the coal runs out or until at least 2026!
- Substantially accelerate global climate disruption and cause an ecological meltdown.
- Destroy thousands of acres of pristine canyon lands, causing animal and plant ecology and cultural sites to vanish.
- Increase the detonation of coal on a daily basis, affecting air quality and health of miners, local residents, and their livestock.
- Deplete the already scarce water tables and regional aquifer that are all essential to residential survival.
- Uproot & relocate families from their ancestral homelands due to coal mining expansion.
- Sacrifice human dignity and planetary health for elite profit! Peabody would cause many more problems than what is reflected here. Its roots remain sunk deeply in the history of colonial genocide, corporate power grabs, and ecological devastation.
In 30 years of controversial operation, Peabody’s Black Mesa Mine has been the source of an estimated 325 million tons of CO2 that have been discharged into the atmosphere.* If expansion plans are permitted, it would exacerbate already devastating environmental and cultural impacts on local communities and significantly add fuel to the fire of the current climate chaos we face globally. Coal from the Black Mesa mine could contribute an additional 290 million tons of CO2 to the global warming crisis!*
Black Mesa residents say “Coal is the liver of Mother Earth, keep it in the ground, keep her alive and healthy!
The Black Mesa Water Coalition (BMWC) is spearheading a campaign to stop the Black Mesa Project and to protect their homelands of Black Mesa. BMWC has additional information about protecting Black Mesa and is leading the Just Transition Campaign, “an innovative plan to transition tribal economy, employment, and energy off fossil fuel extraction and onto a sustainable renewable energy path”. Support green jobs! No to coal!Also working with BMWC to stop Peabody is Sierra Club’s Environmental & Tribal Partnerships Program: www.sierraclub.org/partnerships/tribal
Support a Community-Led Just Transition to a Green Economy!
Stop Predatory Development and Catastrophic Climate Change!
No to Peabody’s Preferred Alternative B. Yes to The People’s Preferred Alternative C which is a ‘No Action’. (No to coal mining expansion!)
Support a Community-Led, Just Transition to a Green Economy!
Stop Predatory Development and Catastrophic Climate Change!
Stop Predatory Development and Catastrophic Climate Change!
No to Peabody’s Preferred Alternative B. Yes to The People’s Preferred Alternative C which is a ‘No Action’. (No to coal mining expansion!)
Support a Community-Led, Just Transition to a Green Economy!
Stop Predatory Development and Catastrophic Climate Change!
*BMP FEIS/Black Mesa Water Coalition
——————————————–
The following action alert is from The Black Mesa Water Coalition in July 2008. Although this action has already happened, there is good information outlined in the action alert below. Thank you to the many people who have sent your comments in opposition of the proposed Black Mesa Project. We must keep it up! Please stay posted for current action alerts and further updates during these critical times.1. Simply download the below letter, sign it and mail it in!
2. Download the sample letter, change or add MORE to it that addresses your concerns for climate change, global warming, air quality, alternative energies, or other future environmental quality issues. Don’t forget to sign it and mail it in!
3. Type out or hand write your own letter using the suggested talking points, sign and mail it in! We encourage you to hand write your own letter.
4. It’s not to late to host a letter writing party! Invite friends and family over to write their own letters using the suggested talking points and sample letter. Provide paper, pens, envelopes and stamps.
Please write or email to both the Navajo OSM and the regional OSM to request a suspension and complete halt of this EIS process! Or, in the alternative, an indefinite extension of the commenting period on the Black Mesa Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement!
********************** SAMPLE LETTER *************
[Date]
Dennis Winterringer
Western Regional Office
Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement
P.O. Box 46667
Denver, CO 80201-6667
Phone: 303-844-1400, ext 1440
email: bmkeis@osmre.gov
Re: Request for Suspension or, in the alternative, Indefinite Extension to Submit Written Comments on Black Mesa Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement
Dear Mr. Winterringer:
We are writing to request that OSM grant an immediate suspension or, in the alternative, an indefinite extension of time in which to comment on the “reopened” Black Mesa Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement and which was re-released for comment on May 23, 2008.
In particular, we respectfully request that the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (“OSM”), at a minimum, indefinitely suspend any proposed comment period until such time as Peabody has properly amended its permit revision application for the Black Mesa Mine Complex to remove proposed plans and activities that supported supplying coal to Mojave Generating Station. Additionally, our request for suspension or, in the alternative, indefinite extension is made in consideration of the cultural importance of the area; the complexity and scope of the issues; and, the need to reconsider the applicability of previous comments with respect to newly proposed project and preferred alternative, modified Alternative B.
