Check out our friends Bo Webb, Chuck Nelson, and Larry Gibson with Morgan Spurlock, star of “Supersize Me.”

Spurlock’s show “30 days” will feature mountaintop removal starting June 3rd at 10PM on the FX channel.

When I saw the clip of the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart apeing a misinformed West Virginia voter last week, I had a flashback to a Saturday Night Live “Appalachian ER” skit, which featured rocker Neil Young embroiled in a mess of incest and depravity.

How the media loves its hillbillies.

Makes me wanna holler: The hand-wringing aftermath of the recent presidential primaries in Appalachia — from western Pennsylvania, North Carolina, West Virginia and Kentucky — says more about the media’s prejudice and misperception of the Mountain South than any insights into the voting ranks and their racism or religious narrowness.

In the process, most pundits missed the two best kept secrets about Appalachia: In a region that has historically witnessed tremendous industrial upheaval and transition, there is no single Appalachia or Appalachian culture. Secondly, Appalachia has been a burning ground of change and an arena for rebellion and innovation for the past 250 years.

Yet, for a media quick to scapegoat or collect a soundbite for the evening news, the ignorant hillbilly gets trotted out of the woods as the exclusive symbol of the region, or, in fact, as the last acceptable slur in the country. Just as SNL has never aired a “Jewish ER” or “Black Sambo ER” skit — thank God, recognizing that our nation has grown up on these matters — the Daily Show’s host probably will never track down and mock an elderly Jewish voter in Florida or an older African American in Michigan. Let’s hope not.

Take hillbillies, on the other hand. Dating back to the 1850s, when George W. Harris created the character of Sut Lovingood, the “durn’d fool” with his “brains onhook’d” from eastern Tennessee for a New York newspaper, the media has obsessed over hillbillies, as if they have cornered the market on provincialism or racism in America. From bloggers on the liberal Daily Kos to untold television interviews, this same obsession has reared its ugly head in one commentary after another, blinding the writers from any historical truths about Appalachia.

One guest blogger for the environmental website Grist, a wonderful venue for investigative writers, completely wrote off the region as the “Deliverance” vote. Did this blogger ever consider the fact that the “Deliverance” vote in West Virginia overwhelmingly elects liberal Democrat Jay Rockefeller and anti-Iraq war icon Robert Byrd to the Senate, or that both senators have endorsed Obama?

New York Times columnist Timothy Egan, hands down one of the most insightful writers in the country and one of my literary exemplars, simply concluded in his latest missive: Goodbye Appalachia. (New York Times publisher Adolph Ochs, who launched the newspaper on its course for world acclaim in the 1890s, came from Appalachia and modeled the Times on his Chattanooga editorial approach.)

Let’s compare the coverage of the West Virginia with Rhode Island primaries. Unless we want to split hairs, a similar number of voters — 8% versus 5% — ranked race as the SINGLE most important factor in their vote for Senator Hillary Clinton. The media, though, never raised any concerns about racism in Rhode Island. This is New England, home of the free and brave, and the leaders in our nation’s historical pursuit for independence, emancipation, and a higher literary purpose.

In West Virginia (and Kentucky), on the other hand, disregarding the fact that the Clintons have had a several decades-long relationship with southern Democrats in West Virginia, that Bill Clinton’s folksy southern accent still goes down among the aging electorate like molasses, that Sen. Barack Obama ran a poor operation and did very little campaigning in the state and mainly invoked his Illinois coal state credentials in an anachronistic pitch for votes, the media preferred to dwell on the region’s perceived legacy of backwardness. In truth, Obama blew it in Appalachia; Hillary reaped the rewards of the Clinton legacy.

Still, most reporters, exclusively interviewing older voters, went out of their way to find the most outrageous examples to confirm their hillbilly-biased pronouncements.

Outside of NPR, most of the media completely overlooked a new generation of deeply rooted activists, extremely organized around the critical issues of mountaintop removal and sustainable development, that has emerged as a strong voice in Appalachia.

Sut Lovingood and Jon Stewart notwithstanding, if the media had done a little homework on the true legacy of Appalachia, they have might had the chance to take a more profound look at the region’s voters.

Consider this: Though Obama was trounced in the coalfield regions, the United Mine Workers of America holds the distinction of being one of the oldest integrated unions in the country, and in fact, endorsed Obama this week; that Black History Month founder, Carter Woodson, emerged out of the coalfields of West Virginia, as did 19th Century African American spokesman Booker T. Washington, and pioneering black nationalist Martin Delany; that the legendary John Henry pounded those rails through Appalachia. In more recent times, imminent African American critic Henry Louis Gates, Jr. at Harvard University emerged out of the West Virginia experience, as did acclaimed novelist William Demby, one of the last living writers from the Harlem Renaissance.

