Tickets go on sale TODAY, February 3 through KnoxvilleTickets.com, KnoxBijou.com, or by calling 684-1200

KNOXVILLE, TN: At 5 p.m. on March 11, 2012, renowned author, Barbara Kingsolver, and Grammy-award winning singer, Kathy Mattea, will combine their talents to present “A View from the Mountaintop,” an evening of spoken word and song at the Bijou Theatre that celebrates their shared Appalachian heritage and casts a spotlight on mountaintop removal mining, a controversial practice that has destroyed over 500 mountains across Appalachia and presents a looming threat to Tennessee’s mountains on the Cumberland Plateau. Tickets will go on sale Friday, February 3 at 10:00 AM through KnoxvilleTickets.com, KnoxBijou.com, the Tennessee Theatre box office, and by calling (865) 684-1200. Tickets are $25.00 plus handling costs.

Kentucky native, Barbara Kingsolver, has been named one of the most important writers of the 20th Century by Writer’s Digest. Her novel, The Poisonwood Bible, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Other works include: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and The Lacuna. In 2000, Kingsolver was awarded the National Humanities Medal, our country’s highest honor for service through the arts.

Kathy Mattea, a native of West Virginia, has won two Grammys and has twice been named Female Vocalist of the Year by the Country Music Association. Her recordings intertwine Celtic, gospel, and bluegrass influences with the folk and acoustic music that have always served as her artistic anchor. Her most recent CD, the Grammy-nominated, Coal, celebrates the culture of Appalachia.

The evening is sponsored by LEAF (Lindquist Environmental Appalachian Fellowship) a non-profit, non-denominational fellowship of Tennesseans whose faith leads them to take action for Tennessee’s environment. LEAF seeks to protect Tennessee’s highest ridgelines by working for the passage of the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act that is currently under consideration by the Tennessee Legislature. For more information on mountaintop removal and its impact in Tennessee: www.tnleaf.org

The third phase of the program also marks a shift toward increased scrutiny of surface mine safety with 11 of the 14 targeted standards directly related to surface mining operations, which are often thought of as safer than underground mines. Main said the need to shift the focus from deep mines to surface operations became clear in 2011 when five deaths occurred in just 41 days and emphasized that, although 2011 was the second safest year on record, two-thirds of the total 37 lives lost occured on coal, metal and nonmetal surface mines.

Of the 14 standards, eight are coal priority standards, including daily inspections of surface coal mines and plans for the safe control of all highwalls, pits and spoil banks, “which shall be consistent with prudent engineering design and will insure safe working conditions.”

An announcement made by MSHA on Tuesday describes the intent of Phase III:

Beginning April 1, MSHA will focus more attention on these 14 standards with enhanced enforcement efforts, increased scrutiny for related violations, and instructions to inspectors to more carefully evaluate gravity and negligence – consistent with the seriousness of the violation – when citing violations that cause or contribute to mining fatalities. MSHA inspectors will receive online training to promote consistency in enforcement activity across the agency.

Increased scrutiny of mine operator safety, effective regulation, inspection and enforcement can only be a good thing. When rules put in place to protect workers are seen as little more than threats to profits, they are ignored, and miners are taken from their families and loved ones by preventable deaths. MSHA should be commended on their efforts to stay up-to-date with the conditions that put workers at risk.

But Main’s announcement can also be read as a ironic reminder: Mountaintop removal puts entire communities at risk by imposing an economic, environmental, and public health burden on families. They have their own “Rules to Live By” that include clean air, water and economic and legal justice against a destructive industry encroaching on their homes. Most of these citizens have no way to defend themselves from the long list of negative impacts, conveniently considered “externalities” by the coal industry. And as peer-reviewed studies and mounting evidence show an increase in birth defects around these sites it’s becoming clearer than ever, citizens of Appalachia need stronger enforcement of their rules too.

Just like we need safe mines, we need safe communities. But we can’t have either when mountaintop removal is the mining method of choice.

The Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act is a bipartisan bill that will prohibit surface mining at elevations higher than 2,000 ft. If this bill is passed, there will be NO more mountaintop removal in Tennessee, and it will also be the first state to ban mountaintop removal.