The proposed Black Mesa Project will have many harmful impacts to the ecological and cultural life ways on Black Mesa, particularly to the environment, and Navajo and Hopi communities.[1] The spiritual significance of the area is manifest, providing religious shrines and/or offering places. To the Dineh (Navajos), the whole Black Mesa region including Navajo Mountain represents one of the supreme deity Female Mountain and the belief is that she possess both human and divine forms and qualities as she lie across from her male companion, the Chuska Mountains . Both of these ranges are considered alive, and that which dictate systems for all life forms across these particular landscapes. According to Dineh spiritual understanding, Black Mesa as a female entity is the provider of medicinal herbs, tobacco blends and regional floras and faunas.
The Dineh’s spiritual view further describes that Navajo Mountain in Utah is the head, Marsh Pass below the north rim of Black Mesa is a turquoise necklace, in her left hand she holds a sacred staff (the El Captain spire), in her right hand she holds a medicine basket (Cowsprings Formation around the confluences of Moenkopi-Cowsprings washes and Coal Mine canyon), and her bare feet are the jutting mesas of Hopi country. The Dineh, children of Female Mountain, were given the responsibility of ritual prayer offerings to insure the continuation of the hydrologic cycles that replenishes (her) bodily fluids (Navajo Aquifer) and that also regenerates the natural springs throughout.
Coal is the liver embodiment of this female mountain and its functions will be jeopardized if it is furthered extracted. Despite scientifically supported methods of reclamation and hydrological analyses, the terrain and its ecosystem will lack soil nutrients that the liver provides which are necessary to rebuild natural landscapes and to re-energize plant ecology. Thus, the modified Alternative B as it concludes in the Draft EIS inadequately interprets the destructive processes of aquifer and coal extraction of Dineh and Hopi lands that encompasses mostly pristine topography that contain numerous cultural and religious sites. The haste in soliciting comments for an entirely new project precludes an adequate representation of these harms.
Further, the Draft EIS addresses a wide range of complex issues on such matters as hydrological impacts of water withdrawals and mining operations. The public should be provided full opportunity to review the Draft EIS with full disclosure of the proposed project, as outlined in the permit revision. In fact, the public may be entitled to another scoping comment period and draft environmental impact statement. In short, it is premature to request comments by July 7, 2008 given the scope and complexity of the document, unavailability of amendments to Peabody ‘s pending permit revision and dramatic shift in project objectives, proposed project, and preferred alternative. Lastly, numerous tribal members and interested stakeholders that have previously submitted scoping and other comments have received no notification of the re-release of the Draft EIS and its associated modifications that require additional review.
For these reasons, we strongly urge you to suspend or, in the alternative, grant an indefinite extension of time so that these issues may be resolved and meaningful public comment provided.
Sincerely,
Name:
Mailing Address:
Phone (optional):
E-mail:
****************** END SAMPLE LETTER *******************************
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR COMMENTS IN THE DRAFT EIS IS LISTED RIGHT AFTER THESE TALKING POINTS!
A few suggested talking points and concerns with the DEIS:
* No official U.S. and Navajo government entity has outreached or shared information to local Black Mesa residents adequately regarding Alternative B,
* The BMP draft EIS is outdated and has irrelevant information. If they want to pursue Alternative B, they need to restart a new EIS process from the beginning,
* Many of the public comments submitted last year for the BMP draft EIS were intended for Alternative A, which is an inactive issue now,
* The DEIS mentions lung problems and only proposes mitigation for mine workers, not residents. DEIS must look at mitigation measures for local residents to avoid health problems associated with black lung, silicacosis and other lung ailments like asthma,
* The DEIS does not consider how OSM will comply with RFRA (Religious Freedom and Restoration Act) and prevent substantial burden on the tribes’ ability to practice their religion,
* The DEIS does not compare the economics of additional coal mining vs. a Just Transition to renewable energy development on the mine site and reclaimed areas to prevent long-term cumulative impacts by additional coal mining,
* The DEIS does not address the pumping of the Navajo Aquifer for the last thirty years. These amounts exceed the aquifer’s ability to replace water annually, and have adversely impacted the natural springs and seeps all over Black Mesa. Springs and seeps no longer can produce the water needed for Navajo families to survive daily. Instead families must abandon local water resources and use community wells 20-30 miles over unimproved roads. The mining operation’s irresponsible use of groundwater has jeopardized the people’s survival into the future. Peabody has not included in its application the impact on the people of Black Mesa and how long they can expect to survive with continued use and contamination of the only source of drinking water the people have. What measures do they have in place to insure the people that an alternate source of water in quality and quantity will be delivered if there is irreversible damage to the N-Aquifer?
* DEIS is vague and does not give the reader a clear understanding of the social, cultural and economic impacts of the potential relocation of 17 families!
