Well, I spent much of the day chasing possible follow-up stories to the big EPA initiative to start more closely reviewing mountaintop removal coal mining permits.
The result?
We had a series of blog posts giving readers the views from various political leaders and the United Mine Workers (we had lots of reaction from industry and environmental groups the previous day). Â And, I wrote a story for the print edition about the Corps of Engineers kind of thumbing its nose at the White House and EPA, by issuing a permit the day after EPA said it wanted to look at those permits first.
In that story, I was able to include a few quotes from Joe Lovett, director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, in which Lovett urged West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin to consider looking beyond mountaintop removal to a shift to more underground mines and to other kinds of jobs, including things like reclaiming abandoned mines or producing clean energy.
“If the governor wants to fight for jobs in West Virginia, he should support EPA’s decision, and help it make a transition away from this most destructive form of mining to a less destructive form of mining. I think it’s clear that mountaintop removal is a job-destroying, rather than a job-creating, form of mining.”
Here’s a little more of what Lovett told me this afternoon:
Gov. Manchin is supporting the short-term interest of the coal operators, instead of the long-term interests of the rest of our state.
We’ve going to continue to mine coal. The only question is what method we will use to mine the coal. Supporting mountaintop removal is supporting coal operators, not workers or the environment.
Coal Tattoo readers are commenting on the blog about this, too, and I’m pleased to see folks wanting to have the kind of discussion I suggested last week that West Virginia and other coal-producing states in Appalachia need to have. See A turning point for mountaintop removal? and Obama AML plan: Green jobs for the coalfields.
Unfortunately, most of the mainstream media in West Virginia are focused on fear — on the same old fears that the coal industry, and most every other industry, tries to foster when threatened by tougher regulation. The widely distributed Associated Press dispatch today, for example, actually started out like this:
The Obama administration’s decision to hold coal mining permits to a high environmental standard has struck a note of economic fear in Appalachia, where mining — including the kind of mining that blows up mountaintops — has been a shield against hard times afflicting the rest of the nation.
But around the country, through the magic of the blogosphere — at The Huffington Post to be more specific — there’s a completely different discussion going on, and I wanted to share a little of what they had to say.
First, there’s a long analysis from Matt Wasson, the interim director of Appalachian Voices. I was glad to see a number of things in Matt’s piece, most of all his response to those who might scoff at the loss of 14,000 surface mining jobs in the eastern coalfields:
But this misses a number of important points. In defense of the mining industry, 14,000 fairly high paying jobs mean a lot in this region, which is among the poorest in the country and already suffers rampant unemployment.
That’s the kind of thing we need to see more of from both sides in this debate — a recognition that the other side has a few valid points.
I’m not going to repeat the entire analysis here. Just suffice it to say that his analysis paints a picture that is quite different from what the coal industry and the politicians have been saying over the last 24 hours.
Coal Tattoo readers can go to link and check it out themselves. I also want to spend some more time with Matt’s figures and see what I make of them. I’d like to challenge some of you smart folks in the coal industry out there to do the same, and Coal Tattoo will be pleased to publish your responses.
Next, there’s another Huffington Post piece by Jeff Biggers, in which Jeff urges Obama “green jobs” adviser Van Jones to head straight to Mingo County, W.Va., to learn about the green jobs that might be available there at a proposed biomass facility.
I hope some of West Virginia’s political leaders and their smart staffers (come on guys, you know who I’m talking to here) will give these Huffington Post pieces a read. I’m going to be checking in to see if you did, and asking for some responses.
Some folks in the environmental community believe they lost the PR battle a decade ago after the first ruling by Judge Haden. And they’re determined — through not just PR, but analysis and academic studies and the like — to not let that happen again.
“We are not going to be caught on our heels this time,” Lovett told me. “We are going to have a real debate about all of this.”
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As long as Manchin is in bed with Massey and Bill Raney this State will continue on the downward spiral toward total destruction that it is currently riding. It will take a major disaster, like Buffalo Creek, before someone sees the light and by then it will be too late. Greed is the key word here, not what is best for the State, the environment and the future of our children.
If Lovett’s plan is realized of “transitioning away from this most destructive form of mining to a less destructive form of mining”, then what mining remained would then become the most destructive form of mining. What then?
Coal is on the way out. Not only the mining of coal, but the use of it in general as an energy source. The state should be focusing on green energy right now, not flogging a dead horse. By the way, I am an organic chemist, and there is NO WAY a substance comprised almost entirely of carbon can be carbon neutral. Clean coal technology is a myth.
If we ban surface mining by attacking 404 Water Quality Permits, coal mining is dead. It does not take away surface mining it takes away all forms of mining. Every underground mine face-up requires a 404 permit to allow for removal and storage of that construction material. Every preparation plant associated with an underground mine requires a 404 permit for refuse placement and slurry storage. The key for any environmentalist action against the “entire coal industry” is to openly attack 404 permitting disguised as an attack on MTR, the most controversial.
An attack on the coal industry as a whole is on-going, not just MTR. It will translate into a larger strain on our already weakened economy. All we hear from both political parties is energy independence, solar and wind generation is not capable of jumping in and taking over our nation’s energy demands. “Cleaner” coal technology is not where it needs to be, but neither are renewable. Both sources must to be developed to provide the energy independence we are striving for.
Let’s not be naive when we hear environmental organizations say let’s switch from MTR to underground while they are trying to prevent 404 permitting actions by the Corps. When you hear MTR destroys jobs, think about what you are hearing, how does it destroy jobs? Think about not only the mining jobs, but all the support industry jobs, all the incomes of those families that are being spent in our local stores. Don’t just jump on a bandwagon, think for yourselves. What will happen to West Virginia if mining ceases? How many coal miners support your local businesses? What will you do when they aren’t there anymore?
Connie – we here on Mud Lick feel there is a aquatic disaster coming with the selenium releases from the mines down here. Maybe this will wake-up our state leaders as to the destructive practice of MTR and the arrogance of coal.
Ken – thank you for this blog, you are a hero to us in Southern West Virginia. I am so opposed to this legislation the Senate is passing and I hope Carrie Webster stands up to this in the House, but you gave me some hope that maybe, if it does pass, it would be the reason EPA needed to come in and crack down on these discharges.
We just want our stream to be clean and not have all this selenium dumped into the river making the fish come out with two eyes on one side of its head. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
MTR is destroying our state and our communities.
Connie, I don’t think that even another Buffalo Creek disaster would change anything. People have short memories. There would be an outcry for a short while, then it all would be shoved to the back burner. How much talk do we hear about the ash dam failure in Tenn? See what I mean? It will always be the same, money talks while the common people suffer the consequences of bad legislation and little to no enforcement of existing laws.
The one thing I want to say is, the companies are responsible for all the things that have gone wrong with mining, we need to enforce the laws we have now and hold them accountable.
I have worked for alot of these companies and when everyones back is turned they take short cuts.
If we had a way to monitor all the activities of the mining process, we could eliminate 99% of the problems.
Mining can be done right, and improve the quality of life for us and the wildlife it affects, Wildlife thrives on our reclaimed property where I work now, and is growing.
Our mining is going above and beyond what was originally there,
Helping more then hurting.
Most mines are only greedy and need to be policed in order to do it right.