Seriously, look at the header. Can anyone say they want that monstrosity with all of its impacts in their backyard? You would probably rather keep your green grass and swimming pools, we would rather keep our mountains and streams.

In my opinion… mountaintop removal is exactly the same as cancer, it destroys everything it comes into contact with. Even if we were able to stop the spread of mountaintop removal right this very minute, the scars already on the people and the landscape would endure for generations, the mountains already mined gone forever.

Am I anti-coal? No. I am anti-blowing up the mountains for coal.

This is the point in this post where I drop one label, anti-coal, and pick up another, environmental extremist.

I grew up in the mountains of West Virginia, literally. The mountains always have been and always will be my home. If the coal industry thinks they can come into my mountains, completely destroy them and then try to scare me into keeping quiet about it… well, all I can say is good luck with that.

But… it’s jobs, we need flat land, tell us your fear and we will justify mountaintop removal with it. Be the goat, leave managing the herd to us.

Sometimes folks keep quiet because of fear and/or ridicule even when their own health and welfare are at risk. Personally, I don’t understand it but I do know it by name, oppression.

I have witnessed cracked foundations on a home with mountaintop removal for a neighbor. I have a problem with that. The same family had a son, my friend, die in 2004 from cancer, he is buried on the mountain. I see the destroyed foundation on their home because of blasting on the mine site and think about how the same concussions ripple through the graveyard where my friend, their son is buried. I have a big problem with that.

I have visited a ghost town where the residents found it easier to leave than to deal with the impacts of mountaintop removal. I have a problem with that. I have seen both native plant and wildlife habitat wiped out, live trees cut down and set on fire, creeks running black or red with mine pollution… I have a problem with all of that.

Yes I do have an opinion and come hell or high water I am going to exercise my right to voice that opinion.

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Afterthought – the more I hear from the coal lobby the more anti-coal I become so… don’t blame me if at some point I end up that way.

Many people will say there is no such thing as clean coal, including myself… let me explain.

Clean coal, as preached by the coal industry, is a process of removing the Co2 (primary greenhouse gas) from coal-fired power plant emissions or flue gases and storing it indefinitely underground (carbon capture and storage).

Coal has a dirty legacy going back at least 100 years that has absolutely nothing to do with flue gas. I have many memories of my father and grand-father standing on a picket line sometimes for months fighting the coal industry for better working conditions and/or better benefits. Mining related illnesses like blacklung still claim lives in the coalfields today. Now with mountaintop removal becoming so dominant other illnesses plague nearby communities.

The coal industry as it relates to the health and welfare of its employees and its relationship with nearby communities is the first dirty aspect of coal.

Coal mining is the second. The mining of coal actually has a few sub-branches on the ‘dirty tree’ – montaintop removal, valley fill, acid mine drainage, air pollution (coal truck traffic, coal dust, blasting particulates). Ask a coal miner coming in from work and before he showers how clean coal mining is. Ask a resident affected by one of the multitude of impacts associated with mountaintop removal (blasting, blasting particulates, cracked home foundations, illnesses, economic destruction…) how clean coal mining is.

The third dirty aspect of coal is the processing. This aspect has two main sub-branches – coal dust, coal slurry.

I have helped build, upgrade, and maintain coal processing plants for 20 years. Coal arrives at a processing plant by truck or by beltline to a main storage area located outside the plant. Coal that has not gone through processing is extremely dusty. The coal industry is required to install water sprayers on any piece of equipment used to process raw material in an effort to keep dust at a low level. Nearby communities are affected because of the amount of airborne dust particles generated by a processing plant. In at least one case a community sued and the coal company was required to cover its raw material storage area with a positive pressure dome to keep coal dust out of the houses in the nearby community. In a still ongoing story Marsh Fork Elementary is being relocated because of particulates in the air associated with a nearby coal processing plant and storage/train loading silo.

Inside Elk Run dome. Photo of 1000 watt stadium floodlight from 30 feet away. There are 12 of them in the dome all struggling to cut through the dust. To my knowledge Elk Run is the only processing plant with an enclosed raw material storage area.