* The DEIS does not address the current U.S. federal laws that make CO2 a pollutant and uncalculated CO2 emissions that will contribute to global warming until 2026, if more mining by Peabody coal company continues.
****Below is information taken from the Office of Surface Mining’s latest newsletter*****
How to Submit Comments on the Draft EIS
Comments on the Draft EIS and alternative B may be submitted by e-mail over the Internet or in writing. In the subject line of your e-mail or at the top of your letter, indicate that the comments are “BMP Draft EIS Comments.” Include your name and address in your e-mail message or letter. To ensure consideration in the Final EIS, written comments must be received by OSM by 4:00 p.m. (MDT) on July 7, 2008.
E-mail comments should be sent to BMKEIS@osmre.gov. Written comments sent first-class or priority U.S. Postal Service should be mailed to:
Dennis Winterringer, Leader
Black Mesa Project EIS
OSM Western Region
P.O. Box 46667
Denver, Colorado 80201-6667
Comments sent by U.S. Postal Service Express Mail or by courier service should be delivered to :
Dennis Winterringer, Leader
Black Mesa Project EIS
OSM Western Region
1999 Broadway, Suite 3320
Denver, Colorado 80202-5733
Navajo Nation Office of Surface Mining
John Stucker
Mining Engineer
Postal Service
Navajo Nation Minerals
Department Office of Surface Mining
P.O. Box 1091
Window Rock, Arizona 86515
Delivery to (ie FedEX, UPS)
Navajo Nation Minerals
Department Office of Surface Mining
Mineral Department Window Rock Blvd.
Window Rock, Arizona 86515
OR
Navajo Nation Minerals
Department Office of Surface Mining
Mineral Department Tribal Hill Drive
Window Rock, Arizona 86515
Telephone: (928) 871 – 6464
FAX: (928) 871 – 6457
E-mail: jstucker@frontiernet.net
Work on the Black Mesa Project EIS Resumes
After a one-year delay, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) has resumed work on the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Black Mesa Project.
The Office of Surface Mining (OSM) has recently re-activated the Black Mesa Project (BMP) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) in May 2008. http://www.wrcc.osmre.gov/WR/BlackMesaEIS.htm
After being shelved for one year, the preferred alternative for the draft EIS has changed to Alternative B.
In 2006, OSM released the DEIS for the BMP supporting preferred Alternative A. Which meant the expansion of the mine, the building of a coal-washing facility, the use Coconino Aquifer and Navajo Aquifer, and re-building of the 273-mile coal slurry-line to transport coal to the Mohave Generating Station. Since January of 2006 MGS, Black Mesa mine and slurry-line has closed due to the unavailability of coal transportation means, fresh ground water (Navajo and Coconino Aquifer).
Today Alternative B has re-opened the DEIS. Alternative B is to supply Black Mesa coal to the Navajo Generating Station located near Page, AZ.
Alternative B will combine the Black Mesa mine and Kayenta mine into one life- of-mine permit (LOM), thus giving Peabody Coal Company the right to mine in their coal lease boundary until there is no coal left. Currently the Kayenta mine is the only operating mine on Black Mesa and has been operating on a LOM permit for over 30 years. Alternative B would expand and re-open the Black Mesa Mine joining the Kayenta mine.
It is still unclear what exactly Alternative B is, community people of Black Mesa are outrage for the lack of notification and sudden change in the DEIS. Residents of Black Mesa have been opposing the BMP draft EIS since its release. In particular, the majority of public comments submitted to OSM last year are comments regarding Alternative A.
OSM has given 45 days for the general public to respond on Alternative B, this is an insufficient time for elders, youth and Navajo and Hopi speaking people to make comments. The deadline for public comments is July 7, 2008.
Proposed Black Mesa Project
Southern California Edison and the other co-owners of the Mohave Generating Station (MGS) in Laughlin, Nevada, suspended operations of the power plant in December 2005. Since then they have been unsuccessful in finding buyers that would reopen the power plant. The power plant has never been a part of the proposed Black Mesa Project, but several components of the proposed project as it existed in November 2006, when OSM issued the Draft EIS, are dependent upon the power plant for their existence. These components include the Black Mesa Mine, coal slurry preparation plant, coal-slurry pipeline, and proposed Coconino water-supply system.
Peabody Western Coal Company, the sole supplier of coal to MGS, notified OSM that it believes the chances are remote of the power plant ever reopening. Therefore, it is unlikely that the Black Mesa Mine will resume coal production to supply the power plant, the existing coal-slurry preparation plant will be permitted, the coal-slurry pipeline will be rebuilt, and the new Coconino water-supply system will be built.
While OSM will continue to analyze these project components in the Final EIS under alternative A, OSM will be designating alternative B as the proposed project and preferred alternative. Alternative B includes the continued operation of Peabody’s Kayenta Mine to supply coal to the Navajo Generating Station in Page, Arizona, and incorporation of the surface facilities and coal reserves of the Black Mesa Mine into the Kayenta Mine permit.
