It seems all the coal industry has left is scare tactics:

“We’re scared. We’re scared for the future of the state. We’re scared for the future of the industry, and we’re mostly scared for the future of our people,” said Bill Raney, President of the West Virginia Coal Association. “They want to stay here and they want to do what they do best and that’s mine coal.” . . . “This recession isn’t going to last forever. Coal demand picks up, electricity demand picks up, we’re going to be left flat with no place to go, no place to mine because we don’t have permits because somebody traded their jobs for mayflies,” Kitts said to the crowd.

Hey, guys…

WV coal-mining employment 1880-2008

Appalachian Poverty and MTR

I’d also recommend you read the recent Hendryx study from WVU, about how coal-mining’s losses outweigh it’s benefits by $42 billion every year, including 100s-1000s of early deaths in Appalachia.

Appalachian Voices, along with the Stop Cliffside Coalition, continues to fight the construction of Duke Energy’s coal-fired power plant in Rutherford County, NC. Duke Energy wants customers to pay more dirty energy that emits global warming gases and other air pollution, destroy the Appalachian mountains, and produces toxic coal ash ponds.

To this end, Appalachian Voices has been working on getting citizens to speak out at public hearings about the proposed rate hikes. Due to grassroots pressure, the Commission is now allowing testimony regarding that portion of the hike attributable to Cliffside plant, which is an astonishing 25 to 50%. In Marion last week, over 60 citizens came in opposition of the rates hikes. Scott Gollwitzer, in-house counsel for Appalachian Voices, gave reasons to hold off on the rate hike until a final decision on Cliffiside’s air permits were finalized.

Our message on Cliffside is getting out to the media and key decision-makers. We recently had an Opinion-Editorial in the Asheville Citizen-Times published about why coal, and especially the Cliffside plant is a bad deal for North Carolina, both environmentally and economically. Our sentiments are reaching Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy, who in an interview with Washington Independent expressed major concerns about the viability of cleaner coal technology and the future of coal in general. The pressure we have been applying is working, as this incredibly revealing quote from Jim Rogers suggests:

“I’m under incredible pressure on mountaintop mining,” said Rogers. “Most of the coal we use in the southern part of the country is from mountaintop mining. I’m doing the math now and looking to determine my contracts and posing the question to my team, what if we made a policy decision that we’re not going to buy coal as a consequence of mountaintop mining.”

He also suggests that an energy future without coal could be reached by 2050.

Then why build more dirty coal-fired plants, Mr. Rogers? If you want to learn more about our efforts to stop Cliffside, including actions you can take, sign up here.

Appalachian Voices, as part of the Alliance for Appalachia, has been organizing monthly mini-lobby weeks to Washington, DC since our last big lobby week in March. These mini-lobby weeks have become an integral part of our work, as they increase our power on Capitol Hill, empower citizens from the Appalachian coalfields and beyond, and sends a message to the coal industry that we are not going away any time soon. These mini-lobby weeks are one of the main reasons the Clean Water Protection Act in the House has a record 156 cosponsors and the Appalachia Restoration Act was introduced in the Senate earlier this year. This lobby week was a little bigger than usual, as we had some citizens from key Congressional districts from as far away as California & Oregon join us.

An exciting part of this lobby week was the unveiling of the new Appalachian Voices’ DC office as a headquarters for the lobby week. This office, located in the Eastern Market neighborhood will be allow to be even more effective on the Hill.

Another highlight of the week was a briefing that Appalachian Voices organized for congressional staff to talk about why the time is now to end mountaintop removal coal mining through passage of the Clean Water Protection Act.

Featured speakers were Dr. Matt Wasson, Program Director for Appalachian Voices and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth member Mickey McCoy. Mickey McCoy lives in Martin County, KY, where a huge toxic coal sludge spill destroyed aquatic life for miles in 2000. At the time, the EPA considered it “one of the largest environmental disasters east of the Mississippi”. Mickey talked about growing up in Martin County and his personal view on why mountaintop removal needs to end. His basic message: “Mountaintop removal is an assault on the Appalachian Mountains, its people, their environment, and generations to come. It is not right for our government to allow the dismantlement of an entire culture for the sake of the greed of the coal corporations.”