Here are some letters to the editor published in city newspapers in Tennessee:
Bristol: http://www2.tricities.com/news/2012/jan/29/save-mountains-tennessee-virginia-ar-1647406/
Chattanooga: http://www.chattanoogan.com/2012/1/27/218181/Scenic-Vistas-Not-A-Jobs-Issue.aspx
Knoxville: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/jan/24/letter-support-vistas-protection-act/
Nashville: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120116/OPINION02/120115012/Mining-industry-should-not-demonize-40-Days-Prayer

Thanks Tennessee for your persistent efforts to help end the injustice of mountaintop removal. Way to go everyone, and keep those letters to the editor flowing!

A coal ash lagoon looms over an Asheville, NC community.
Credit: French Broad Riverkeeper & Southwings

Monitoring near coal ash ponds across North Carolina’s 14 coal-fired power plants owned by Duke and Progress Energies confirm what we have known all along: toxic heavy metals such arsenic, boron, selenium and thallium are leaking into our groundwater across the state.

The Aquifer Protection Services of the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is investigating the contamination- but with no timeline as to when the pollution will stop.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also has delayed finalizing long-awaited rules that would provide minimum federal guidelines to clean up coal ash lagoons in North Carolina and across the country.

We need your help to send the message to DENR and the EPA that we can’t wait any longer for our communities to be protected from toxic coal ash.

There are two ways you can help:

The Blair Community Center and Museum is a nonprofit organization working to promote and preserve the history of Blair Mountain. Established in the fall of 2011, the Community Center and Museum has been working to reach out to those unaware of environmental destruction caused by strip mining of Blair Mountain. Despite their tireless efforts, they simply do not have the funds to allow the organization to grow.

The Blair Community Center and Museum sits at the base of historic Blair Mountain in Logan County, WV

The Community Center and Museum is currently working in a large church, which they use as an office, community center and museum. It has a leaky roof, poor heating, and there is no drinkable water nearby. They also need to improve their museum by adding showcases, frames and important museum pieces.

The Blair Mountain Community Center and Museum has a goal of reaching $10,000 by the end of April. The projects, of course, will cost more than the goal they have set for themselves, but this money would aid in planting the seed to get them going.

Blair Mountain, located in Logan County, WV, was once the site of one of the nation’s largest labor conflict, the Battle of Blair Mountain. This battle was only five days long, but was heavily equipped with machine guns, explosives and an estimate of over one million rounds of ammunition.

More than 15,000 coal miners gathered in Charleston, WV, in an attempt to overthrow the control barons of the coal mining companies. Little did they know that a private army led by the Logan County Sheriff and coal operators were awaiting their arrival.

Though the battle was almost a century ago, it is not taught in schools and many people may not have even heard of it.

So please help our friends of Blair Community Center and Museum as they continue their fight to save this historical place they’ve called home for centuries.

To find out more information about this project or to donate, visit: www.indiegogo.com/The-Start-of-A-New-Beginning.

Appalachian Voices and other allies across Tennessee, including “Statewide Organizing For Community eMpowerment” (i.e. “SOCM“) were successful in working with the Tennessee Legislature to file a bill that will ban surface coal mining on the Sewanee coal seam. The Sewanee seam runs from Kentucky to Alabama and is the most toxic seam east of the Mississippi River. So far, there has been no way to mine on the seam that protect citizens and waterways from acid mine drainage.

There is currently no coal production on the Sewanee, all the more reason for the legislature to act now. Appalachian Voices believes that the Sewanee seam should stay undisturbed, mainly due to potential hazardous impacts on waterways and on the health of those of us living downstream.

Wanda Hodge, who lives on Walden’s Ridge, says:

The communities that would be impacted by acid mine drainage from the Sewanee can not afford the thousands and thousands of dollars it would take to lobby the Water Quality Board or can they necessarily afford to take off from work to address the board if the Commissioner decides that mining could happen in the Sewanee.

