“Past error is no excuse for its own perpetuation. Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide by which to live.” - Robert Francis Kennedy
It’s been over 8 weeks since the deadly explosion at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch (UBB) mine claimed the lives of 29 American Miners in [...]

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Cross posted from the Appalachian Voices “Front Porch Blog”
Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va. issued the following statements in response to media inquiries on a number of topics relating to the mining disaster in West Virginia:
“While the situation on the ground this morning is not as encouraging as we had hoped, my [...]

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Cross Posted from Appalachian Voices Front Porch Blog
Daniel Stone published a piece on coal and energy over Newsweek’s “The Gaggle” called ”West Virginia Mine Disaster Unlikely to Affect National Energy Debate”.  David Roberts at Grist responded to Energy Committee Staffer Bill Wicker for a quote he had in the article, and its well worth the read. [...]

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Pretty big news from West Virginia. From the Charleston Gazette reporter’s Ken Ward’s blog:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency just issued its “proposed determination” to block the Clean Water Act permit for the Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County, the largest mountaintop removal permit in West Virginia history.
EPA has posed this proposed determination document on its Region [...]

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A coalition comprised of 28 Christian groups sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency demanding that the organization take action to end mountaintop removal through the restoration of the Clean Water Act’s protections.
“As part of our call to be stewards of creation, we have a duty to use the land responsibly, to manage it [...]

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Hello friends,

I’m writing to ask you to take a step today that can help break King Coal’s economic stranglehold on coalfield communities in Southwest Virginia. By a few simple, digital steps, and three votes, you can help jump start grass roots efforts at sustainable economic development in the mountains of Southwest Virginia. Heard enough? Great. [...]

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Dominion stokes the coal industry, but says it’s a friend to the environment
BY ERIKA HOWSARE of the Cville Weekly

It’s a dim, drizzly afternoon, and I’m riding around Wise County with Kathy and Gary Selvage. I can see what they’re pointing out—evidence of surface mining—but I can’t see it the way they do.
The Selvages have [...]

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Obama Administration Asked to Halt All New Mountaintop Removal Permits
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CONTACTS:
Sandra Diaz, Director of Development and Communications, Appalachian Voices….828-262-1500
Dr. Matthew Wasson, Director of Programs, Appalachian Voices….828-262-1500
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Just days after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the expansion [...]

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Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
John Adams has been mining coal in southwest Virginia for almost 40 years. I met him in the hallway outside the auditorium where the Big Stone Gap hearing was being held. He wore an ‘I Love Mountains’ pin proudly fastened next to the ‘Friends of Coal’ logo on the black t-shirt he [...]

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As Congress was returning from the August recess, there wasn’t much news about the climate bill.  The only energy-related news breaking through the coverage of the rancorous health care debates and town-hall tea parties was a study on “energy sprawl” published by five staff members of the Nature Conservancy.
“Renewable Energy Needs Land, Lots Of Land” [...]

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The fine assessed to coal company for blasting a boulder into your home : $10,000
Bail assessed to tree-sitters who prevent blasting at a mountaintop removal site: $50,000
Ending mountaintop removal coal mining: PRICELESS
One of the dangers that face coalfield residents every day is what the industry calls flyrock, a term that does not provide an accurate [...]

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pstrongThis LTE was published in the a href=”http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-GLICK17_20090916-190802/293287/”Richmond Times Dispatch/a/strong/ppstrongThis is crossposted from the a href=”http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/blog”CCAN/a blogbr //strong/ppstrongWise County Plant Isn’t Necessary/strong/ppbr /Editor, Times-Dispatch: Although the news article, “New Permit for Coal-Fired Power Plant Pleases Both Sides,” quotes Dominion Virginia Power as claiming that the Wise County coal plant is vital to meeting Virginia’s future [...]

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Cross posted from the Appalachian Voices Front Porch Blog
The struggles of folks in West Virginia is not only getting national air time, it is finally front and center - the lead story of last Sunday’s New York Times, to be exact. The article details the Massey family from Prenter, W.Va., and their life with toxic [...]

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Cross posted from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network Blog
Today the Virginia Air Board had its quarterly meeting and looking at the agenda one thing is crystal clear: Coal is impacting air quality all over the Commonwealth.
As I write this from the meeting room, and the Air Board is hearing reports on problems associated with coal-fired [...]

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Cross posted by JW from the Appalachian Voices Front Porch Blog

Having had their astroturfing forgery exposed, this week coal industry front group ACCCE is taking an uber-REAL super-grassrootsy approach to showing us their grassrootability, via Twitter. And this time, rather than making stuff up about random minority groups, womens’ organizations, or seniors, they’re saying that [...]

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