Matt followed up with a presentation of how crucial it is for the Congress to take action now to protect future mountains and communities from being destroyed by mountaintop removal mining. Administrative advances on reining in mountaintop removal is highly needed, but only serves as short-term solution, and ultimately can be overturned by a future administration. Despite encouraging news from the Obama administration on how they are currently dealing with the issue, the only truly permanent solution is going to literally take an act of Congress.

Matt’s presentation made the case that state regulators have failed communities, requiring strong action on the federal level, and refuted the coal industry’s claim that mountaintop removal is good for the region. He also demonstrated how coal’s relevancy is slipping both in terms of supply and demand. Coal is providing an all time low, percentage-wise, of the nation’s electricity needs and in fact how most of the easily recoverable coal is left to mine in the Appalachian coalfields. His main point was, “Without strong congressional action through passage of the Clean Water Protection Act, the coal industry will continue to use our mountain streams as dumping grounds for their mining waste.”
Watch a video excerpt of Mickey McCoy’s statement at the congressional briefing here.

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 tap water contaminated with heavy metals from nearby coal slurry impoundments and injections of the slurry into old underground mines. Accompanying the article was a heart-wrenching photo slide show with an audio interview featuring Jennifer Hall-Massey.

Read the full article at the New York Times, and also check out Jeff Biggers’ commentary and interview with a young activist from the Prenter Water Fund, a group striving to defend the citizens of Prenter and their right to clean drinking water.

In celebration of the Center for Appalachian Studies’ 30th anniversary and Appalshop’s 40th anniversary, the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University will be present a number of different events this week. Our favorites are listed below. Ann Pancake is the voice behind our multi-media presentation on mountaintop removal, Appalachian Treasures. And Tom Hansell and Appalshop have been producing great documentaries about Appalachia. Check them all out!

Monday, September 14, 7:00pm
IG Greer Auditorium
Featured Speaker Ann Pancake
“Voices from Under the Mine: A Reading from the Novel: Strange as This Weather Has Been & Book Signing

Published in 2007, “Strange As This Weather Has Been” is her first novel. It features a southern West Virginia family devastated by mountaintop removal mining. Based on interviews and real events, the novel was one of KirkusReview’s Top Ten Fiction Books of 2007, won the 2007 Weatherford Award, and was a finalist for the 2008 Orion Book Award.

Wednesday September 16 7pm
Premier of Tom Hansell’s “The Electricity Fairy”
Belk Library Room 114

“They reach out and flip the switch and the light comes on. Well, there’s not a magic electricity fairy. That electricity comes from a power plant that feeds on coal.”
- Eugene Mooney, former head of the Kentucky Department for Natural Resources

The Electricity Fairy is a documentary that examines America’s national
addiction to fossil fuels through the lens of electricity. Appalshop
Filmmaker Tom Hansell follows the story of a proposed coal-fired power
plant in the mountains of southwest Virginia, connecting the local
controversy to the national debate over energy policy. Present day
documentary footage is remixed with old educational films, connecting
past policy to America’s current energy crisis.

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 description. Flyrock can be more accurately described as “really big boulders that can kill you.”

This picture is a example of a “flyrock” incident that occurred in Floyd County, KY, late last week. Luckily no one was home at the time of the incident. The fact that people could have been killed and that a home was severely damaged, not to mention the psychological damage done to the community, surely is worth more than $10,000. Obviously, the Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement in Kentucky disagreed.

This is not the only time flyrock had damaged homes; and it has even taken lives. In January 2005, a bulldozer pushed a boulder the size of a large microwave off a mountaintop removal site in Appalachia, Virginia, at 3 a.m. where it rolled right into the bedroom of Zach and Jeremy Davdison. Jeremy, the younger of the two, was unfortunate enough to have the bed next to the outside wall. That boulder crushed 3 year-old- Jeremy Davidson to death. But Zach, the older brother while physically safe will have psychological wounds that may never heal. The Washington Post article reported him saying, “When we move, I don’t want to live by a hill. I may be next.”

The A&G Coal Company, responsible for the incident, was fined even less, a paltry $5000.

