The Front Porch Blog, with Updates from AppalachiaThe Front Porch Blog, with Updates from Appalachia

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EPA APPROVES Permit For Mountaintop Removal at Pine Creek

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 | Posted by Jed Grubbs | No Comments

Last April, the EPA announced new guidance standards for new and pending surface mine permits in Appalachia. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson stated “Coal communities should not have to sacrifice their environment or their health or their economic future to mountaintop mining. They deserve the full protection of our clean water laws.” The Administrator proclaimed “You’re talking about no or very few valley fills that are going to meet standards like this.”

While Jackson made it clear that the new guidance would not ban all mountaintop removal, the guidance and the Administrator’s strong statements, it seemed, did move Appalachia one step closer to the just and sustainable future our region needs and deserves.

Last week, though, the EPA quietly made its first decision under the new guidelines and APPROVED a permit allowing three new valley fills in Logan County, West Virginia.

In other words:

They’re still blowing up our mountains, and we still need a law.

The EPA approved Pine Creek Strip Mine would impact over two MILES of already suffering headwater streams, create three new valley fills (each over 40 acres), and further endanger local communities already suffering from increased flooding due to strip mining. As deforestation on the Arch Coal mine site would continue to dismantle an important global carbon sink, the mine itself would produce over 14 million tons of coal, which when burned in power plants, would contribute over 40 million tonnes of carbon dioxide greenhouse gas pollution to the planet’s atmosphere.

Vivian Stockman of Logan County, West Virginia expresses frustration with the agency: “In approving the Pine Creek permit, the EPA has failed our community. Any more mountaintop removal mining in Logan County is going to further degrade the watershed, increase pollution-related health impacts and increase the likelihood of more flooding.”

Again, we need a law. In this April Huffington Post piece, Matt Wasson, Director of Programs for Appalachian Voices, outlined 5 reasons for the need:

1. The EPA’s action will not affect permits that have already been issued. Moreover, an excellent piece of reporting by Charleston Gazette reporter Ken Ward revealed that those existing permits will allow some companies to continue mountaintop removal operations without a hitch for the next couple of years.
2. Not all mountaintop removal mines require valley fills and coal companies are already using loopholes by which they can obliterate miles of streams without the need to obtain a valley fill permit. The million or so acres of wholesale destruction that coal companies drove through a narrow loophole in the Surface Mine Control and Reclamation Act since 1977 is testament to their skill and creativity at exploiting loopholes.
3. Some valley fills will still be allowed under this guidance and the EPA even provided a set of “best practices” by which companies can do mountaintop removal in a manner consistent with it. Moreover, there are a number of recent cases where coal companies went ahead and constructed valley fills without even bothering to obtain a permit.
4. While the guidance takes effect immediately, it is a preliminary document released in response to calls from coal state legislators and coal companies for greater clarity on how the EPA was basing its decision whether to grant a valley fill permit for an Appalachian surface mine. The EPA plans to initiate an extended public comment period before the guidelines will be finalized.
5. An agency guidance document is different from a formal rule and can be easily overturned by a new administration. Even if this guidance proves to be effective in curtailing mountaintop removal, environmental and community advocates still need to ask what happens when a hypothetical President Palin enters the White House in January of 2013 or 2017.

Please take a moment to ask your Congressman to support two bipartisan bills aimed at sharply curtailing mountaintop removal: the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310) in the House and the Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696) in the Senate. The health and heritage of Appalachia is at stake, where a “few valley fills” is a few too many.


FARCES of Coal: Apple Juice Creeks and Gatorade Streams

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 | Posted by Jed Grubbs | No Comments

Remember FACES of Coal? The less than bona fide astroturfing organization whose members keep turning up on iStockphoto.com?

Well, the antics continue as they’re none too pleased with the EPA these days. It seems the EPA has got it in for Apple Juice creeks and Gatorade streams. Typical right?! Far as we know, Lisa Jackson and Obama don’t yet mind Willa Wonka’s chocolate river, but we’ll keep you posted.

You see back in April, the EPA took a major step toward ending the destructive practice of mountaintop removal coal mining when it introduced new guidance standards for new and pending surface mining permits in Appalachia. The guidance establishes a range of acceptable levels of conductivity, an indicator of the presence of salts and heavy metals, in waters below mountaintop removal operations. Levels of conductivity beyond 500 microsiemens are considered harmful and grounds for the EPA to deny mining companies a Clean Water Act permit. Levels between 300-500 microsiemens are considered suspect.

FACES of Coal doesn’t like this. Hey, they argue, Apple Juice and ‘good ol’ Gatorade have higher conductivity levels than the EPA’s limit! The fact that Apple Juice and Gatorade wouldn’t sustain life in a stream, and the fact that streams below mountaintop removal operations have been found to be dangerously toxic don’t seem to enter into FACES logic.