One foreign company (Novadx from Canada) is already speculating on the Sewanee seam. Tennesseans can not afford another out-of-state, out-of-country company that comes in and leaves our communities with nothing but poisoned water while sending our mountains and our money out of state.

SOCM’s Landon Medley gives an overview of the impacts from previous mining on the Sewanee coal seam:

There are presently four water treatment trust fund sites in the state of Tennessee. A trust fund site is where the water has to be treated “in Perpetuity” because of impacts from mining. Not every single trust fund site is a result of acid mine drainage, but of the 22 sites identified as “future Trust Fund” sites, 17 are in the Sewanee coal seam.

Tennesseans can take action by calling their state Senators and asking them to become a sponsor of Senator Berke’s Sewanee Coal Seam Prohibition bill.

Appalachian Voices is working around the clock to pass the Tennessee Scenic Vistas legislation. This bill would make Tennessee the first state to ban mountaintop removal by ending surface mining over 2,000 feet of elevation. We sent the following letter to Governor Haslam urging him to put action to his words against mountaintop removal

Tennessee has lost 85% of its mining jobs since 1985 due to an increase in the percentage of production that comes from surface mining, as well as an overall decline in production. 95% of the high-elevation surface mines in the state are owned by out of state coal operators. Meanwhile, our mountain-based tourism industry employs 175,000 people and brings in more than $13 billion to Tennessee every year.

…

Governor Haslam,

Appalachian Voices is proud to serve and protect the economy, ecology, and rural mountain communities of Tennessee and the greater Central and Southern Appalachian Region. Our top priority for 2012 is ending mountaintop removal coal mining.

For Tennessee, that means we must pass the Scenic Vistas Protection Act. We ask for your leadership in supporting this critical bipartisan bill, while taking the strongest possible opposition to high-elevation surface mining and mountaintop removal in Tennessee.

The Scenic Vistas Protection Act would ban surface mining over 2,000 feet in elevation, protecting Tennessee’s most beautiful and important economic assets. This legislation has bipartisan support in both houses. Tennessee produces less than 0.2 percent of America’s coal, and our production is in steep decline. However, surface mining has negatively impacted more than 125 square miles of the Cumberland Plateau, and many more peaks are threatened by high-elevation surface mining and mountaintop removal. Appalachian Voices believes that we don’t need to blast our mountains apart to mine coal in Tennessee. Surface mining is increasingly done by out of state coal operators such as Premium Coal who come to Tennessee, tear down our mountains and pollute our watersheds. In fact, 95 percent of the high-elevation surface mines that would be impacted by the Scenic Vistas bill are owned by out of state coal operators.

Mountaintop removal means fewer mining jobs for Tennessee. Since 1985, Tennessee coal mining jobs are down 85% due to declining production and the increase in the percentage of coal production that comes from surface mining. Studies show that communities around mountaintop removal have higher unemployment and higher poverty than similar Appalachian communities that rely on underground mining. Since 2009, an increased oversight of mountaintop removal operations has meant an increase in mining jobs, due to the fact that companies are beginning to rely more and more on underground mining to meet their production. Appalachian coal mining jobs are up despite the recession because there is less mountaintop removal.

In addition, Tennessee taxpayers are wasting millions every year to prop up the coal industry. In 2009 an independent study showed that when all revenues and expenditures are considered the coal industry and its direct and indirect employees present a net cost of approximately $3 million to the State of Tennessee. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), our state’s largest utility, pays more for Tennessee coal than any other coal they purchase due to the high sulfur content. TVA purchases less than 0.7% of its coal from Tennessee, and less than 0.09% of its coal from Tennessee surface mines.

Tennessee’s mountain-driven tourism industry employs more than 175,000 people in our state, and brings in more than $13 billion every single year. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited National Park in the entire country, drawing more than 9 million visitors every year, twice as many as the Grand Canyon. The tourism provides 470 times more jobs than the coal industry in Tennessee.