A brief look at the larger mountain region further debunks this backward misperception.

Long before Rhode Island bucked the British Crown or their Boston neighbors tossed a little tea into the harbors, backwoods folks in Appalachia had already declared their independence from the British in 1772, incorporated their own articles of association, elected their own courts and sheriffs, and declared themselves the District of Washington.

A generation before New Englander William Lloyd Garrison launched his anti-slavery crusade, Appalachians launched the first newspaper dedicated to the anti-slavery issue in 1819, sent out abolitionist emissaries to Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and eventually trained the famed Boston liberator. Garrison recognized Appalachian preacher John Rankin as the godfather of the anti-slavery movement.

In 1861, Rebecca Harding, a young woman writer from western Virginia, shattered the indifference of New England’s literary elite to the working class and immigrant travails by publishing “Life in the Iron Mills,” the first story of literary naturalism in the hallowed Atlantic Monthly and the nation. Harding Davis went on to deal with the issue of race and misperceptions by outsiders as early as the 1870s.

Nearly a century later, self-proclaimed “radical hillbillies” at the Highlander Folk School in Appalachia trained the shock troops of the Civil Rights Movements — including Rosa Parks, four months before her historic refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 — and refashioned and taught the anthem “We Shall Overcome” to young civil rights advocates as early as 1946. The first school to graduate an African American youth from its integrated high school ranks took place in the Cumberland mountains of Tennessee.

Random examples of Appalachia’s progressive heritage? No, this is the backstory on our contemporary elections that should have informed some of the knee-jerk reactions to the region’s complex role in the Democratic Primaries.

Perhaps the media, and Sen. Obama, will make a better attempt to understand Appalachia in the general election in November.

From Solar Nation:

Congress has spent nearly a year debating how to pay for these expiring tax incentives, which make it cheaper for individuals and companies to install renewable energy systems and build energy-efficient buildings. The House doesn’t want to pass any legislation without an identified source of funding, and the Senate won’t consider raising taxes elsewhere to fund the clean energy provisions. Call it stalemate, call it deadlock, call it a stand-off; the bottom line is, the clean energy revolution is being strangled. CLICK HERE to Take Action!

Sam Seder, on Air America Radio, has a must listen interview with David Novick – director of “Burning the Future“. David goes into detail about mountaintop removal’s negative impact on local economies, coal company intimidation, and the myth of “clean coal.”

Listen here.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2008/05/20/johns.mountain.mining.cnn

CNN’s Joe Johns investigates the effects of mountain-top mining in West Virginia.

“How will America get the energy we need if mountaintop removal coal mining stops?”

If you’ve had many conversations with people about mountaintop removal, you may have been confronted by this question. For those of us who aren’t authorities on the matter, questions like this are sometimes difficult to answer. Luckily, the Associated Press has recently provided us with an excellent reply.

According to an AP article published on May 12, the Energy Department has concluded that America could get 20% of our energy from WIND POWER within 20 years, using technologies which are already possible today.

The Energy Department report states that this would allow for an 18% decrease in total coal consumption. Currently, coal obtained by mountaintop removal amounts to only about 7-10% of all coal burned in America.

This report proves what some energy experts have been asserting for a long time: that the energy provided by mountaintop removal coal could easily be replaced— and significantly surpassed— by wind energy.

It is also important to note that a US Geologic Survey report in 2000 stated that Appalachian coal had already passed peak production, and that what was left would only last another decade or two. Mountaintop removal is a short-term plan for Big Coal to make a fortune, not a long-term energy solution for America.

If America is going to embrace the energy of the future, it is important that we begin building wind turbines in as many optimum locations as possible. We will need our Appalachian mountain ridges INTACT in order to collect wind energy.

So, perhaps the best way to respond to queries about the relationship between mountaintop removal and America’s energy needs would be to pose another question: “How will America get the energy we need if mountaintop removal continues?”

At a forum about mountaintop removal and Dominion’s proposed Wise County plant hosted by Temple Rodef Shalom and coorganized by the Falls Church Presbyterian Church the evening of April 30, one participant used business—as opposed to ecological—economics to make the case for coal. And to those who know that not all economics are created equal, it went over about as well as “valley fill.”

About 35 people turned out for the forum. They heard first from Joe Lucas, who helped form Americans for Balanced Energy Choices in 1999 and is now the communications vice president for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE). Following Lucas, Mike McCoy, a field organizer for Appalachian Voices, and Rory McIlmoil, who wrote his master’s thesis on the elimination of MTR in West Virginia, gave a short slide presentation. The forum was moderated by Steve Mufson, a reporter and editor for The Washington Post for 17 years and now the newspaper’s energy correspondent.