Status of the EIS
In November 2006, OSM released the Black Mesa Project Draft EIS for public review. During the comment period, which ended in February 2007, OSM received approximately 18,000 comment submittals. In May 2007, OSM suspended work on the Final EIS, including analysis and preparation of responses to these comments, when Southern California Edison stopped funding the EIS. OSM has resumed work on the Final EIS, which is now funded by Peabody.
OSM intends to issue the Final EIS by the end of 2008. Availability of the Final EIS will be announced in the Federal Register and in local media.
Comment Period on Draft EIS Reopens
On May 23, 2008, OSM published a notice in the Federal Register announcing that the comment period on the Draft EIS has been reopened between May 23 through July 7, 2008. The Draft EIS is the same document previously issued in November 2006. Comments are requested on the alternative B, which is now the proposed project and preferred alternative. Please do not resend comments previously submitted on the Draft EIS. OSM is considering these comments in the preparation of the Final EIS.
The Draft EIS is available for review on OSM’s website at http://www.wrcc.osmre.gov/WR/BlackMesaEIS.htm. Paper and computer compact disk (CD) copies of the Draft EIS also are available for review at the Office of Surface Mining, Western Region, 1999 Broadway, Suite 3320, Denver, Colorado 80202-5733. (For more information on how to submit comments on the Draft EIS, see the information on the back cover of this newsletter.)
******End of OSM Newsletter****
For more information, updates, and how to get involve please visit our website at The Black Mesa Water Coalition or contact our BMWC office line: (928) 213-5909
———————–
Additional Info:
LEGITIMACY OF THE BMP EIS PROCESS IS QUESTIONABLE: The Office Of Surface Mining (OSM) assures us they will review our comments and continue with the preparation of the final Final Environmental Impact Statement (F-EIS) & that EIS’s are based on available data and information. However, Peabody Western Coal Company has issued many changes to the BMP-EIS since it was originally published. The draft EIS is the same document as previously issued. This information has not been made available to the public for comment! The public is being asked to comment yet we do not have all the information necessary to make a well-informed comment. Additionally, OSM needs to throw out this EIS and completely redo the proposal to address global warming and other aspects. We question the legitimacy of the OSM/ Peabody-funded EIS process.
Agencies involved in the decision making process:
Peabody Coal Company is funding the EIS process. The Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA); U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS), County of Mohave, Arizona; and City of Kingman, Arizona will cooperate with OSMRE in the preparation of the EIS.
POWER PATHS the Movie.
A MUST WATCH FILM FOR ALL AMERICANS
As with the Alaska Pipeline, coal was moved in a pipeline from the mines to the generating plants by mixing the coal with water. Billions of gallons of water from underground aquifers, stored since the ice age have been completely drained from under the southwestern region of America. All of this water was poisoned in the pipeline to make coal slurry, then disposed of after the coal arrives at the power plant. All of this environmental damage has occured in less than 40 years.
The electricity produced supplied Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. None of it was available to the tribes. Many people live there without electrical power at all. The tribes managed to finally shut down the strip mines and power plant in 2005, at the sacrifice of jobs for their own people.
These and other companies that pollute the land, air, and water need to be stopped. The Navajo Nation is leading the way towards clean renewable energy right now. The rest of us in america, and around the world need to join this cause today.
The Navajo Nation has taken on California Edison and won, and are developing Wind Farms and jobs on thier land right now, today. This is one small victory, but there are many more mines, coal and oil fired power plants, toxic natural gas fracking operations, and nuclear plants (which are mistakenly only considered "green" because they don't produce green house gases.)
BEWARE OF CORPORATE INDUSTRIAL AND UTILITY CLAIMS THAT THEY ARE WORKING TOWARDS A RENEWABLE "GREEN" ENERGY FUTURE !!
Southern California Edison claims to be investing in Green Energy, but if you look closer they are heavily diversified into hydro, coal, and nuclear. The majority of their power plant fuel is coal. They are not alone. Almost all American utility companies and large corporations are so heavily diversified into polluting technologies that their so called green investment is merely a token.
Like the automotive industry which tries to pacify us with hybrid technology that is already obsolete, utilities and other industry try and lull us into approval of their so called renewable energy efforts. We all must demand change now, or they will continue to do pretty much what they have always done, continue to pollute and contaminate our home, mother earth for as long as they can get away with it.
by Pete Whipple on Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 3:12am
Power Paths is a PBS presentation and an "Independent Lens" production about the seriously devestating environmental damage done by coal fired electricity generating power plants (and Southern California Edison) on Navajo and Hopi land in Arizona.As with the Alaska Pipeline, coal was moved in a pipeline from the mines to the generating plants by mixing the coal with water. Billions of gallons of water from underground aquifers, stored since the ice age have been completely drained from under the southwestern region of America. All of this water was poisoned in the pipeline to make coal slurry, then disposed of after the coal arrives at the power plant. All of this environmental damage has occured in less than 40 years.