Coal slurry storage (impoundments, injections) is also on the dirty processing branch. Coal slurry or sludge is the by-product of washing coal and is the primary waste associated with coal processing. An impoundment is an unlined pond usually in a valley between two mountains that is held back by a man-made dam constructed of coal process waste. Coal slurry impoundments can become large enough to fill an entire valley. The few impoundments I am familiar with hold billions of gallons of coal slurry. Coal slurry impoundments fail. Marsh Fork Elementary, mentioned earlier, sits in the shadow of over 2 billion gallons of slurry. A few miles down the road the Brushy Fork slurry impoundment in the event of a catastrophic failure will kill at least 1000 people living downstream in the initial flood. Coal slurry injection involves pumping the toxic waste into abandoned underground mine works. Both methods pollute groundwater, ruining streams and drinking water in nearby communities.

The final dirty aspect of coal is coal-fired power generation. This aspect also has two main sub-branches – coal ash, flue gas.

Coal ash is just what it says. It is the by-product of burning coal and coal ash is also stored in unlined ponds. These ponds also fail, remember TVA?

Home impacted by TVA spill

The flue gas which is one sub-branch on a very dirty coal tree is what the coal industry and others who are trying to paint coal white would like us to believe can be cleaned up to make clean coal. Trimming one branch on a tree does not get the entire tree under control.

In the case of ‘clean’ coal, trapping the flue gas and attempting to store it underground, in my opinion, will do nothing but add another branch to coal’s dirty tree, carbon capture and storage. At this point in time there is no way for anybody to know how many sub-branches would be created by CCS.

Regardless of how flue gases are eventually handled coal can never be clean because of all of the unaddressed dirty aspects of coal.

If you truly want clean coal I would suggest leaving it in the ground. The minute we commit to mining coal from that point ever after coal is and can be nothing but dirty.

In a perfect world all I would have to say in this post – THEY WORSHIP A BLACK ROCK!!! Enough said.

Unfortunately this is not a perfect world…

American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) is a coal industry front group formed by merging Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC) and the Center for Energy and Economic Development (CEED).

A press release from ACCCE on April 17, 2008 announced “More than 40 leading U.S. companies from the electricity generation, transportation, coal production, energy technology, and equipment manufacturing industries have aligned to create the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE). … ACCCE believes that the use of coal, America’s most abundant energy resource, is essential to providing affordable, reliable electricity for millions of American consumers and a growing domestic economy. ACCCE also supports enhanced public and private sector efforts to develop and deploy new, advanced clean coal technologies that protect and improve the environment.

Clean coal technologies that protect and improve the environment?? Think about that for just a second… I’ll get back to it.

The Friends of Coal is dedicated to inform and educate West Virginia citizens about the coal industry and its vital role in the state’s future. Our goal is to provide a united voice for an industry that has been and remains a critical economic contributor to West Virginia. By working together, we can provide good jobs and benefits for future generations, which will keep our children and grandchildren close to home.

The Friends of Coal are responsible for giving the public confusing/conflicting claims like ‘Coal Keeps the Lights On‘ and ‘Clean, Carbon Neutral Coal.’

LOGAN COAL VENDORS Mission Statement

The Logan Coal Vendors Association will provide a strong voice for the thousands of people whose jobs and livelihood depend on the West Virginia coal fields.

We will promote public awareness of the importance of responsible coal mining to all. We believe as a group that mining is absolutely necessary to maintain the economy, protect the value of individual property owners, and the future existence of communities whose main support is coal … either directly or indirectly.

While our effort is toward securing the future of the coal industry, we respect the rights of all individuals.

We will work to mediate the extremes of mining issues so that viable companies are introduced to satisfy both the needs of the property owner who might be affected by mining operations and the mine operator.

I have little to say about the Logan Coal Vendors Association except that like all coal followers / cultists they are blinded by their own ignorance and greed.

What We Do:

Citizens for Coal is dedicated to promoting awareness and education of the importance of the coal industry for the continued growth and development of our state. As a group, we express our thoughts and concerns to law makers both at home and in our country’s capital whose decisions will have long-lasting impacts on our livelihoods. We foster a ‘we can’ mentality that reminds us all that together we can make a difference. We understand that coal can and should be mined using the most efficient and safe technologies to date. We take pride in the fact that as workers, we are well trained and skilled at our trades.

Citizens for Coal is a group of individuals who approve of / participate in blowing up the mountains for coal. A grassroots ‘destroy Appalachia while we can’ kind of group. Like all other coal cults, they serve the coal industry first… consequences be damned.

Who We Are

AmericasPower.org is sponsored by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), which is a partnership of the industries involved in producing electricity from coal. Coal, an abundant and affordable American energy resource, plays a critical role in meeting our country’s growing need for affordable and reliable electricity.