A new video on the FACES website explains, “We all need and expect clean water but water in streams is complicated and sadly there are some people right now who are telling us that mining pollutes our streams.”

Well, FACES wants you to know “The Truth about Stuff in Streams.”

Not the truth about heavy metals and chemicals like arsenic, lead, mercury, and selenium in streams, but the truth about “stuff” in streams. Does FACES anonymity and innocuous, unscientific language ignite your trust? If not, perhaps the following statement from their video will:

“Some of the things that might be in the water from a mine site, might be iron, you might have some zinc, you might have copper, selenium,” Ben Faulkner explains to a group of young students in the FACES video. “By the way where did I get these what are these?” Faulkner asks holding up some bottles, “They’re vitamins!!! So don’t let people tell you that iron and zinc are toxic chemicals cause you got to have em. If you don’t have em in your body and you don’t take a vitamin you get sick!”

It’s almost as if the coal industry wants us to thank them for making our headwater streams a part of a balanced breakfast.

Mmmm… SeleniO’s.

FACES has other complaints as well.

They argue:
– “No evidence has been presented that uniquely correlates higher conductivity levels with coal mining or valley fills.”
– “The necessary scientific analysis, including collecting sufficient data, has not been conducted to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between conductivity and adverse effects on water quality” and;
– “EPA presents no evidence that the designated uses of these waters have been harmed.”

But unsurprisingly, there is a wealth of scientific evidence and analysis that supports EPA’s guidance.

In the opening sentence of the 2008 report, “Downstream effects of mountaintop coal mining: comparing biological conditions using family- and genus-level macroinvertebrate bioassessment tools,” the EPA notes that, “many studies have shown that coal mining activities negatively affect stream biota in nearly all parts of the globe.” The report then references five such reports and itself unambiguously proclaims “surface coal mining with valley fills has impaired the aquatic life in numerous streams in the Central Appalachian Mountains.”

Two additional, new, peer reviewed studies entitled: A Field-Based Aquatic Life Benchmark for Conductivity in Central Appalachian Streams (External Review Draft) and The Effects of Mountaintop Mines and Valley Fills on Aquatic Ecosystems of the Central Appalachian Coalfields (External Review Draft) have also been made available by the EPA.

As the new guidelines themselves note:

Recent studies, as well as the experiences of Appalachian coalfield communities, point to new environmental and health challenges that were largely unknown even ten years ago. Since 1992, nearly 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams have been filled at a rate of 120 miles per year by surface mining practices. A recent EPA study found that nine out of every 10 streams downstream from surface mining operations were impaired based on a genus-level assessment of aquatic life.

Another federal study found elevated levels of highly toxic and bioaccumulative selenium in streams downstream from valley fills. These impairments are linked to contamination of surface water supplies and resulting health concerns, as well as widespread impacts to stream life in downstream rivers and streams. Further, the estimated scale of deforestation from existing Appalachian surface mining operations is equivalent in size to the state of Delaware. Appalachian deforestation has been linked to significant changes in aquatic communities as well as to modified storm runoff regimes, accelerated sediment and nutrient transport, reduced organic matter inputs, shifts in the stream’s energy base, and altered thermal regimes. Such impacts have placed further stresses on water quality and the ecological viability of watersheds.

Alright FACES, put that in your cup and drink it!


Mikulski Makes 12!

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 | Posted by Jed Grubbs | No Comments

You’ve heard of the dirty dozen? Well, thanks to Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, we now have the Clean Water Dozen! That’s 12 Senators supporting the Appalachia Restoration Act, and in so doing, standing up for clean water and against mountaintop removal coal mining.

Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) is a 4th term Democrat from Maryland, who signed on as a cosponsor of the act on June 21, 2010. Both Senators from Maryland – Mikulski and Cardin – now support the legislation.

Senator Mikulski serves on the; Appropriations Committee where she is the chairwoman of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies subcommittee, Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee where she is the chairwoman of the Retirement and Aging subcommittee, and the Select Committee on Intelligence.

Make sure the Senator knows we appreciate her support! You can send her a message on Facebook or Twitter.

Hats off to our dedicated activists in Maryland who made this possible.