The electricity produced supplied Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. None of it was available to the tribes. Many people live there without electrical power at all. The tribes managed to finally shut down the strip mines and power plant in 2005, at the sacrifice of jobs for their own people.
These and other companies that pollute the land, air, and water need to be stopped. The Navajo Nation is leading the way towards clean renewable energy right now. The rest of us in america, and around the world need to join this cause today.
The Navajo Nation has taken on California Edison and won, and are developing Wind Farms and jobs on thier land right now, today. This is one small victory, but there are many more mines, coal and oil fired power plants, toxic natural gas fracking operations, and nuclear plants (which are mistakenly only considered "green" because they don't produce green house gases.)
BEWARE OF CORPORATE INDUSTRIAL AND UTILITY CLAIMS THAT THEY ARE WORKING TOWARDS A RENEWABLE "GREEN" ENERGY FUTURE !!
Southern California Edison claims to be investing in Green Energy, but if you look closer they are heavily diversified into hydro, coal, and nuclear. The majority of their power plant fuel is coal. They are not alone. Almost all American utility companies and large corporations are so heavily diversified into polluting technologies that their so called green investment is merely a token.
Like the automotive industry which tries to pacify us with hybrid technology that is already obsolete, utilities and other industry try and lull us into approval of their so called renewable energy efforts. We all must demand change now, or they will continue to do pretty much what they have always done, continue to pollute and contaminate our home, mother earth for as long as they can get away with it.
What Is Mountain Top Removal Mining? + (vid) Mountain Of Love
What is Mountain Top Removal Mining?
Mountaintop removal / valley fill coal mining (MTR) has been called strip mining on steroids. One author says the process should be more accurately named: mountain range removal. Mountaintop removal /valley fill mining annihilates ecosystems, transforming some of the most biologically diverse temperate forests in the world into biologically barren moonscapes.Download MJ newsletter and fact sheets.
Many thanks to OHVEC for the use of their photographs and assistance in this page.
Steps and Effects
1. Forests are clear-cut; often scraping away topsoil, lumber, understory herbs such as ginseng and goldenseal, and all other forms of life that do not move out of the way quickly enough. Wildlife habitat is destroyed and vegetation loss often leads to floods and landslides. Next, explosives up to 100 times as strong as ones that tore open the Oklahoma City Federal building blast up to 800 feet off mountaintops. Explosions can cause damage to home foundations and wells. “Fly rock,” more aptly named fly boulder, can rain off mountains, endangering resident’s lives and homes.
2. Huge Shovels dig into the soil and trucks haul it away or push it into adjacent valleys.3. A dragline digs into the rock to expose the coal.
These machines can weigh up to 8 million pounds with a base as big as a gymnasium and as tall as a 20-story building. These machines allow coal companies to hire fewer workers. A small crew can tear apart a mountain in less than a year, working night and day. Coal companies make big profits at the expense of us all.
4. Giant machines then scoop out the layers of coal, dumping millions of tons of “overburden” – the former mountaintops – into the narrow adjacent valleys, thereby creating valley fills. Coal companies have forever buried over 1,200 miles of biologically crucial Appalachian headwaters streams
5. Coal companies are supposed to reclaim land, but all too often mine sites are left stripped and bare. Even where attempts to replant vegetation have been made, the mountain is never again returned to its healthy state. Reclamation Problems
Community Impacts
Coal washing often results in thousands of gallons of contaminated water that looks like black sludge and contains toxic chemicals and heavy metals. The sludge, or slurry, is often contained behind earthen dams in huge sludge ponds. One of these ponds broke on February 26th, 1972 above the community of Buffalo Creek in southern West Virginia. Pittston Coal Company had been warned that the dam was dangerous, but they did nothing. Heavy rain caused the pond to fill up and it breached the dam, sending a wall of black water into the valley below. Over 132 million gallons of black wastewater raged through the valley. 125 people were killed, 1100 injured and 4000 were left homeless. Over 1000 cars and trucks were destroyed and the disaster did 50 million dollars in damage. The coal company called it an “act of God”. Marsh Fork Elementary by Brittany Williams. | Traditional mining communities disappear as jobs diminish and residents are driven away by dust, blasting and increased flooding and dangers from overloaded coal trucks careening down small, windy mountain roads. Mining companies buy many of the homes and tear them down. Dynamite is cheaper than people, so mountaintop removal mining does not create many new jobs. Mingo County flood in West Virginia June 2004 Of course, it’s not only the people who suffer. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has written that mountaintop removal’s destruction of WV’s vast contiguous forests destroys key nesting habitat for neo-tropical migrant bird populations, and thereby decreases the migratory bird populations throughout the northeast U.S. |
The EPA's West Virginia coal mining smackdown
The new Republican leadership of the House is dead set against any action on climate change, but the EPA does what they are supposed to do in spite of them !!