Fulfilling the promise of a clean energy future will mean that America must be able to rely on our abundant reserves of coal to meet growing energy needs. In fact, forecasts show that it is not a question of “if” we’ll use coal (we will), but rather “how” coal will be used.

We answer that with one simple word: cleanly.

We support investments in new, advanced technologies that will ensure we continue to improve the environmental performance of coal to generate electricity while, at the same time, keeping electricity affordable for American families and businesses.

The statement from America’s Power about fulfilling the promise is somewhat confusing to me. The promise of a clean energy future would have to be a future without coal because we all know that coal is as clean as it is going to get if left undisturbed in the ground. There is no such thing as clean coal. For one to consider coal clean you would have to take into account coal mining and process waste disposal. Coal industry cultists do not.

Energy for Ohio Jobs – Our Mission

Welcome to Energy for Ohio Jobs, powered by America’s Power. Coal-based electricity has brought economic, energy and environmental benefits for workers and families in the Buckeye State. Ohio cannot afford regulations that raise electricity costs and destroy jobs when so many Ohioans are struggling in this difficult economy. We need to make sure that any legislation or regulation helps, and doesn’t harm, Ohio’s ability to access affordable, reliable power through coal. Energy for Ohio Jobs is here so that you can learn more about the role of coal and advanced coal technologies in Ohio’s future.

Environmental benefits from coal based electricity?? This is one of those double-take statements where the informed reader is left wondering… did they really say that? The entire mission statement is based on a very familiar tactic coal cults like to use to draw more followers or to make potential followers sympathetic to their lopsided point of view – that tactic is fear.

Although the organizations differ in name they all serve the same master, the coal industry. Same talking points, same bulls**t. Claims by any of these groups are designed specifically to draw supporters. Most of the claims are half-truths, impossibilities, and outright lies.

Example – ACCCE’s claim that they support “clean coal technologies that protect and improve the environment.” First of all… there is no such thing as clean coal. As to the protect part of that claim, classic leaving the fox in charge of the hen-house. Improve the environment? The only way that can be possible is if they admit that coal is dirtying up the environment in the first place. I would say getting them to admit that would be harder than pulling lions teeth.

With the creation of the new Energy for Ohio Jobs which is part of America’s Power, which is part of ACCCE… the cancer created by the coal cultists is spreading across the country poisoning minds, polluting the environment, and helping condemn future generations to a bleak corporate sponsored United States of America.

Question the coal industry’s version of the ‘truth.’ Otherwise you may never see clearly and the cults will only get stronger. A cult, after all, relies on fear and/or blind faith in order to survive.

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POST UPDATE:

Energy for Missouri Jobs – Our Mission

Welcome to Energy for Missouri Jobs, powered by America’s Power. Coal-based electricity has brought economic, energy and environmental benefits for workers and families in the “Show-Me” State. Missouri cannot afford regulations that raise electricity costs and destroy jobs when so many Missourians are struggling in this difficult economy. We need to make sure that any legislation or regulation helps, and doesn’t harm, Missouri’s ability to access affordable, reliable power through coal. Energy for Missouri Jobs is here so that you can learn more about the role of coal and advanced coal technologies in Missouri’s future.

I added the above link simply because – I WARNED YOU!! The cancer IS spreading.

Energy for Missouri Jobs mission statement is identical to Energy for Ohio Jobs in every aspect besides location. Same fear, same talking points, same bulls**t.

It is time to set the record straight… God is NOT to blame for man’s greed. As a matter of fact, greed is one of the seven deadly sins. Mountaintop removal lives and breathes because it is the fastest way to get the most coal with as few workers as possible. It is the very definition of greed. The poor get poorer and the rich get away with murder get richer.

If you believe in creationism, then you have to believe that God created all forms of life. Do you think that God would say it is okay for you to destroy life as long as it is needed to keep your lights on? No, I don’t think so. Do you think God would say it is okay to forsake your community/fellow man as long as you get a paycheck on Friday? No, I don’t think so. Do you believe that God would first bury coal and then cover it up with a mountain of life just so you could destroy that life to get the coal? No, I don’t think so.

Doesn’t much sound like things God would do but it certainly could be part of the Devils to do list.

I see all the destruction/devastation/death as a direct result of destroying God’s green earth and I get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when someone suggests that God is okay with it and/or has a hand in it. Witness, a hypocrite/idiot.

