Speaking out against mountaintop removal in the coalfields has serious consequences, bulletmarks courtesy of ?…

This headstone is in Larry Gibsons family cemetery.

Larry says that its easy to get the attention of national and even international media (he’s even spoken to the UN), but it is impossible to get a local paper to run a letter-to-the-editor opposing anything coal wants to do.

When they hang your pets, shoot up your family’s headstones, physically engage and intimidate you…thats not politics anymore. That is company sponsored terrorism.

In West Virginia, I have learned, the mountains are not safe.
King Coal buys them by the lot, then cuts them down
To scrape out coal.
Yes, lops off the mountain tops layer by layer,
To feed our country’s ravening lust for power,
So I can cool my house and heat my pool.
The unseen cost is very high
And I would have you know it.
First they clear cut all the trees and core-sample to find the seams.
Roads are built for mammoth trucks and cranes
Connecting to the railroad line.
Now here’s perhaps the worst, if one can grade such mayhem:
The ripped-up, still-breathing carcasses
Of all those Appalachian mountain tops
Are dumped by cavernous truck-loads-full
Into the nearest, easiest, cheapest place—
The valleys down below.
That’s where the unsuspecting rivers flow
Innocent and pure, feeding the fish and cleansing the land,
Nurturing the folks along the banks
For longer than we know.
Now many are dead, 20% of West Virginia’s waterways gone,
Suffocated from the slaughtered mountaintops
Trucked down to the valleys.
Just gone, the swift brooks and gentle streams that fed the major rivers.
Just gone.
Then water, streaming from the sky, has no place to go
And only following Nature’s laws,
Brings floods.
A double peril haunts the West Virginia folk:
Their land devalued, broken and destroyed,
And every storm a threat to life and land and home.
The rivers aren’t to blame, of course –
They aren’t even there any more.
Their ghosts may shed a tear.
(Thanks Lenny and Dottie)

[Mississippi] Swatting mosquitoes and dodging other biting bugs is nearly a year-round chore in the Southeast, but such pests are swarming across the country with the advent of summer weather. A traditional folk remedy, known among people in Mississippi’s hill country for at least a century, may provide some relief without all the worries of DEET and other harsh chemicals. Scientists at the United States Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Research Service housed at the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi have isolated compounds in the American beautyberry plant, Callicarpa americana, that may keep chomping insects away. The National Center for Natural Products Research is the nation’s only university research center devoted to improving human health and agricultural productivity through the discovery, development and commercialization of pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals derived from plants, marine organisms and other natural products.

For more information about research at NCNPR: http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/pharmacy/ncnpr.

News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org

The other night, a bunch of us were able to attend a guerilla war of a public hearing at Marsh Fork Elementary. This time it was to discuss (again) wether or not it was smart for Massey to build (another) coal silo within 300 feet of an elementary school (which is illegal.) The school also sits right under a 2.8 billion gallon toxic sludge dam. More about Marsh Fork here. I think that if we could find a way to harness the energy of Maria Gunnow and somehow convert it into electricity we wouldnt have to worry about coal anymore.

Ed Wiley will also start his walk for Pennies of Promise next week. He’ll walk for 40 days and nights from Charleston to Washington DC to raise awareness about the school. We’ll be covering every footprint.

I just put up my pictures from the event. Have a gander! Let Larry Gibson light your path. For those without an Ofoto account, I put the rest of the pictures below the jump. So just click “Read More…”

…

From an opinion piece in the Herald-Dispatch:

The Friends of Coal organization’s stated purpose is to inform and educate citizens about the coal industry and its vital role in the state’s future and the nation’s future. We hope the promotion will stay on that course and avoid the topics such as mountaintop removal that can divide supporters.

(Hat tip to the MTR Clearinghouse!)

The “Friends of Coal” is an organization spoonspred by the WV coal assosciation. They recently won a no-bid contract to sponsor the annual WVU-Marshall football game. Read everything you need to know about it here.

[North Carolina] As genetically-engineered trees make their way from the lab to the ground, scientists and activists are in disagreement over the risks and rewards. In China, forests of genetically-engineered trees have already been planted. Closer to home, North Carolinians are researching the possibilities and the risks of genetically-engineered trees and their affects on southern forests. Frank Stasio talks with Claire Williams, visiting research professor in the department of biology at Duke University; Ross Whetten, associate professor of forestry and environmental services at North Carolina State University; and Anne Petermann, co-director of the Global Ecology Project, about the biology and the sociology of genetically-modified forests.

News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org

This news release was just sent out by our good friends at Wild South. If you live near Boone and Blowing Rock then READ THIS!