Numerous peer-reviewed studies show direct links between mountaintop removal mining and negative human health impacts. When a mountain is blasted apart, heavy metals and chemicals like arsenic, lead, selenium, mercury, copper, chromium and others enter the air and surrounding watersheds. Studies show increased mortality rates, lung cancer, and chronic heart, kidney, and lung disease in communities surrounding mountaintop removal operations. In 2011, a study found that counties in and near mountaintop mining areas had higher rates for five of six types of birth defects including circulatory/respiratory, musculoskelatal, central nervous system, gastrointestinal, and urogenital defects.

It is urgent that we protect our mountains and mountain communities by ending mountaintop removal and high-elevation surface mining in this state. We must pass the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act.

Governor Haslam, we urge you to bring action to your stated opposition to mountaintop removal by personally encouraging members of the Senate Committee on Environment, Conservation and Tourism, and the House Committee on Conservation and the Environment to pass the Scenic Vistas Act immediately. The Tennessee General Assembly has the opportunity to come together, protect our mountains, protect our economy, protect our jobs, and protect our public health, all with the support of public opinion. Our state requires your leadership. We look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

Willa Coffey Mays
Executive Director
Appalachian Voices

J.W. Randolph
Tennessee Director
Appalachian Voices

This fish, found only in Kentucky, is one of the top 10 U.S. species most threatened by fossil fuel development, according to a report released by the Endangered Species Coalition.

Credit: Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Resources

The darter thrives in the shallow waters of the upper Kentucky River Basin, where most of the state’s coal mining takes place. The darter was once found in 68 streams throughout Kentucky but it is now only found in 33.

The filth — mountaintop removal mining pollution — that coal companies are putting into the waters is burying these fish alive, along with impacting other wildlife. Humans are also dealing with more and more health issues like cancer and birth defects that have been linked to the erosion and toxins polluting the Appalachian streams.

This fish is a part of a grand habitat. It feeds on the many aquatic insects found on the banks of these streams, while birds, amphibians and other fish feed on the darter. This habitat is being skewed by the decreasing amount of darters throughout the region. Protecting the darter not only benefits this one particular habitat, but ultimately aids in the clean up of the headwaters in Kentucky making them safer to drink.

But unfortunately, this is not a perfect world of instant gratification.

In 2010, the Kentucky arrow darter became a candidate for Endangered Species Act protection, which means that it is on a federal waiting list. In a legal settlement between the Center of Biological Diversity and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the darter will be considered for protection in 2015.

Mountaintop removal has already destroyed more than 500 mountains, 1 million acres of hardwood forests and 2,000 miles of streams throughout Appalachia.

One may ask how protecting a single species of fish can put a stop to mountaintop removal, but just remember what Neil Armstrong said, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

The report shows that 6.944 quadrillion Btu’s (quads) were generated by renewable sources during the first nine months of 2011, 12.5% more than the 6.173 quads generated by nuclear power plants during this time. Of the 6.944 quads produced by renewable sources, 47.85% comes from biomass (wood, organic waste, and biofuels), 36% comes from hydroelectric, 12% from wind, 2.4% from geothermal and 1.25% from solar (photovoltaic). Although as Amitabh Pal comments in an article for The Progressive, “the ‘renewable’ category here is a bit of a catch-all, since it includes sources that are somewhat dubious from a clean energy standpoint, such as biofuels.”

Nonetheless, this marks a hopeful turning point in our country’s quest for a clean energy future. Growth in the renewable energy sector continues unabated, in spite of global recession. Looking at another EIA report, Ken Bossong notes that, “compared to the first three quarters of 2010, solar-generated electricity expanded in 2011 by 46.5%; wind by 27.1%, geothermal by 9.4%, and biomass by 1.3%.” Nuclear generation, by comparison, decreased by 2.8% during the same time period.

The number of operable nuclear facilities in the U.S. increased from 42 in 1973 to a maximum of 112 in 1990. Since 1998, the count has held steady at 104. “Operable” is a liberal term, “in that it does not exclude units retaining full-power licenses during long, non-routine shutdowns that for a time [render] them unable to generate electricity,” opines the EIA. For example, the five Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) nuclear units active in 1985 (Browns Ferry 1,2 and 3; Sequoyah 1 and 2) were shut down under a regulatory forced outage, and restarted in 1991, 1995, 1988, and 1988, respectively. However, during this time each was considered “operable” by the EIA.

While TVA is attempting to reanimate a “zombie” plant , the Bellafonte 1 reactor, and to finalize the Watts Bar 2 reactor, these plants would only replace soon-to-retire nuclear plants, rather than leading to a net expansion of the U.S. nuclear industry (WaPo).

Delayed Coal Ash Regulations Put Public Health at Risk

Groups head to court to force issuance of important national safeguards

Washington, D.C. – Environmental and public health groups announced their intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in federal court to force the release of long awaited public health safeguards against toxic coal ash. The EPA has delayed the first-ever federal protections for coal ash for nearly two years despite more evidence of leaking ponds, poisoned groundwater supplies and threats to public health.

“We have waited long enough for the EPA to act,” says Sandra Diaz, Appalachian Voices’ North Carolina Campaign Coordinator. “In North Carolina, we know for a fact that many coal ash ponds are contaminating groundwater, and we need the EPA to step up and provide strong guidelines to ensure public health and safety.”

This aerial photo of a coal-fired power plant in Asheville, N.C. is provided by the French Broad Riverkeeper.

More than 5.5 million tons of coal ash is created each year in North Carolina, the ninth highest in the country. There are 26 active ponds in the state, 12 of which have been rated “high-hazard” by the EPA, meaning that if the ponds were to break, it would probably cause a loss of human life. The state has not moved to create state-specific standards on coal ash, though utilities have been required to do additional groundwater monitoring

“As we witness a state legislature intent on weakening the ability of state agencies like the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to do its job, we need the EPA to move forward with strong federally-enforceable guidelines that will protect communities from the dangers of coal ash,” said Pricey Harrison, a state legislator who represents Guilford County.

Following a spill of more than a billion gallons of coal ash at a disposal pond in Harriman, Tenn., in December 2008, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced in 2009 plans to set federal coal ash regulations by year’s end. In May 2010, the EPA proposed a hybrid regulation to classify coal ash either as hazardous or non-hazardous waste. After eight public hearings across the country and more than 450,000 public comments, the agency decided to delay finalizing the rule amid intense pressure from the coal and power industries.

Despite numerous studies showing the inadequacy of current federal coal ash safeguards to protect public health and the environment as well as documented evidence by the EPA and environmental groups showing coal ash poisoned aquifers and surface waters at 150 sites in 36 states, the EPA continues to fail to adopt federal safeguards. Today’s lawsuit would force the EPA to set deadlines for review and revision of relevant solid and hazardous waste regulations to address coal ash, as well as the much needed and overdue changes to the test that determines whether a waste is hazardous under RCRA.

“Politics and pressure from corporate lobbyists is delaying much-needed health protections from coal ash,” said Earthjustice attorney Lisa Evans. “The law states that the EPA should protect citizens who are exposed to cancer-causing chemicals in their drinking water from coal ash. As we clean up the smokestacks of power plants, we can’t just shift that pollution to the waste and think the problem is solved. The EPA must set strong, federally enforceable safeguards against this toxic menace.”

“The EPA promised to set standards for coal ash disposal sites more than a decade ago,” said Eric Schaeffer, executive director at Environmental Integrity Project. “Are we going to have to wait for another disaster before EPA finally keeps that promise?”

“The toxic threat that coal ash poses to human health is severe,” said Dr. Maureen McCue, MD, PhD, of Physicians for Social Responsibility. “Coal ash contains contaminants that can cause cancer and can damage the intestines, liver, kidney, lungs, heart, peripheral nervous system and brain. It’s unthinkable that the EPA allows this toxic stew to get into drinking water. It doesn’t get much dirtier than this.”

“Two of the nation’s 49 high hazard coal ash dams sit on the banks of the French Broad River. These ponds pose a looming threat to the health and safety of the surrounding community, as well as the French Broad River,” said Hartwell Carson, French Broad Riverkeeper. “The dams also hold back toxic coal ash that pollutes the groundwater and surface water every day. It is time for the EPA to act to protect the French Broad River and the hundreds of similarly impacted rivers and communities around the country.”

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