Breaking: New Study Links Mountaintop Removal to 60,000 Additional Cancer Cases

by Jeff Biggers, cross posted from Alternet.org Among the 1.2 million American citizens living in mountaintop removal mining counties in central Appalachia, an additional 60,000 cases of cancer are directly linked to the federally sanctioned strip-mining practice. That is the damning conclusion in a breakthrough study, released last night in the peer-reviewed Journal of Community…

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Expect the President to Veto H.R. 2018 – Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET WASHINGTON, D.C. 20503 July 12, 2011 (House Rules) STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY H.R. 2018 – Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act (Rep. Mica, R-FL, and 39 cosponsors) The Administration strongly opposes H.R 2018 because it would significantly undermine the Clean Water Act (CWA) and could adversely…

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Kentucky Coal Companies Remind Us Why We Really, Really Need the EPA

The latest episode in the saga known as Big Coal’s Watergate began today when environmental and citizen groups filed a second notice of intent to sue the two largest mountaintop removal mining companies in Kentucky. Appalachian Voices, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, Kentucky Riverkeeper, and Waterkeeper Alliance notified ICG and Frasure Creek Mining of their intent…

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Vulcan’s Boone Quarry Pollution Problem

Last night I was driving home, and noticed that Laurel Fork (along Hwy 105, just outside of Boone) was running a grayish color. I tracked down the source of the gray water, and it turned out to be the discharge from the Vulcan Boone Quarry (Just south of Boone on 105). Here is a video…

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BP Oil Spill Parallels Mountaintop Removal

Our Collective Voice By Jillian Randel Upon returning from a visit to the so-called “Coalfields”, author and activist, Terry Tempest Williams commented, “Just when you thought you can’t see anything worse than the Gulf Oil Spill, we went to Coal River Valley and I was shattered.” Today marks the one year anniversary of the explosion…

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Another Coal Company on the Run

Yesterday we announced our intent to sue Nally and Hamilton Enterprises for more than 12,000 violations of the clean water act at more than a dozen of its strip mines in Eastern Kentucky. Click here for more information on that action. Later in the day we noticed something odd about their website, it was gone.…

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Another Kentucky Coal Company Falsifies Water Monitoring Data

Working in coalition with national and state-wide environmental and social justice groups, we are once again seeking justice for clean water in Appalachia. At 2pm today, Appalachian Voices and partners announced an intent to sue yet another coal company in Kentucky for violations of the Clean Water Act – this time with a single outfit…

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DENIED! Attempted Legal Run-Around by State of Kentucky

Cross-posted from Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, one of our partners in our legal action against ICG and Frasure Creek Mining: The Kentucky Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of KFTC, Appalachian Voices, Kentucky Riverkeeper and the Waterkeeper Alliance by denying the request from the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet and Frasure Creek Mining and…

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