Tell the EPA to Ban Mountaintop Removal
Today at RAN HQ, we had a visit from Larry Gibson from Kayford Mountain, WV. Larry’s been fighting Big Coal for 25 years. He faces the violence, lies and oppression of the coal industry almost on a daily basis. The mountain where he lives, Kayford mountain is, as he calls it a green “knob” sticking up out of the barren landscape devastated by mountaintop removal. He calls the view from his land to look at the devastation “Hell’s Gate” People associated with the coal industry have committed 70+ acts of violence and much more property destruction on Kayford Mountain all aimed at intimidating Larry and others from speaking out.
This week, EPA admin Lisa Jackson announced that they’d be delaying and reviewing two permits for mountaintop removal mining operations and calling into question more that 100 pending permits that threaten mountains, waterways and communities across Appalachia.
That’s a big deal for a region that has been devastated by mountaintop removal coal mining.
But one day after the big announcement, the EPA released a clarification saying that although the permits were under review, they expected that “the bulk of these pending permit applications will not raise environmental concerns.”
“Not raise environmental concerns?” WTF? Why?
Because Big Coal has some deep pockets, that’s why. In less than 24 hours, the industry quickly mobilized a massive army of lobbyists (2,000+ of them) and reactionary politicians (like WV Gov. Joe Manchin) to lobby against a mountaintop removal moratorium.
Right now, we may not have thousands of lobbyists and millions of dollars, but the No Coal movement is stronger than ever.
Today, RAN launched an online campaign to tell Lisa Jackson to ban mountaintop removal and revoke all existing permits (like at Coal River Mountain). Tell her now to ban mountaintop removal!
Lots more happening on the ground in WV and elsewhere to rock Big Coal’s world. They may have money and lobbyists and dirty politicians, but we have people power, creativity and the persistence to win.
2 Responses to “Tell the EPA to Ban Mountaintop Removal”
Leave a Reply
All comments offered in the spirit of civil conversation are welcome! Commercial spam, obscenity and other rude behavior are not, and will be removed. Valid email addresses are required. (RAN respects your privacy; we will not use, lend, or sell your email address for any reason.)
March 29th, 2009 at 8:19 am
If any of these people are so in touch with the environment and know what is best for it, why don’t they really make a statement and remove themselves from the power grid or put themselves up some windmills? The people in question at this particular site are very similar to the ones that created a similar mess in Logan County, WV 12 years ago. The mining operations are upsetting there illegal cultivation of marijuana and their illegal dumping grounds. These people are not environmentalists, they are criminals seeking to extort money from these companies and when they don’t pay the overinflated numbers they request, that’s when Cindy Rank and other such enviromental marxists’ show up to trespass on the company’s private property, violate safety regulations pertaining to mining operations, and in most cases, vandalize equipment and structures as well as employee’s personal property. If they were true environmentalists, they would cease to enjoy the luxury that coal provides for them, energy. They need to quit using cars, planes, tranes, boats, etc, and return to that tranquil, peaceful, pre-energy time known as the 15th century. What a bunch of moronic, marxist, dictator like bull@@@@! Get out of my state!
March 30th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
[...] history (never used those buzzwords though), I love that one of the two mountains saved by Lisa Jackson’s announcement last week was Blair [...]