I have said, and will continue to say that: party affiliation, hate speech, name calling, by the merdia and by politicians will only guarantee bloody revolution, and that we must all come together, take care of each other, our earth, and the jobs that will inevitably change into something else in a new clean, green, economy. The EPA's action here are some of the first necessary steps of putting fossil fuels into the history books as an obsolete technology, and embrace a new millenium of clean, modern technology.
The EPA's West Virginia coal mining smackdown
I have said, and will continue to say that: party affiliation, hate speech, name calling, by the merdia and by politicians will only guarantee bloody revolution, and that we must all come together, take care of each other, our earth, and the jobs that will inevitably change into something else in a new clean, green, economy. The EPA's action here are some of the first necessary steps of putting fossil fuels into the history books as an obsolete technology, and embrace a new millenium of clean, modern technology.
The EPA's West Virginia coal mining smackdown
Hopes fade for missing Mexico miners
We don't need coal mines and explosive gas. We don't need the danger or the pollution. Wind Turbines and Solar panels don't blow up, kill people, or cause life long medical problems for those who breath near them.
Hopes fade for missing Mexico miners
(AP) – 19 hours ago
SAN JUAN DE SABINAS, Mexico (AP) — Rescue workers said Wednesday there is little hope that nine missing miners have survived a coal mine explosion that killed at least five people in northern Mexico.
The gas explosion that ripped through the primitive, vertical-shaft mine early Tuesday was so powerful it seriously injured a 15-year-old boy working on a conveyor belt outside the pit.
Labor Secretary Javier Lozano said that left little possibility that those inside could have withstood the force of the blast.
"The outlook is very bad," Lozano said at the scene. "The truth is that it does not allow us to hold out much hope."
A team of four rescuers who entered the mine quickly found the bodies of three miners in front of the rubble shaken loose by the blast. The mine employees later found two more bodies, and one rescuer who had been down the partially collapsed shaft said there was little chance anyone survived.
"We have to stop thinking they could be alive," said Fernando Garza, a 44-year-old miner who knew some of the victims. "Everything inside collapsed. We know the bodies are on the floor of the mine, but we haven't been able to secure the area."
Garza, who was resting after authorities suspended the rescue efforts because of gas buildup, said the bodies that have been recovered were all burned.
"It will be difficult to get the rest of the bodies, but not impossible," Garza said. "We have to get them out and we will."
Just hours earlier, officials had been hoping for a miracle rescue, like that of the 33 miners who were rescued after surviving 69 days underground following the Aug. 5 collapse of the San Jose mine in Chile.
Lozano said Mexico had asked Chile for help, and that four experts were expected to arrive shortly.
Such hopes were dashed, and wailing sobs rose from the crowd of about 80 friends and relatives when they spotted a truck from the local morgue show up at the pit head.
"No, Lord, I don't want this to happen," wailed one woman, as she was embraced by another outside the small mine located in San Juan de Sabinas, about 85 miles (135 kilometers) southwest of Eagle Pass, Texas.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon issued a statement late Tuesday expressing condolences to the victims' families. He said the federal government "will do everything in its power to help state and local authorities rescue the rest of the trapped miners."
The injured boy had been separating coal from tailings. Federal prosecutors later said one of the boy's arms had been amputated and that he remained in serious condition.
Lozano said the boy's employment at the mine was an apparent violation of labor laws.
The 14 miners were down the 197-foot-deep (60 meters) shaft when the explosion ripped through the mine, which had opened just over a month ago and employed about 25 miners.
The national mine workers union said in a statement that the mine's work force was not unionized, and it criticized what it called "the totally unsafe conditions in which coal mines in Mexico, and especially in this region known as the coal belt, operate."
Officials said they were investigating who was actually operating the mine, because there was conflicting registry data.
And the federal Attorney General's Office said it had opened an investigation into the blast, which it said was caused by a gas buildup.
A similar blast caused by methane gas killed 65 miners in February 2006 at the Pasta de Conchos coal mine in San Juan de Sabinas, near where Tuesday's explosion occurred.
Rescuers eventually recovered the bodies of two miners from the 2006 blast, but tons of wood, rock and metal, as well as toxic gas, prevented the recovery of the other bodies.