However, peaceful protesters who sat in trees to prevent blasting at Massey Energy’s Edwight Surface Mine were fined $50,000 for trespass, obstruction and littering when they came down after 5 days of enduring psychological torture, verbal assault and threats from Massey employees and security.

In fact, the rough treatment of the 2 tree-sitters, as well as the contracted security themselves, was enough for Chris Carey and Patrick Murray, two of the contract security, to walk off the job. They were brave enough to share their views of the tree-sit, and their complex and subtle opinions of the power of Big Coal and the future of West Virginia. Watch the video- there’s a 10 minute version, but the one hour version is worth listening to as well.

What message are we sending to the coalfield residents of Appalachia, when coal companies literally get away with murder and destruction for a measly $10,000?

The following email was sent to the 37,000+ supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.

Dear mountain lover,

We have great news!

The Obama Administration has heard you! Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency placed all 79 mountaintop removal permits they were reviewing on temporary reprieve. This represents the biggest step ever taken toward reining in the destruction of the Appalachian Mountains by mountaintop removal coal mining.

The release of a list of 79 permits begins a 14-day countdown in which the EPA regional offices must respond to the EPA headquarters' recommendations. While we applaud the current decision by the EPA, these permits could still be approved.

The EPA's announcement is part of a coordination procedure outlined in a "memorandum of understanding" between the Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Interior to deal with a backlog of permits held up by litigation over the past few years. The EPA has promised a more stringent and transparent review of all mountaintop removal valley fill permit applications, and as of today they have delivered.

The EPA is requesting public comment during these 14 days and we need to send them the message loud and clear to stand firm. No more mountains or communities should be blasted off the map.

However, the EPA is not currently set up to receive these comments, so we will be sending you an alert early next week, providing the tools you need to thank the EPA and to make sure the regional offices keep these mountains and communities safe from mountaintop removal coal mining.

In the mean time, we have set up a new page on iLoveMountains.org where you can see the location and track of the status of the permits pending before the EPA. You can view the permit map and see videos of nearby communities threatened by mountaintop removal at:

http://ilovemountains.org/epa-permit-list/

Just wanted to share the good news – we'll be back in touch next week.

Have a great weekend!

Matt Wasson
iLoveMountains.org

P.S.–Please help us spread the word on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

are here (.xls)

100% of the MTR permits (79 of 79) were kiboshed.

Why is the number of permits 79 and not 86 or 108?

Via EPA’s Q&A:

An initial list of 108 pending Clean Water Act permit applications for proposed coal mines was provided by the Corps and published at the same time as the June 11, 2009 MOU. The original group of 108 projects included 13 projects whose permit applications have subsequently been withdrawn by the mining company, 8 projects for which permit issuance was imminent and occurred prior to, or concurrent with, the publication of the list, 3 projects for which an ongoing enforcement action currently precludes a permit decision, 1 permit application not complete, 1 project for which the work does not require a permit, and 5 underground mining projects determined not appropriate for the ECP. Also, 2 additional projects were added to the original list. In summary, 31 projects were removed from the original list of 108, and 2 were added, resulting in a total of 79 projects identified as remaining on the ECP list

Says Congress Should Follow-Up By Approving Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310)

“I fully support EPA’s decision to halt these permits and applaud the agency for recognizing the importance of protecting clean water. Clean and healthy water is a requirement for healthy people, especially growing children. Congress should follow through on this momentum and pass the Clean Water Protection Act to completely shut down the devastating practice of mountain top removal and to preserve clean water.”

Don’t miss this commentary by Sierra Club’s Bruce Nilles and Mary Anne Hitt at DailyKos.

And the National Mining Association weighs in, via Coal Tattoo

“EPA’s announcement today to halt 79 pending coal mining permits continues the moratorium on Eastern coal mining that jeopardizes the livelihoods of tens of thousands of American workers and their communities.
“By deciding to hold up for still further review coal mining permits pending in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee, the agency damages a weak economy struggling to recover in the worst recession in post-war history. “EPA has adopted its own process and criteria for reviewing coal mine permits that is the responsibility of the Army Corp of Engineers. No one outside of EPA –not even the Corps – knows what criteria EPA has used to now find these 79 permits insufficient. Permit applicants do not know what conditions outside the bounds of the existing regulations they must meet to obtain a permit.
“In effect, EPA is imposing new regulations that have not been proposed or publicly reviewed as required by law. This action reinforces our earlier call for a transparent process that gives coal operators confidence in the regulatory process.
“We’re at a loss to understand how EPA’s moratorium on coal mining aligns with the public interest and the Administration’s attempt to restore economic growth and create high wage jobs.”