Check out all Appalachia Restoration Act Cosponsors below:

Benjamin L. Cardin – MD
Lamar Alexander – TN
Dianne Feinstein – CA
Robert Menendez – NJ
Richard Durbin – IL
Kirsten E. Gillibrand – NY
Barbara A. Mikulski – MD
Sherrod Brown – OH
Sheldon Whitehouse – RI
Amy Klobuchar – MN
Frank R. Lautenberg – NJ
Bernard Sanders – VT


Two New Blockbuster Reports Unveil True Costs of Coal

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 | Posted by Jed Grubbs | No Comments

Mounting evidence shows mountaintop removal is detrimental to the health of local communities, to the land it flattens, and to the water it buries and pollutes, but the industry loves to tout that coal is good for local economies.

But is that really the case?

Two blockbuster reports released today by Downstream Strategies reveal that every year the coal industry costs West Virginia and Tennessee millions more than it brings in. Examining the revenues and expenditures of coal industry employment, taxes and subsidies in Tennessee and West Virginia, the reports confirm the suspicions of many skeptical of Big Coal’s tired talking points.

Like this one from FACES of Coal:
“Economically healthy coal mining equals a healthy community.”

Well, besides the fact that I doubt you or anyone you know wants to live or work near this:

While contending with this:

Downstream Strategies now points out that in West Virginia the coal industry brought $600.7 million in revenues to the state in 2009, which turns out to be $97.5 million less than the $698.2 million the industry cost the Mountain State in the same year. In Tennessee, the bottom line amounted to an estimated net economic loss of $3 million.

In other words, coal actually costs these states money.

So what does the coal industry mean when they say “healthy”? They don’t mean healthy waterways, like this “stream”, do they?

What about the overall health of coalfield communities? The Gallup-Healthways’ Well-Being Index shows that Appalachian congressional districts where mountaintop removal is most prevalent are the unhealthiest in the nation year after year.

FACES of Coal! You lovably, anonymous “people” are such cut ups!

In any case, lead author of the Downstream Strategies reports, Rory McIlmoil notes, “While the coal industry provides significant benefits for state budgets, the industry also imposes substantial costs that impacted the budgets of both states in 2009. These are costs that, lacking a change in state policy, will be paid by the citizens of Appalachia for decades.”

The reports are two in a series of studies on coal’s impact to the economy of Central Appalachia. Another was released on Kentucky last year, and an evaluation of Virginia is expected in the future. Copies of both reports can be found at www.downstreamstrategies.com.

Click here to go directly to a pdf of the the WV report.
Click here to go directly to a pdf of the TN report.


Chesapeake Climate Action Network is Hiring

Thursday, June 10th, 2010 | Posted by Jed Grubbs | No Comments

From the organization:

CHESAPEAKE CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK

Looking for a challenge? How about working to change the tune of Virginia’s leaders away from dirty coal and oil and toward clean, renewable power like wind and solar…Sound good? Read on.

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) is the first grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to fighting global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Our mission is to build and mobilize a powerful grassroots movement and use our proximity to that nation’s capital to push for state, national and international policies that will put us on a path to climate stability.

CCAN takes on the region’s worst climate polluters and fights for the most effective clean energy policies. We are seeking an energetic organizer to head up our Windmills, Not Oil Spills campaign in Hampton Roads, Virginia. This is a six-month contract position, with a likelihood of renewal.

BACKGROUND AND JOB DESCRIPTION

Virginia’s current Governor, Bob McDonnell, was first in line calling for new oil exploration off of Virginia’s coast. Luckily, in a recent about-face by the Obama Administration, those plans were temporarily halted. However, Governor McDonnell still vows to push for offshore oil drilling as soon as possible. We at CCAN agree that we should develop energy off of Virginia’s coast – but we need to learn from the tragedy devastating the Gulf and move Virginia toward CLEAN wind power, not dirty oil. The Hampton Roads organizer will play a large role in shaping and executing our campaign for Windmills, Not Oil Spills.

Responsibilities:

* Recruit and train citizen and student volunteers
* Work with existing coalition partners, maintaining and building on those relationships
* Expand our base of non-environmental allies
* Build our base of e-activists
* Plan, organize, and execute campaign special events
* Work with the media
* Some research and writing as needed to produce campaign materials
* Some work engaging state and federal elected officials and their staff

Qualifications:

* B.A. or B.S (or equivalent organizing experience)
* Strong communication skills, both speaking and writing
* Basic knowledge of campaign planning
* Ability to connect with many different types of people and constituency groups
* Demonstrated experience organizing
* Demonstrated ability to work well both in teams and independently
* Problem-solver and goal-oriented
* Willing to travel as needed, a valid driver’s license, a satisfactory driving record and auto insurance

Compensation: Commensurate with experience, a generous benefits package

Location: Hampton Roads, VA – exact city is flexible

Diversity: CCAN is an equal opportunity employer, committed to a diverse workforce.

This position is for 6 months with the likelihood of extension. To apply, please email resume and cover letter to:

Chelsea Harnish

{encode=”chelsea@chesapeakeclimate.org ” title=”chelsea@chesapeakeclimate.org “}


Connecting the Dots After Upper Big Branch

Friday, May 28th, 2010 | Posted by Jed Grubbs | No Comments

“Past error is no excuse for its own perpetuation. Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide by which to live.” – Robert Francis Kennedy

It’s been over 8 weeks since the deadly explosion at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch (UBB) mine claimed the lives of 29 American Miners in Raleigh County, West Virginia. The incident, which was our nation’s deadliest mining accident in 40 years, was unquestionably made more tragic by the fact that it was preventable. In order to ensure that no similar, preventable, coal-related tragedy occurs, it is critically important that we recognize the full breadth of the coal industry’s impact on Appalachian communities and ecology, while collectively accepting shared responsibility for addressing its transgressions. Step one, as they say, is admitting we have a problem.


Upper Big Branch

In the wake of the April 5 explosion, it became increasingly apparent that Massey Energy’s UBB was outrageously mismanaged. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued the mine over 500 citations in 2009 alone (amounting to $897,325 in proposed penalties) and over 50 citations in March of 2010 alone. MSHA has pointed out that “Massey failed to address these violations over and over again.” Clearly, UBB indicates that something is amiss in the coal industry, but how far does this problem go?


Massey Energy Company

Let’s take a closer look at Massey Energy, the company (currently being investigated by the FBI) that owns UBB. NYTimes reports that in the past 10 years, there have been 52 deaths at Massey mines. In 2006, a fire at Massey’s Aracoma Alma mine killed two miners, and the company eventually paid $4.2 million in criminal fines and civil penalties. In 2009, Massey was charged with $12.9 million in proposed fines for safety violations. The company appealed 75% of the violations, and awarded its CEO, Don Blankenship, a stunning $2 million safety bonus the same year.

In 2003 Massey Energy paid Sylvester, West Virginia residents close to half a million dollars after these residents argued that coal dust from one of the company’s processing plants was impacting their health and property values. In 2004 the company paid $1.54 million to 245 residents of Mingo County, W. Va., after a jury concluded that Massey had acted “with malicious, willful, wanton, reckless or intentional disregard for plaintiffs’ rights,” when it destroyed those residents’ water wells by mining beneath their homes.

In October of 2000, a Massey owned sludge impoundment in Martin County Kentucky failed and leaked more than 300 million gallons of sludge. This sludge killed 1.6 million fish, and contaminated over 27,000 people’s water. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) called it the largest environmental catastrophe in the history of the southeastern United States.

In 2008 the EPA fined Massey $20 million for 4,500 violations of the Clean Water Act. This was the largest fine in the history of the law. Then, in 2010 four environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the company citing evidence that, unbelievably, Massey’s Clean Water Act violations had, increased in frequency since its record 2008 fine.

And let there be no mistaking, Massey is also the country’s number one producer of mountaintop removal coal, and as such, bears a large degree of responsibility for the wholesale destruction Appalachian mountains, streams and communities.

Beyond Massey
Massey is a problem for Appalachia that is hard to understate, but sadly coal industry transgressions don’t stop there. After the UBB tragedy, MSHA undertook a five day inspection blitz that targeted 57 mines notorious for safety violations. The blitz resulted in an astounding 1,339 citations. In May, Joseph Main, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health remarked, “After last month’s tragic reminder of the consequences of failing to make safety a priority, it is appalling that these operations continued to flout fundamental safety and health standards.”

Things have gotten so bad in Kentucky that earlier this year the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, Sierra Club, Public Justice, and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth filed a formal petition with the EPA asking the federal agency to take over administration and enforcement of the state’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System. The group urged this was necessary because of Kentucky’s alleged “capitulation to the coal industry and its complete failure to prevent widespread contamination of state waters by pollution from coal mining operations.”

Any and all coal companies that practice mountaintop removal force Appalachian communities to contend with contaminated drinking water, powerful blasting, airborne dust, and increased flooding (among other things). After coal is extracted from an area, ancient mountains, streams, and valleys that enriched Appalachian communities for generations are reduced to barren wastelands, toxic dumps, and piles of rubble. Mountaintop removal, which occurs in KY, WV, VA and TN, is responsible for the destruction of over 500 of the most biologically diverse mountains on the planet. Around 1.2 millions acres and 2000 miles of vital headwater streams have been destroyed in central and southern Appalachia by the practice. Besides Massey, Alpha Natural Resources, Patriot Coal, Arch Coal, International Coal Group, and Consol Energy produce a heck of a lot of mountaintop removal coal.