On Tuesday, a group of relatives of miners killed in the 2006 explosion issued a press statement calling on the government to outlaw the kind of dangerous, small-scale, vertical-shaft coal mines that dot the region. Coahuila Gov. Jorge Torres Lopez promised the small mines would be subject to review and inspection.
Still smarting from criticism about the government's failings in mine safety, and their inability to recover the bodies from the 2006 blast, federal officials promised aid to the trapped miners' families.
(This version CORRECTS that officials say boy lost one arm, not two.)
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Hopes fade for missing Mexico miners
(AP) – 19 hours ago
SAN JUAN DE SABINAS, Mexico (AP) — Rescue workers said Wednesday there is little hope that nine missing miners have survived a coal mine explosion that killed at least five people in northern Mexico.
The gas explosion that ripped through the primitive, vertical-shaft mine early Tuesday was so powerful it seriously injured a 15-year-old boy working on a conveyor belt outside the pit.
Labor Secretary Javier Lozano said that left little possibility that those inside could have withstood the force of the blast.
"The outlook is very bad," Lozano said at the scene. "The truth is that it does not allow us to hold out much hope."
A team of four rescuers who entered the mine quickly found the bodies of three miners in front of the rubble shaken loose by the blast. The mine employees later found two more bodies, and one rescuer who had been down the partially collapsed shaft said there was little chance anyone survived.
"We have to stop thinking they could be alive," said Fernando Garza, a 44-year-old miner who knew some of the victims. "Everything inside collapsed. We know the bodies are on the floor of the mine, but we haven't been able to secure the area."
Garza, who was resting after authorities suspended the rescue efforts because of gas buildup, said the bodies that have been recovered were all burned.
"It will be difficult to get the rest of the bodies, but not impossible," Garza said. "We have to get them out and we will."
Just hours earlier, officials had been hoping for a miracle rescue, like that of the 33 miners who were rescued after surviving 69 days underground following the Aug. 5 collapse of the San Jose mine in Chile.
Lozano said Mexico had asked Chile for help, and that four experts were expected to arrive shortly.
Such hopes were dashed, and wailing sobs rose from the crowd of about 80 friends and relatives when they spotted a truck from the local morgue show up at the pit head.
"No, Lord, I don't want this to happen," wailed one woman, as she was embraced by another outside the small mine located in San Juan de Sabinas, about 85 miles (135 kilometers) southwest of Eagle Pass, Texas.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon issued a statement late Tuesday expressing condolences to the victims' families. He said the federal government "will do everything in its power to help state and local authorities rescue the rest of the trapped miners."
The injured boy had been separating coal from tailings. Federal prosecutors later said one of the boy's arms had been amputated and that he remained in serious condition.
Lozano said the boy's employment at the mine was an apparent violation of labor laws.
The 14 miners were down the 197-foot-deep (60 meters) shaft when the explosion ripped through the mine, which had opened just over a month ago and employed about 25 miners.
The national mine workers union said in a statement that the mine's work force was not unionized, and it criticized what it called "the totally unsafe conditions in which coal mines in Mexico, and especially in this region known as the coal belt, operate."
Officials said they were investigating who was actually operating the mine, because there was conflicting registry data.
And the federal Attorney General's Office said it had opened an investigation into the blast, which it said was caused by a gas buildup.
A similar blast caused by methane gas killed 65 miners in February 2006 at the Pasta de Conchos coal mine in San Juan de Sabinas, near where Tuesday's explosion occurred.
Rescuers eventually recovered the bodies of two miners from the 2006 blast, but tons of wood, rock and metal, as well as toxic gas, prevented the recovery of the other bodies.
On Tuesday, a group of relatives of miners killed in the 2006 explosion issued a press statement calling on the government to outlaw the kind of dangerous, small-scale, vertical-shaft coal mines that dot the region. Coahuila Gov. Jorge Torres Lopez promised the small mines would be subject to review and inspection.
Still smarting from criticism about the government's failings in mine safety, and their inability to recover the bodies from the 2006 blast, federal officials promised aid to the trapped miners' families.
(This version CORRECTS that officials say boy lost one arm, not two.)
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
http://www.sierraclub.org/coal/wa/
Peabody Energy Sucks. They are greedy polluting liars. Don't let them in Washington State. They don't give a shit about us or anyone else.
(vid) Murry Energy: Governor Strickland - Massive Toxic Coal Slurry Spill In Ohio
Sierra Club: Help Ohio Move Beyond Coal.
US Coal Oil / Synthetic Fuels Alternatives: Coal To Gas:
What part of "stupid" don't you understand?
Glen Beck on CNN: Mis-guided broadcast in favor of using coal to make gasoline.