Lucas opened by stating the three things he believes everyone can agree on: “We need to protect the environment”; “We enjoy the benefits of energy,” in this case, electricity; and “The cost of energy matters.” He didn’t really address the first point. As for the second, he mentioned the skyrocketing amount of electricity we use, and offered himself as an example—one person who grew up in a modest house in Kentucky, and who now has five TVs plugged into his walls. And as for cost, he wore the hat of a traditional economist, someone who believes we can—and should—grow forever and the only way to do that is by having energy that is relatively inexpensive.

The setting helped contribute to the civil tone of those in attendance, but my mind roiled over some of the things Lucas said: “I’ve driven through West Virginia and I’ve driven through Kentucky and we still have a lot of mountains there.” Let’s see…470 mountains in Appalachia leveled, 29 of those in Virginia.

Lucas even invoked someone responsible for the deaths of an estimated 20 million people last century: “If you’re going to have an omelet, you’re going to have to break some eggs,” Lucas said, attributing this quotation to Stalin, though it was probably New York Times reporter Walter Duranty who said this.

As someone who lived in Russia after college and has studied the “man of steel’s” crimes, my stomach churned upon hearing this. In the context of people who live in Appalachia and who are seeing their land destroyed, this went beyond insensitive. Whose eggs? Whose omelet? Then again, given Stalin’s environmental crimes and the displacement and exile of entire groups of people during his reign of terror, the quotation may be apt.

Attendees asked a number of questions and some commented on coal’s contribution to global warming as well as the ability to sequester carbon dioxide.

I wanted to know—and I’m still seeking an answer—whether coal is, in effect, a net energy loser, strictly on cost grounds. Lucas said, “Absolutely not.” But if you factor in the rising price of diesel and transportation as well as the peaking of coal itself (Lucas repeated the oft-stated “250 years” left), is it or is it not a “loser” like corn ethanol?

If, like the ecological economists, you factor in all the externalities, including the destruction of the mountains, then coal certainly is a “loser” for you won’t derive the benefits you would from keeping the mountains intact. No forestry, which done selectively, could be maintained indefinitely. No recreational opportunities. No food, by way of hunting or the gathering of mushrooms or medicinals, nuts or berries. And, most of all, no further opportunities for the human spirit to derive the kind of sustenance it needs.

People can and do make money off net energy losers. But in the big scheme of energy, we can no longer afford them. We never really could. It’s just that we haven’t known where our energy comes from. But we are starting to learn—and we’ve got to learn, if we are to understand the real costs of the way we live.

Leigh Glenn is a resident of McLean, Va. She notes that this was the second MTR forum in as many nights. One on April 29 was all about MTR and its effects and was cosponsored by Immanuel on the Hill and Trinity United Methodist Church in Alexandria. Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light, which works with congregations to reduce their energy consumption, helped put together both events.

Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner is currently the Democratic candidate for Senate in Virginia. I was recently able to ask him about his position on mountaintop removal.

His (disappointing) answer?

We haven’t done much of it here in Virginia.

The more candidates talk about “carbon capture and sequestration,” clean coal, IGCC, or coal to liquid fuel, the more Virginia mountains we are likely to see destroyed by mountaintop removal.

Governor Warner knows this, and I hope he will develop a better answer on what he plans to do to stop mountaintop removal if he gets that Senate seat.

Per Kimberly Brewster, Operations Director for Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy

As you all know over the past couple of months, Vicki has been assisting CMLC with the AmeriCorps program as a contractor. She has kindly offered to continue to work with us in that capacity until we are able to fill the director position. Now that we have received the good news of the program returning, we are actively seeking to fill that role. Please spread the word that CMLC is accepting applications for the position of AmeriCorps Program Director – see attached for more details.

For more details, CLICK HERE

Larry Bush, Pete Ramey, and Kathy Selvage; Citizens of Wise County and founders of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards

One week from today, citizens of Wise County, Virginia, will deliver a mile-long petition to Dominion Resources opposing their plans for a dirty coal fired power plant in Wise County. If you don’t know the background of this campaign yet, click here to learn more.

As you can see from the petition-meter on the right, we still have a lot of petition signatures to gather, and this is where you come in. We have done our best to make it easy for you to organize your networks in support of the people of Wise County who are fighting this terrible threat. Here’s what you can do:

Click here to add the NO DIRTY COAL PLANT! Petition to your facebook profile. But don’t just add it, tell your friends about it and encourage them to sign the petition and put a meter on their own profiles.

Click the “Adopt a Yard” button on the petition meter on the right, and it provides instructions on how to put a meter on almost any website.

people can sign the petition by going to: http://www.appvoices.org/index.php?air/vapetition
and they can learn all about the campaign at:

http://cleanenergyva.org/?p=44

Thanks for your help and we’ll keep you updated on the campaign.