Proposed Cutting and Selling of National Forest, Use of Chemical Poisons, and Daylighting Roads Adjacent to Blowing Rock, N.C.

On June 30, 2006, the U.S. Forest Service released an environmental assessment that calls for the cutting and selling of hundreds of acres of the Pisgah National Forest along Thunderhole Creek and Big Ridge which lie adjacent to the town of Blowing Rock. The area is used by many local residents for hiking, camping, jogging and other outdoor activities.

The Forest Service document identifies the proposal as the Globe Project and locates it eleven miles northwest of Lenoir, North Carolina. “This appears to be intentional,” said Lamar Marshall, editor and publisher of Wild South magazine. “The Forest Service knows that the people of Blowing Rock don’t want to see their National Forest cut down, poisoned and sold to timber companies. They want the Forest left alone in its natural condition. Hikers and joggers don’t want to be in an area where hundreds of acres have been poisoned with triclopyr.”

Triclopyr is a chlorinated hydrocarbon that replaced the banned 2,4,5-T, the deadly ingredient used in Agent Orange. It was originally developed for woody plant control along rights-of-way and on industrial sites. It is also used in forest site preparation. Triclopyr is of low to moderate acute toxicity in mammals. Somewhat persistent, residues can persist in the soil for several years. The Forest Service proposes to use Garlon 3A, a formulation that can cause permanent impairment of vision and other negative impacts to humans.

The primary features of the Globe Project include:
231 acres of two-aged shelterwood cuts that will remove These cuts will remove 80% of the basal area or more.
Build 1.1 miles of roads to harvest trees
Re-open 1.2 miles of old logging roads
Herbicide 231 acres with Garlon 3A which is a triclopyr formulation
Clearcut 2 miles of Frankum Road (Forest Service Road 188) in order to “daylight it.” The cut will be 15 feet wide on each side of the road.
Clearcut 2.4 miles of Thunderhole Road (Forest Service Road 4071 to “daylight” it
Gate off Thunderhole Road just before China Creek
Create log landings and skid roads
Designate 311 acres of old growth
Herbicide invasive alien plants to prevent them from spreading into the new cut-over areas

The environmental assessment states that the Forest Service adequately noticed the public but received only eight comments. The purpose of the action is to produce semi clearcut areas which it describes as “early successional habitat” for wildlife, particularly turkey. Opponents of the proposal contend that there is plenty of cleared land on private property surrounding the public property. Forest users also argue that there are plenty of wild turkey already and that cutting hundreds of acres of National Forest is not justified.

Before the Forest Service can make a final decision on a project that involves ground-disturbing activities such as timber sales, road-building, sanitation thinning, herbiciding invasive aliens, or daylighting roadsides, they are required by law to notify the public and allow them to submit written or oral comments expressing their concerns. The agency then must address the public concerns.

Next, the law requires the Forest Service to consider a “range of alternatives” from which they choose a “preferred alternative.” One alternative is called the “no action” alternative where nothing is done. The Forest Service has already rejected this alternative for the Globe area on the grounds that it wasn’t compatible with their North Carolina Forest Plan.

“The people of Blowing Rock deserve to have a public hearing with the Forest Service present to answer questions about this issue before they make a final decision,” Marshall said. “Blowing Rock is noted for its incredible views of the places the Forest Service wants to ruin by cutting the trees down. Tourism and recreation are not compatible with industrial forestry practices. This has to be stopped.”

What you can do:
Exercise your right to participate in the decision-making process that manages your National Forests.

Contact Joy Malone, District Ranger for the Grandfather District, Pisgah National Forest
Tell her the citizens of Blowing Rock were not sufficiently notified of the Globe Project. Tell her that Blowing Rock is ten miles closer to this project than Lenoir. Why was Blowing Rock left out? Insist that the Forest Service make a public presentation in Blowing Rock before the August 10th deadline or that they extend the deadline for the comment period. The citizens of Blowing Rock have a right to submit their comments.

Joy Malone, District Ranger, Grandfather District, Pisgah National Forest
109 E. Lawing Dr, Nebo, NC 28761-9827

Republican Representative Richard Pombo (CA-11) recently recieved a fairly strong GOP challenge from moderate Republican and former Congressman Pete McKlosky. Turns out McKlosky – the Republican – has crossed party lines and endorsed a man named Jerry McNerney instead of anti-environmental Republican Representative Richard Pombo.

Richard Pombo (R-11) has long been a thorn in the side of…well…I’d say everybody. But he has especially found his nemisis in environmentalists. He is Senator Inhofe’s anti-environmental counterpart in the House of Representatives. User D-rew has given us a short list of Inhofe’s campaign contributors here, and Im sure it wouldnt be hard to dig up the same list for Pombo. And it would probably look pretty similar. Pombo has made headlines in the last year for attempting to privatize national parks and gut the Endangered Species Act, among other things.