Kate Sheppard has a good piece at the Washington Independent, and Ken Ward over at Coal Tattoo breaks this down in traditional Coal Tattoo style.

Environmental Groups Cautiously Optimistic Over News

- – - – - -
CONTACT:
Dr. Matthew Wasson, Appalachian Voices – 828-262-1500
Stephanie Pistello, Appalachian Voices – 917-664-5511
- – - – - -

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced the preliminary fate of 79 valley fill permit applications associated with mountaintop removal coal mining. In a move that pleased environmentalists and coalfield residents in central and southern Appalachia, the EPA recommended that none of the 79 permits be streamlined for approval.

This decision is not final, but is part of a coordination procedure outlined in a June “memorandum of understanding” between the Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Interior to deal with a backlog of permits held up by litigation over the past few years. The EPA has promised a more stringent and transparent review of all mountaintop removal valley fill permit applications.

Willa Mays, executive director for Appalachian Voices, a regional environmental group, was delighted about the EPA’s preliminary list. “By recommending these permits not be approved, the EPA and the Army Corps has demonstrated their intention to fulfill a promise to provide science-based oversight which will limit the devastating environmental impacts of mountaintop removal mining,” Mays said. “EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Army Corps’ Assistant Secretary Jo-Ellen Darcy and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Terrence “Rock” Salt have shown exceptional leadership. This is indeed good news especially paired with the fact that 156 members of the House of Representatives are now cosponsors of the Clean Water Protection Act.”

The reaction from coalfield residents was mostly optimistic. Chuck Nelson, retired union coal miner from Glen Daniel, W.Va., and board member of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition said, “By recommending these permits be further reviewed, the EPA is allowing at least a temporary reprieve for the people of Appalachia. It appears the EPA is starting to take the concerns of coalfield residents into account when considering these permits.”

Vernon Haltom, co-director of Coal River Mountain Watch in Raleigh County, W.Va., was excited about the announcement. “We who live with the nightmare of mountaintop removal are glad that the EPA is beginning to do its job to protect our communities,” he said. “Our life-giving water resources are priceless, and it’s refreshing to see the EPA finally prioritizing them over coal companies’ short-term profits.”

As outlined in the memorandum, EPA Regional offices will be given 14 days to review and comment on the EPA Headquarters’ recommendations, after which EPA Headquarters can finalize the list.

If the EPA Regional offices agree with the EPA Headquarters’ assessment that these permits have “substantial environmental concerns,” an “enhanced coordination” process will begin, where the EPA and the Army Corps will study each permit on a case-by-case basis. The beginning of each coordination process sets off a 60-day period during which the two agencies must resolve any permit applications. The EPA reserves the right to exercise their veto authority over any of the unresolved permits.

In the past, the EPA was primarily absent from the approval of mountaintop removal permits, allowing the Army Corps to essentially “rubber-stamp” them. “The whole permitting process had become a bit toothless,” EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson admitted in a recent interview with the Tampa Bay Press. “The Corps of Engineers understands [that] when the EPA has concerns, it’s going to raise them. We’re going to do our jobs.”

In 2002, the Bush Administration expedited the permitting process by classifying mining waste as acceptable “fill material” as defined by the Clean Water Act. Valley fills are created when toxic debris from mountaintop removal mining is dumped into valleys adjacent to the mine sites, burying headwater streams and permanently damaging the hydrology of the watershed system.

“I’m glad the EPA has admitted they have some responsibility for protecting people and nature from mountaintop removal,” said Cathie Bird of Save Our Cumberland Mountains in Tennessee. “But I worry they still don’t get it. This brutal practice kills whole communities and watersheds, and it should be banned, not one permit at a time but once and forever.”

To view the permits in map form, visit the Permit Shortlist Google Map created by Appalachian Voices at www.ilovemountains.org/epa-permit-list.