Senator Robert C. Byrd passed away this morning at 3am at age 92. He was the longest serving member of the US Senate and during his tenure occupied such prestigious titles as majority and minority leader and president pro tem. Sen. Byrd stood strong for the interests of those in the coalfields and was a [...]
Continue reading...By Kate, April 1 2010
More on today’s announcement from the EPA… As we have already blogged, today the EPA announced formal guidance on the issuance of new mountaintop removal coal mining permits. I will unpack that announcement a bit for understory readers: Mountaintop removal is regulated by the EPA under the Clean Water Act. Today Lisa Jackson announced several [...]
Continue reading...By Kate, February 18 2010
This morning. three activists began an occupation of Massey Energy subsidiary Marfork Coal Company, Inc.’s main office. The protestors plan to present a citizen’s arrest warrant and list of violations on the Marfork processing plant, Bee Tree Surface Mine and Brushy Fork sludge impoundment to company president Christopher Blanchard and Massey CEO Don Blankenship. The above image [...]
Continue reading...By Kate, February 8 2010
Ok so you may or may not know, but Nigeria has a crazy huge film industry. In fact it’s third in the world after Hollywood and India’s Bollywood scene. In fact, its been named Nollywood as its very similar. Well last week I attended the first film in the Nigerian Film Series that the Smithsonian [...]
Continue reading...By Kate, January 21 2010
Well here I am at the University of Charleston where Robert Kennedy, Jr. and Don Blankenship have just finished a one and a half hour debate. I hope you tuned in via the live stream or the RAN tweet feed, we’ll have photos posted soon to our RAN flickr account. Its been a lively evening [...]
Continue reading...By Kate, January 6 2010
Having returned from a wonderful holiday in North Carolina with my family, the last thing I expected to be greeted to in DC was news that the Environmental Protection Agency had decided to give approval on the Hobet 45 mine permit in Lincoln County, West Virginia. I thought that my colleague Amanda Starbuck, Director of [...]
Continue reading...By Kate, November 23 2009
There has been a lot of grassroots pressure on the EPA in the last few weeks on the issue of Mountaintop Removal. Last Friday I was able to meet a new coalition of youth activists in Philly that has emerged when they were speaking out at the Region 3 EPA headquarters. The group, Philadelphia Coalition [...]
Continue reading...By Kate, November 10 2009
Sunday, November 8th, 2009- Philly activists protested and flyered today outside the Opening Session of the American Public Health Association’s 137 Annual Meeting at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson was a keynote speaker. The activists were demanding that Ms.Jackson end blasting on Coal River Mountain in Coal River, WV. The mountain [...]
Continue reading...By Kate, October 2 2009
Wednesday, September 30th, the Environmental Protection Agency released a list of 79 pending mountaintop removal permits that will be held for further review. While the decision signals a strong first step, there are still many more pending permits, not to mention all of the active mining occurring throughout Appalachia, that was not impacted by this decision. [...]
Continue reading...By Kate, September 30 2009
Hey everyone- Kate here, your resident Washington DC Coal campaigner dedicated to taking some of the wonk of our DC Beltway politics and get under the skin of decision makers until they realize just how serious we are about the issue of Mountaintop Removal. Today the EPA made another important step forward in protecting the [...]
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By Kate, June 28 2010
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