Charlotte, NC – based Duke Energy earned the ire of environmental and public health advocates last week when they succeeded in passing a sneaky and confusing bill through the North Carolina General Assembly that would, in essence, allow them to run their scrubbers on their planned new coal-fired generating units at the Cliffside Steam Station in Rutherford County only part of the time. The rest of the time, they will be sending unfiltered sulfur pollution into the air directly upwind of Charlotte and Hickory – two cities that are already having trouble meeting EPA attainment standard for deadly small particle pollution.

The Charlotte Observer summed the issue up well in today’s editorial page:

By going to the legislature for the exemption, the utility avoided having to comply with a rule adopted by the Environmental Management Commission in 2005 that prohibited getting air pollution credits under the Clean Smokestack Act to offset emissions at new plants. Duke won the regulatory fight, but may lose much of the public goodwill it earned by agreeing to the Clean Smokestack Act.

The Observer goes on to say:

The legislature’s Duke Energy exemption was a policy call that could have gone either way. But there’s one danger beyond the facts of that situation. Tar Heel lawmakers should avoid making changes that other states could argue undermines the Clean Smokestack Act — and the North Carolina argument that other states should clean up their own air, too.

This is precisely the point. Since passing the North Carolina Clean Smokestacks Act in 2002, Attorney General Roy Cooper has worked tirelessly to control pollution coming from upwind states. In addition, 80% of the North Carolina General Assembly signed a letter and 25 towns and 4 counties have passed resolutions calling on our representatives in Congress to uphold or even strengthen the federal Clean Air Act, which is one of the few tools we have to force upwind states to reduce pollution. All of this was based on the moral authority the state gained from passing Clean Smokestacks.

In passing the Duke Exemption, the General Assembly has forfeited that moral authority – we’re just another southeastern state that puts the profits of our politically powerful utilities ahead of the health and well-being of our ordinary citizens.

As for Duke Energy, they too have forfeited any gains they made in their image as a “good corporate neighbor” – despite their recently updated website which is a study in duplicitous, faux-environmental public relations. Many of us made the mistake of extolling Duke Energy as a model corporate citizen after they went along with Clean Smokestacks and acknowledged the pressing problem of global warming (words that are very different from their actions).

We won’t make that mistake again.

Roanoke Times Op-Ed: by David Muhly, who is the regional representative for the Sierra Club-Appalachian Region.

News courtesy of Virginia Forest Watch

On July 11, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger submitted a petition to the U.S. Forest Service requesting that all 4.4 million acres of inventoried roadless areas in California’s national forests be protected from logging, road-building and other development. By so doing he has joined a thus-far select group of forward-looking governors who recognize the wisdom of protecting their last wild forests for the clean water, wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities they provide.

This follows on the heels of the federal government accepting the petitions of Virginia governors Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford who have also requested full protection for their roadless forests. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has also petitioned for full protection.

Last year, the Bush administration finalized a policy to replace the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The original Roadless Rule was the product of exhaustive studies and scientific, economic and public input, including 600 public meetings. Unprecedented in its overwhelming popularity, the rule garnered 10 times more public comments than any federal rule in history. This landmark plan was delayed, consistently undermined and then finally repealed by the Bush administration in May 2005.

The Bush administration did everything in its power to ignore the more than 4 million public comments in support of wild forest protection as well as an exceptionally strong ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the legality of the rule. The concerns of millions of Americans met with deaf ears, while the administration hung on the words of a handful of timber industry lobbyists. The administration shirked its responsibility to protect these few remaining roadless areas through a national policy, leaving it to governors to carry the weight.

With his petition, Schwarzenegger echoes what millions of Americans have repeatedly voiced since 2000 — our wild roadless forests deserve complete protection. Other governors should follow this lead, especially here in the Appalachians where such wild forest areas are in such short supply.

Unfortunately and in a blatant display of cynical mismanagement, the Bush administration is still moving ahead with roadless area timber sales in Alaska, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Oregon despite promises of full interim protections during the petition process,

Whether it’s deploying sound energy policy, protecting their citizens from power-plant pollution, or protecting public lands, this is one more instance of states and localities having to shoulder the responsibilities being abdicated by the Bush administration on behalf of its industry cronies.

No matter where we live, we in this region should urge Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley to step up to the plate and do the same as these other courageous governors in the region and increasingly around the country.

We owe the wild, roadless areas of our special Appalachian national forests no less protection than complete protection. After all, they belong to all of us.

News curtesy of Virginia Forest Watch