If you think God would approve of so much suffering by the land and the people then I’m pretty sure I know your god… (this may not be an exact likeness but you get the picture.)

Coal officials say jobs and tax revenue key

“Coal creates jobs, provides tax revenue and economic development. Every time a mining permit is filed, the coal company must go to the local governmental entities with plans for reclamation, reforestation. It has to be returned to its original contour if there is no plan for development agreed upon. We do rebuild mountains,” [Chris] Hamilton said.

“It may be a nuisance, an inconvenience to local residents, but it’s temporary. Mining is the most highly regulated industry in the nation. No other business has been under the type of scrutiny over the last 10-15 years,” Hamilton said.

(Chris Hamilton is senior vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association.)

Sometimes coal industry officials just make it too easy.

Sounds to me like someone has a God complex… no they don’t rebuild mountains. That is the most ridiculous statement the coal industry could possibly make. Piling crushed rubble back onto a mine site does not a mountain make.

No use beating a dead horse. Ilovemountains.org does a great job debunking reclamation.

What I really want to talk about is the industry claim that mountaintop removal creates jobs. Regardless of whether that claim is true or FALSE one fact remains, any job on a mountaintop removal site is temporary at best. The coal is limited and once it is gone it’s gone – plain and simple. As goes the coal so do the jobs and the mountains.

Chris Hamilton said in reference to MTR – “It may be a nuisance, an inconvenience to local residents, but it’s temporary.”

This statement implies that since the nuisance and inconvenience of MTR is temporary then the mining itself has to be temporary. Long term impact, short term employment.  The uneven tradeoff is so obviously uneven that to keep justifying the practice with employment and long term economic benefits, to me, is just ludicrous. Folks like Hamilton are living in the here and now with absolutely no comprehension of the future.

One last thing – nuisance… inconvenience?!?

Researcher: Many Studies Show Mountaintop Removal Damages Health

The author of two recent studies showing higher rates of cancer and birth defects in the areas around mountaintop removal mines says those results are part of a consistent pattern. West Virginia University professor of community medicine Michael Hendryx says that, over the years, he’s had 19 studies reviewed and published. He says they consistently show that living near a coal mine, especially a mountaintop removal mine, is bad for your health.

Health-Related Quality of Life Among Central Appalachian Residents in Mountaintop Mining Counties

Conclusion: Mountaintop mining areas are associated with the greatest reductions in health-related quality of life even when compared with counties with other forms of coal mining.

The association between mountaintop mining and birth defects among live births in central Appalachia, 1996–2003

According to a new study by professors at West Virginia and Washington State universities, mountaintop removal has a direct link to the prevalence of birth defects in the communities where it is practiced. By studying birth records from 1996 to 2003, the professors found that six separate birth defects were more common in MTR communities. WFPL News reports:

According to the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research, babies born in counties in Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee where mountaintop removal mines were in operation were 26 percent more likely to suffer from some kind of birth defect. That’s compared to babies born in counties where there is no coal mining. The babies were also more likely to have birth defects than those born in counties where coal is mined other ways.

“There were even higher birth defect prevalence rates in the recent period,” [Professor Melissa Ahern, lead author of the study] said. “Which means as mountaintop mining has increased, it appears that increase is associated with higher birth defect rates.”

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

“A door to door survey of 769 adults found that the cancer rate was twice as high in a community exposed to mountaintop removal mining compared to a non-mining control community,” said Hendryx, Associate Professor at the Department of Community Medicine and Director of West Virginia Rural Health Research Center at West Virginia University. “This significantly higher risk was found after control for age, sex, smoking, occupational exposure and family cancer history. The study adds to the growing evidence that mountaintop mining environments are harmful to human health.”

Nuisance… inconvenience?? Sounds like we are talking about a road work crew instead of the very real impacts associated with blowing up mountains.

“Today all across Appalachia people are remembering environmentalist Judy Bonds on her birthday. Judy lost her battle with cancer back in January of 2011, but her memory lives on and continues to inspire those battling Mountaintop Removal to shout louder and fight harder.” – Tammy Marie Rose

Except… when it comes to speaking about a subject where passion overrides the fear and that subject is mountaintop removal. There has always been an issue where people don’t understand the connection between the mountains and the people living among them. Some of us look at the mountains and see life in abundance. We see an ecosystem, many species living as one and dependent on only each other and the bounty Mother Nature provides.

