MOUNTAIN MONDAY: President Obama speaks about mountaintop removal

This past Monday, President Obama shared more of his thoughts on mountaintop removal coal mining. Its a sign of good things to come!

JIM CARROLL: There has been decades of dispute in eastern Kentucky and other parts of Appalachia about removing — mountaintop removal, they call it; some people just call it strip mining. Do you anticipate in your administration a tighter regulation of this activity or even an outright ban on it? Where do you see that going?

 

PRESIDENT OBAMA: You know, this is one of those things where I want science to help lead us. I know that the Bush administration made some decisions pretty late in the day, at the end of their administration, on this issue. We want to reexamine it.

I will tell you that there’s some pretty country up there that’s been torn up pretty good. And I will also tell you that the environmental consequences of the runoff from some of these mountains can just be horrendous. You know this probably better than I do and have probably reported on it more.

Not taking that into account, because of short-term economic concerns, I think is a mistake. I think we have to balance the economic growth with good stewardship of the land God gave us.

Thanks so much to the Louisville Courier-Journal for their Whitehouse interview, and Ken Ward Jr’s blog, Coal Tattoo, for the heads up!

Be sure to read his statements from the campaign trail here: https://www.iLoveMountains.org/Obama

About Jeff Deal

A lover of Appalachia, renewable energy, local green sustainable economies, and energy efficiency, Jeff is the information technology consultant for Appalachian Voices and also the Senior Project Manager for the Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy.