UPDATE:Joe and ACCCE made Rachel Maddow the other night. Check it out here.
Nice post on Think Progress’s site where ACCCE spokesperson Joe Lucas is arguing that mountaintop removal helps Appalachian communities deal with the lack of flat space.
Lucas told the Guardian that blowing the tops off of mountains is an economic boon for the region, not the rape of Appalachia that we call claim.
“I can take you to places in eastern Kentucky where community services were hampered because of a lack of flat space — to build factories, to build hospitals, even to build schools. In many places, mountain-top mining, if done responsibly, allows for land to be developed for community space.”
You’d think as VP of ACCCE communications, Joe Lucas would be too busy dealing with the Climate Bill letter forging scandal to make such ridiculous statements. ACCCE is the pro-coal front group that hired Bonner and Associates, a PR firm that sent a dozen forged letters from community groups and the NAACP arguing against the Waxman-Markey climate bill.
When I see Lucas in action, he often reminds me of Aaron Eckhardt’s character in “Thank You for Smoking.” Slick and unscrupulous. Unfortunately, the stress must be getting to him as his logic is failing.
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Bill Raney countered this one best:
http://wvgazette.com/News/MiningtheMountains/200803100636
Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, agreed that there hasn’t been widespread development on mountaintop removal sites. But Raney said it’s not the coal industry’s fault if new factories don’t pop up on old mine sites in isolated places like Mingo, Logan or Boone county.
“Are you going to have a Toyota plant at Wharncliffe, West Virginia?” Raney said. “Probably not. But I don’t think the law obligates the mining industry to put up bricks and mortar. Our responsibility is to make sure the opportunity is there.”
In other words, over a million acres have been destroyed for mountaintop removal. If all it took to make Appalachia rich was blowing it up, our streets would be paved with gold.
Old Joe would be surprised to find out that the Appalachia Regional Commission has linked coal mining to poverty, and the most prosperous mountainous areas in Appalachia are in fact those with the fewest exploded mountains.
I suppose that would be surprising to you, if you were a total idiot.