I look out across a mountaintop removal site and see nothing but death and destruction. An entire ecosystem wiped out for no good reason. It took Mother Nature thousands of years to put together what takes man just a few days to destroy. How can we be so bold to say that killing and/or displacing all of the life on any mountain is a good thing in any sense of the word good? We can’t say that with a clear conscience unless we are totally ignorant of our actions.

Coal may be partially to blame for keeping the lights on but it is entirely to blame for putting out the lights, permanently, on any ecosystem targeted for mining. What’s wrong with this picture?

My fight against mountaintop removal is based solely on a connection to the land fostered in me by my forefathers. Folks like us were taught the value of a mountain based not on the coal sequestered in the mountain but on the many species of life which rely on the mountain for survival… including human.

In my minds eye there is absolutely no justification for the death and destruction of the mountains in Appalachia. No job can be justified by killing. Might as well reinstate death penalties to save the executioners jobs.

Early last year myself and a couple other people gave a presentation to the Parkersburg Tea Party in regards to mountaintop removal. For me, it was without doubt one of the most anxiety filled adventures ever. Speaking wasn’t something I had to do, it was something I was/am compelled to do.

Nervousness aside I speak solely for the mountains, imagine the anguish that would be heard in Appalachia if the mountains could cry.

(This video series is from a mountaintop removal forum with the Parkersburg Tea Party. This was one of my first public presentations. My nervousness may be aside but it is also evident.)

The forum was held in Feb. 2010. View the entire series here.

Law Firm Says Inbreeding Skews Data Linking Mountaintop Removal to Birth Defects

Last month, researchers at Washington State University and West Virginia University released a study that found a correlation between mountaintop removal and mining birth defects. A law firm with ties to the National Mining Association has refuted the study’s findings, but in the process, insulted many Appalachians.

Inbreeding in Appalachia is one of many stereotypes, perpetuated by movies and even Vice President Dick Cheney in 2008 at a National Press Club Event:

“We have Cheneys on both sides of the family, and we don’t even live in West Virginia!” he said.

Now D.C.-based law firm Crowell & Moring is citing Appalachian inbreeding as a way to discredit science linking mining and birth defects.

This is a direct intentional insult to every single person in Appalachia… again.

I was watching an episode of Cops a few nights ago and the announcer proclaimed right before a commercial that the next segment featured cops stopping “hair-brained hillbillies” … that is what the announcer called them. When the segment aired the folks getting stopped were from Ohio and nothing in the segment suggested the folks were from or associated with Appalachia.

I am from Appalachia and I am damn proud of that. I for one am getting extremely tired of it still being politically correct to stereotype folks who choose to live in the mountains. Enough is enough.

If it is still okay to make fun of/humiliate/degrade folks who live in the mountains then why wouldn’t it be okay to destroy those mountains… we are just hair-brained hillbillies after all.

What do I have to say to the law firm Crowell & Moring? – Come to West Virginia and make that ridiculous assertion… please.

It is in man’s nature to protect that which cannot protect itself.

The mountains are teeming with life and they are life giving… shouldn’t those be reason enough to stop blowing them up especially for coal, a non-renewable resource? Total devastation for short-term gain. For the life of me I have never been able to understand that mind-set. There is no/never has been/never will be justification for mountaintop removal.

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I saw an advertisement on Facebook for a website that was promoting 60 mpg vehicles by 2025, although this is a somewhat noble endeavor it does nothing but keep us addicted to fossil fuels. “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”

What we need to be looking for is a way to stop using primitive dirty fossil fuels to power/propel our so-called technologically advanced society. Don’t talk to me about a 4G network or a car that can park itself when the power source comes from burning a fossil fuel. I don’t see the advancement at all.

Until we are 110% dedicated to giving all of our nifty gadgets a clean renewable energy source and stop raping the planet for Her non-renewable resources then advanced cannot be in any description of what we are.

We should all get together tell the fossil fuel lobbyists to go to Hell and come up with a cleaner way to power the planet. This I know for certain, there will come a time when we no longer have an option either due to climate change or depleting resources. It would seem to me the general consensus for now is to keep burning fossil fuels and the consequences/inevitabilities be damned.

An idiot, as defined by Wikipedia, is a mentally deficient person, or someone who acts in a self-defeating or significantly counterproductive way.

The fires are definitely still burning and I still have a very low tolerance for idiots.