Check out some of the press they’ve gotten
“Since April 5, when the Massey-owned Upper Big Branch mine exploded, killing 29 workers inside, Patriot’s 11 underground coal mines in Appalachia have racked up roughly 350 safety violations, according to a review of federal records by TWI. The violations include scores of citations indicating problems with ventilation systems and the accumulation of combustible materials — the very conditions thought to have caused the deadly blast at the UBB project.” – The Washington Independent

“Environmental groups have been fighting the Spruce Mine since 1998, when it was proposed as a 3,113-acre mine that would bury more than 10 miles of streams in the Pigeonroost Hollow area near Blair. Arch Coal had proposed it as a continuation of its Dal-Tex mountaintop removal operation.” – The Charleston Gazette

“Roughly four years after a methane explosion led to the deaths of 12 coal miners at the International Coal Group‘s Sago Mine in Upshur County, not all the regulatory reforms suggested in the wake of the tragedy have been put into effect.” – The State Journal

“Two West Virginia environmental groups say they will sue Consol Energy because of its continuing “harmful pollution” in Dunkard Creek, where a massive fish kill occurred last September.” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Recognizing the Impact
So, apparently coal companies besides Massey are having a negative impact on Appalachia. But how much of an impact?

Well, according to 2009’s Hendryx study, coal mining costs Appalachia $42 billion every year as a result of negative health impacts and loss of life. A 2010 paper published in the journal Science and entitled “Mountaintop Mining Consequences” found that “The scientific evidence of the severe environmental and human impacts from mountaintop removal is strong and irrefutable. Its impacts are pervasive and long lasting and there is no evidence that any mitigation practices successfully reverse the damage it causes.” Considering these findings, is it any wonder that year after year, Gallup-Healthways’ Well-Being Index ranks the states of Kentucky and West Virginia second to last and dead last respectively?

Accepting Responsibility

“Few tragedies can be more extensive than the stunting of life, few injustices deeper than the denial of an opportunity to strive or even to hope, by a limit imposed from without, but falsely identified as lying within.” – Stephen Jay Gould

The fact is Americans across the country contribute to coal industry injustices in Appalachia. Coal-fired power plants from coast to coast either purchase mountaintop removal coal directly, or purchase coal from companies connected to the devastating practice. (Click Here to See if Your Zip Code is Connected)

Leaders of nine large investor groups heavily invested in Massey Energy recently called for the resignation of three Massey directors following the disaster at Upper Big Branch. Who are these investors? The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the North Carolina Retirement System, the Office of Connecticut State Treasurer, the Illinois State Board of Investment, the Maryland State Pension and Retirement System, the New York State Controller, the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, the Oregon State Treasury, and the Pennsylvania Treasury collectively own 1.4 million shares of Massey Energy valued at over $64 million.

As long as we demand “cheap” fossil fuels, mining companies will continue to have incentives for prioritizing production over worker safety and over the health of Appalachian communities and ecology. It’s easy to think of the problems associated with coal mining as distinctly Appalachian problems, but responsibility for the coal mining industry’s impact extends beyond the region. It extends, beyond Massey, beyond the entire coal industry, and beyond even the agencies that regulate coal mining. Truly, the responsibilty for these problems is shared by all who use electricity in this country.

Moving Forward
We in America owe Appalachia serious investments in just and sustainable jobs. The region has long contributed to the American workforce, and the industrial might of our country has been fueled by the tremendous efforts of the Appalachian people.
Diversification of the area’s economy will give men and women employment opportunities beyond those offered by dangerous, destructive, law evading, companies such as Massey. One way we can immediately take a step in the right direction is by getting our Representatives and Senators behind the Rural Energy Savings Program Act (HR 4785). Click here to learn more.

In order to prevent another coal-related tragedy Appalachian miners need enforced safety regulations, and Appalachian communities and ecologies need an end to mountaintop removal. The region needs these things immediately. Please join us in supporting Congressman Rahall for his efforts to improve miner safety, and in asking Congress to support two bipartisan bills aimed at sharply curtailing mountaintop removal: the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310) in the House and the Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696) in the Senate.


Massey CEO Unapologetic at Senate Safety Hearing

Thursday, May 27th, 2010 | Posted by Jed Grubbs | No Comments

Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship remained cool and unapologetic over his company’s role in the Upper Big Branch disaster during last week’s Senate hearing on mine safety. Legislators in the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services grilled Blankenship over his company’s safety record, as they attempted to determine what must be done to improve mine safety and enforcement following the worst mining accident in 40 years.

According to Blankenship, the 23 fatalities at Massey mines in the 10 years prior to Upper Big Branch were “about average.” “Massey does not place profits over safety,” he emphasized. “We never have and we never will. Period. From the day I became a member of Massey’s leadership team 20 years ago, I have made safety the number one priority.”

