So its been a very interesting couple of days. As promised in the blog title, I’ve got good, bad, then good news to report.

Most importantly, we JUST found out that Bank of America, one of the biggest backers of mountaintop removal coal mining companies, revised their policy on coal. Get this, they will no longer be funding mountaintop removal operations! Yeah, we couldnt believe it either! This is a huge falling domino in a 30 year campaign to end destruction of Appalachian mountains.

To everyone at Bank of America, thank you for doing the right thing. We applaud you.

So, some bad news. Yesterday, we found out that the EPA signed off on an 11th hour Bush Administration proposal to weaken the stream buffer zone rule, which regulates waste disposal at surface mines. But not to worry. There is a ground swell of opposition to the change, in Congress and around country, and President-elect Obama will have the power to roll back the rule once he’s in office.

Last, but not least, more good news. During the campaign, President-elect Barack Obama pledged to end mountaintop removal coal mining.

“We’re tearing up the Appalachian Mountains because of our dependence on fossil fuels,” Obama said in Lexington, Kentucky in August of 2007. “We have to find more environmentally sound ways of mining coal than simply blowing the tops off mountains.”

Today, we launched a major campaign asking President-elect Obama to deliver on his campaign pledge – and to do so within the first 100 days of his presidency. And After only 12 hours, 1,700 people sent letters to Mr. Obama. He’s heard us loud and clear.

Thanks again for everyones support. Till next time, onward and upward!

– – Benji Burrell, Technologist
Appalachian Voices and iLoveMountains.org