White House photo
“I will tell you that there’s some pretty country up there that’s been torn up pretty good.”Â
President Barack Obama
With the flurry today and tonight about EPA’s action on mountaintop removal, I thought Coal Tattoo readers would want to see some recent comments from President Barack Obama himself on the issue.
No … none of the White House press corps asked about it during this evening’s primetime news conference. But apparently some regional reporters based in Washington asked about it during a meeting Monday with the president.
Here’s what James Carroll reported on that in the Louisville Courier-Journal:
The president repeatedly spoke of the promise of new sources of energy, such as wind and solar power, and said he hoped incentives to industry would promote cleaner energy from sources such as coal.
On the subject of coal, Obama was asked for his views on regulating the controversial mining practice of mountaintop removal, in which explosives are used on the tops and sides of mountains to get at underlying coal seams.
While the coal industry sees the extraction method as the most cost-effective way of reaching coal near the surface, environmental groups object that mountaintop removal has produced a legacy of devastation and environmental pollution.
Obama said his administration is reviewing decisions by the Bush administration that eased mine-waste rules governing mountaintop removal.
“This is one of those things where I want science to help lead us,” Obama said. “I will tell you that there’s some pretty country up there that’s been torn up pretty good.
“I will also tell you that the environmental consequences of the runoff from some of these mountains can just be horrendous. … Not taking that into account because of short-term economic concerns, I think, is a mistake. I think we have to balance economic growth with good stewardship of the land God gave us.”
[UPDATED: The Courier-Journal also has a full transcript of that discussion].
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Well, it’s about time that someone had the nerve to stand up to the coal barrons. Even our revered congressmen and senators -who should not be afraid of being voted out – have shown no balls to speak out on the devastation that MTR does to our beautiful state. Unlike wind turbines that can be removed, once the tops of the mountains are gone, they’re gone. Obama, you’re the man!
Well Sally I hope you are not becoming a victim of premature jubilation.
Really the letters just tell them to do their jobs.
But they were already supposed to do their jobs, so what has changed?
[...] line at the Charleston Gazette, posted by environmental reporter Ken Ward Jr.. Ward also provides a fine roundup of Obama comments on the issue, gathered by regional reporters Monday, including “I will tell you that there’s [...]
[...] so much to the Louisville Courier-Journal for their interview, and Ken Ward Jr’s blog, Coal Tattoo, for the heads up! addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ilovemountains.org%2Fnews%2F497′; addthis_title [...]
[...] much to the Louisville Courier-Journal for their Whitehouse interview, and Ken Ward Jr’s blog, Coal Tattoo, for the heads [...]