Cecil E. Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America contested Blankenship’s claims. “I can’t come up with another coal company that’s had 23 miners in 10 years die,” he testified. “This isn’t average. This is deplorable.”

“This is the worst fatality rate in the industry either way you look at it, either before the explosion or after the explosion,” Roberts said.

West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd was similarly unconvinced. “I cannot fathom how an American business could practice such disgraceful health and safety policies while simultaneously boasting about its commitment to the safety of its workers,” the senator stated. “This is a clear record of blatant disregard for the welfare and safety of Massey miners. Shame.”

Frustration was also directed at the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) – the federal agency that enforces safety in mines. The agency’s resources are useless, Senator Byrd argued, if MSHA is not “demanding safety in the mines.”

Click here to watch the full hearing


Virginia Issues Ison Rock Permit Despite Overwhelming Concerns

Monday, May 24th, 2010 | Posted by Jed Grubbs | No Comments


“Reclaimed” Portions of Black Mountain in Wise County, VA.

Undeterred by the concerns of local communities, peer reviewed scientists, and the federal government, the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME) recently announced approval of a vast 1,230 acre surface coal mine permit for A&G Coal’s Ison Rock Ridge Mine in Wise County, Virginia.

This is crushing news for the communities and ecology of southwestern Virginia, as according to Mike Abbott, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, “all that’s needed now for mining to begin is for A&G Coal to submit its bond and fees to DMME.” Less than a quarter of the site can be mined at this point, though, as A&G still requires a 404 permit from the Army Corps of Engineers.

Threatened communities are numerous. Portions of the mining permit extend within the town of Appalachia. The massive operation will condemn tourism in nearby Derby. Andover, Osaka, and Inman also face significant risk. Inman, in particular, faces immediate risk; the community sits directly below the site area DMME has deemed mineable.

Considering the history between the town of Inman and A&G, the issuance of DMME’s permit is additionally unjust. In 2004, A&G operations caused a boulder to tumble from another nearby mine site into Inman, killing three-year-old Jeremy Davidson in his bed.

The surface mine also constitutes a serious threat to the area’s environment. As noted previously, the operation would destroy over 1,200 acres. In addition, it would fill three miles of streams within the Powell River watershed with over 11 million cubic yards of mining waste. Area streams are already significantly impacted by surface mining; the DMME itself has recorded conductivity readings at Looney Creek and Callahan Creek that are nearly 60% higher than new rules outlined by the Obama Administration.

Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, a Wise County community organization, has been fighting A&G’s permit for three years. Sam Broach, president of SAMS explains: “They’re not looking out for the safety of the people and environment, and they’re going to blast this mountain despite the federal rules. Basically, we’re going to keep up the fight. We’re not quitting here. They only care about the bottom dollar, and we care about the future of our community.”


Update!

Following the Virginia DMME’s announcement, the Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to the department noting “the NPDES permit cannot be issued until EPA withdraws its objection.” The NPDES Clean Water Act discharge permit referred to in this letter would be required for any mining to occur on the site.


Southern Congressmen Introduce Rural Energy Savings Program Act

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 | Posted by Jed Grubbs | No Comments

Bipartisan support is growing around legislation that would conserve energy, save Americans money on their power bills, and create tens of thousands of domestic jobs.

The Rural Energy Savings Program Act (H.R. 4785) would provide electric cooperatives with $4.9 billion in loan authority through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service. Electric cooperatives would offer this money as low-interest micro-loans to residential and small business customers who undertake energy-saving retrofit and structural improvements. Examples of energy-saving improvements include sealing, heating, insulation, heat pump, HVAC system, boiler, and roof improvements. A typical loan would be in the range of $1,500 to $7,000.

The act was introduced by southern state Congressmen James Clyburn (D-SC), Ed Whitfield (R-KY), Tom Perriello (D-VA), and John Spratt (D-SC). It’s currently sitting in the House Committee on Agriculture and has gained the support of 42 cosponsors (as of May 12).

Because efficiency products are primarily manufactured in the United States, and installation work requires local labor, the bill is expected to significantly bolster American manufacturing and construction industries.

Loans will be payed back within a 10 year period as customers pay an extra charge on their utility bills. Most, if not all, of this charge will be made up in the savings a customer receives from having made energy-saving improvements. Once the loan is repaid, customers will continue to enjoy savings on their energy bills.

Representative Tom Perriello, a co-sponsor of RESPA, notes an additional benefit:

Co-op service areas are typically among the most coal dependent in the country, and as a result energy savings in co-op areas will have a disproportionately significant reduction in carbon pollution while saving money and creating jobs.

The Congressman adds:

It’s great to see that the parties can come together on something that isn’t really bi-partisan as much as it’s post partisan. It just makes sense and it’s the right thing to do and I’m proud to be a part of it.

We’re proud of you too, Mr. Perriello, along with each of the other Congressmen who took part in introducing this important legislation. : )


Thought Provoking Piece in “The Economist” Blog

Friday, May 7th, 2010 | Posted by Jed Grubbs | No Comments

A thought provoking piece was posted yesterday in The Economist’s Democracy in America Blog. It’s entitled “Can’t See the Fire for the Smoke,” and highlights both the different approaches to public-relations employed by Massey Energy and BP in the wake of national tragedies, and the lack of attention either the Upper Big Branch explosion or the Deepwater Horizon blowout have garnered for overarching issues at play.

Regarding the tragedy at Upper Big Branch, the author suggests more attention should be given to the fact that Massey Energy deliberately inflicts disasters on West Virginia every day “as part of its business model.”

The author gives a shout out to the work of Appalachian Voices, Mike Lillis at the Washington Independent, and activist Denny Tyler:

“The pressure group Appalachian Voices has a fantastic Google Earth application that lets you see how mountaintop removal works. You can view it in your browser with a plugin, or in Google Earth with a KML file. Mike Lillis of the Washington Independent has also done tireless reporting on this subject, and local activists like Denny Tyler, a former Massey electrician, have set up their own websites.

While noting that mountaintop removal,

…is annihilating large chunks of the Appalachian Mountains in a manner one doesn’t expect to see outside the third world.”

And that,

It’s simply bizarre that an advanced country with a strong environmentalist record has been allowing this practice to go on; it was prohibitively expensive until a rules change by the Bush administration allowed companies to dump the waste from blowing tops off mountains into adjoining stream valleys.

Click here to read the post in its entirety.


Round 1 of the EPA “Coal Ash Bowl” Goes to Big Coal

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 | Posted by Jed Grubbs | No Comments

By Matt Wasson
issued their long awaited proposal for new rules on how to regulate the disposal and storage of coal combustion waste (CCW), the byproduct of coal-fired power plants.

Since December of 2008, when more than 1 billion gallons of toxic coal ash spilled into the Emory River from a breached impoundment at the TVA’s Kingston Fossil Plant, environmental and industry groups have been waiting with tense anticipation to see how the Administration will approach regulating this highly toxic waste.

As it turns out, they’re still waiting. The EPA actually issued two proposals which, as James Bruggers of the Louisville Courier-Journal reported, can be simply (though far from completely) summarized as follows:

One approach would eventually phase out coal ash storage ponds. The other would would allow ash ponds, but only if they have plastic liners.

The EPA will decide which of those approaches to adopt following a 90-day public comment period that began yesterday. While EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson heralded the action as “the first-ever national rules to assure the safe management and disposal of coal ash,” reporters like Bruggers and Ken Ward at the Charleston Gazette saw EPA’s announcement as more of a “punt.”

Environmental groups had a mixed reaction, expressing enthusiasm for the EPA’s overall 563-page analysis, which, despite Jackson’s apparent ambivalence, provides enormously compelling scientific evidence that should favor the more stringent proposal for regulating CCW under hazardous waste provisions of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. But groups also expressed some frustration at the Obama Administration’s unwillingness to follow the EPA’s analysis to its logical conclusion.

But whichever path the EPA ultimately chooses, Big Coal scores thanks to an issue that was entirely excluded from the scope of both proposals: the virtually unregulated practice of dumping CCW into abandoned mines.

To mix a metaphor, in the great 90-day EPA Coal Ash Bowl that began with a punt, the environmental and public health team is down a star player and Big Coal has the ball on the 50 yard line. It ain’t over, but it’s gonna be a rough game.

Dumping coal ash waste into abandoned mines- “Beneficial” for whom?

The industry backlash against any regulation of CCW disposal has long centered on the issue of “beneficial use,” which typically implies using CCW to manufacture wallboard and other construction materials.

According to its promoters, minefilling is a “beneficial use” because CCW is alkaline and, at least the theory goes, dumping it into abandoned mines will neutralize the acidic mine drainage from active and abandoned mines.

The problem with this theory is that there really isn’t any good science to back it up. A study on the water quality impacts of minefilling published by the Clean Air Taskforce in 2007 provided an excellent test of how “beneficial” the dumping of CCW into mine pits actually is. As explained in a more recent and comprehensive report by Earthjustice:

…in two-thirds of all the mines studied, the introduction of coal combustion waste resulted in more severe, long-term water quality contamination than had ever existed at these sites from the mining operation itself. Furthermore, as a practical matter, dumping large quantities of CCW directly into water tables in highly fractured sites under massive quantities of mine overburden makes the prospect of cleaning up resulting contamination far more daunting than halting leakages from conventional landfills and ash ponds.