Bad Gas Good Wind Says:
We don't control our future because politicians from oil, gas&coal producing states control our energy supply. Oil is irrelevent. WE ALL NEED TO STOP USING FOSSIL FUELS NOW! The rest of the world knows this, even China, Iran, Germany & the Saudi's. They are all building wind & solar plants as fast as they can.
Massive public works programs got us out of the depression. America needs a massive green energy program now. Upgrade the grid, re-employ fossil fuel workers in OUR green sector.
(vid) The Reality of Clean Coal Technology
Capture & Sequester won't work. It'll leak out somewhere. The technology is so expensive that wind & solar is cheaper. Nukes are only safe until there is an accident. Natural gas is more & more expensive & just as harmful as coal.
America's electric grid is 50yrs old & needs rebuilding. We need to build wind & solar plants on a grand scale NOW. Employ fossil fuel workers in green energy. CHINA & THE REST OF THE WORLD IS AHEAD OF US IN GREEN ENERGY. Everyone knows we're all doomed if we don't.
America's electric grid is 50yrs old & needs rebuilding. We need to build wind & solar plants on a grand scale NOW. Employ fossil fuel workers in green energy. CHINA & THE REST OF THE WORLD IS AHEAD OF US IN GREEN ENERGY. Everyone knows we're all doomed if we don't.
Colorado Ditches Coal
12/10/2010 Los Angeles Times
As part of a groundbreaking plan to reduce pollution from power plants, Colorado's Public Utilities Commission has decided to replace all coal-fired power plants in the Denver area. It's the first time a state has moved to shutter coal-burning plants to battle air pollution.
The commission approved the proposal Thursday afternoon, which was sparked by a law, passed with bipartisan support this year, that required the state to sharply cut its emissions. The plan is expected to cut nitrogen oxide emissions by 86%.
There will be a cost in replacing Xcel Energy's four coal-fired power plants. Ratepayers will see an increase of 2.4%, or about $1.40 a month, as the plants shift to natural gas. The coal industry has vowed legal action to block the change.
A step in the right direction ! The world !
Spread the word !!
There will be a cost in replacing Xcel Energy's four coal-fired power plants. Ratepayers will see an increase of 2.4%, or about $1.40 a month, as the plants shift to natural gas. The coal industry has vowed legal action to block the change.
A step in the right direction ! The world !
Spread the word !!
Powered By Coal
Jim Rogers(Duke Coal) doesn't REALLY care,
he opened 2 new plants & done NO carbon reclaiming.
Co2 reclaiming won't work & costs 2 much $ anyway.
This makes wind & solar power the cheaper energy afterall.
We need a "Marshall Plan" to rebuild america's energy infrastructure. We can start by employing fossil fuel workers in wind & solar. Our nations electric grid is 50yrs old & needs rebuilding anyway. China & the rest of t he world is building wind & solar plants faster than the U.S. is.
Coal Waste Regulation -- Utilities Trying to Avoid Regulating their Toxic Wastes by Misdirection | Scott Slesinger's Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC
Coal Waste Regulation -- Utilities Trying to Avoid Regulating their Toxic Wastes by Misdirection | Scott Slesinger's Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC
COAL ASH FINALLY ADDRESSED -- EPA versus OMB
During the past 30 years, the pollutants that used to go up the stack are now collected in ash. Administrations have been prodded by NRDC lawsuits to regulate these toxic wastes and have found excuses not to do so. The politics changed after the mishandling of this waste lead to the devastating results in Kingston, Tennessee, blogged about by my colleague, Rob Perks. Now, with new technology that better predicts the high levels of these toxics reaching groundwater, EPA has come forward with a plan to regulate coal ash and its metal components of arsenic, mercury, lead, antimony, and other toxic metals. Actually, the Administration has come forward with two plans. One protects the public, I will call that the EPA plan, and the second protects the status quo; I will call that the OMB plan. This is the first rule in my memory where EPA came out with two opposite options for regulating something – an apparent compromise required by OMB to get the rule out.
Don Blankenship's Coal Mine Has 53 Safety Violations Before deadly Explosion.
What A Way to treat your Employees, DON.
(vid) Deep Down : A story from the heart of coal country
Coal Miners Traped With Obsolete Jobs.
Miners Deserve Better Jobs In Green Energy.
(vid) Coal Country :The Movie
Every person who draws breath in america needs to demand that coal miners and all other fossil fuel workers in our country:
get better, safer jobs in the green energy sector.
The lively hoods of these people should not be used as an excuse
to continue using harmfull, obsolete technology. These workers deserve Unions & Organized Labor Protection and Benefits.
The only thing standing in the way of massive green energy development, and tens of thousands of green jobs
.....is our own government.
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The oil, gas, and coal companies don't get out of the Whitehouse, and if the government doesn't get out of the oil, gas,and coal business.