The pressure on the administration from industry to not designate CCW as a hazardous waste was intense because of the stigma it would put on the use of CCW for “beneficial use” purposes. The unprecedented extent of that pressure from the coal industry was underscored in a letter to the White House signed by 239 public interest organizations from across the country in April. According to the letter:

Industry groups that oppose mandatory federal standards have had nearly 30 meetings with OMB [Office of Management and Budget] on this rule – more than ever before on any single topic. These groups continue to present unfounded claims of power plant closures and exaggerated cost estimates as “fact,” thereby fomenting widespread but unwarranted fear of EPA regulations.

Wait… The coal industry presented exaggerated cost estimates to foment unwarranted fear of EPA regulations? Well I never!

That pressure was clearly effective in that, even if EPA chooses to regulate CCW under the hazardous waste provisions, it will not be labeled “hazardous” so as to avoid the dangerous connotations implied by the label.

But the industry pressure was equally effective in taking regulatory control of minefilling out of the hands of EPA scientists, who are no doubt well aware of the bad science underlying the practice and who are generally very serious about their job of protecting public health. In fact, the EPA already weighed in on the issue:

We believe that certain minefilling practices have the potential to degrade, rather than improve, existing groundwater quality and can pose a threat to human health and the environment.

It’s statements like this that apparently disqualified the EPA from regulating minefilling, which instead will be subject to a subsequent rule-making process headed up by the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM). No timeframe was mentioned for when that rule-making would be initiated.

Putting OSM in charge of developing minefilling regulations, even with input from the EPA, is a huge victory for polluters for a number of reasons. First, the OSM is led by Joseph Pizarchik, nick-named “Coal Ash Joe” by community organizations in Pennsylvania for his unwavering support of minefilling when he was director of the Bureau of Mining and Reclamation in that state. Second, the “scientists” at OSM are a very different breed than those at the EPA.

OSM scientists are generally trained in “reclamation science” at one of the big mine engineering programs at schools like West Virginia University and Virginia Tech. The fundamental premise of reclamation science can be summed up in a statement from Dink Shackleford, past executive director of the Virginia Mining Association, who often said: “We have a chance to improve on God’s creation.” The science of mining and reclamation starts with a fundamental premise that must not be questioned- that no matter how toxic the pollution, how much mountain we blast away, that we can engineer nature back to as “good as new” or even better.

Viewed through this distorted lens, replacing the remarkably diverse and productive Appalachian hardwood forests with a barren plain covered in exotic grasses dotted with a few pines becomes an ecological benefit because it “improves forestry;” burying the headwaters of streams in millions of tons of mine waste is an ecological benefit because it “helps regulate stream flow;” and the virtually unregulated dumping of mine waste into abandoned mines is a “beneficial use” of coal ash.

There is a lot at stake for the coal industry in how minefilling is regulated because, according to the Earthjustice report (pdf), the cost of disposal in minefills is 89-95% less than the cost of disposal in engineered landfills. Also according to Earthjustice, about 25 million tons of CCW – 20% of total annual production – is disposed of in abandoned mines. While the EPA estimates that minefilling accounts for just 7% of CCW disposal, Earthjustice explains that the discrepancy is because, “industry and state regulators are hiding CCW dumping in mines behind the labels ‘beneficial use, or ‘recycling.'”

This minefilling loophole will become all the more important as EPA rules make regulated disposal of CCW more expensive. As the financial incentives for utilities to exploit this loophole become stronger, the pressure on the Obama Administration to delay action on minefilling, or to implement weak regulations, will become even more intense. Given that current regulations in most states for CCS minefilling are considerably weaker than regulations on disposal of household garbage, minefilling could quickly become the predominant method for CCW disposal.


How Does Minefilling Affect Health and the Environment?

The lede and photo from a story in the Miami Herald from November, 2009, helps put the health hazards associated with coal ash into perspective:

“When I was pregnant, I was dizzy, vomiting and could barely walk,” said Maximiliano’s mother, Anajai Calcano, 20. “My tooth cracked and fell out. Then my baby was born like that, without arms. Nothing like that had ever happened here before.”
By “before,” Calcano means before a U.S. power company’s coal ash arrived at a nearby port, sitting there for more than two years.

The story goes on to tell how citizens of Arroyo Barril in the Dominican Republican are suing a Virginia-based energy company for a variety of health problems they say resulted from the illegal disposal of coal ash on the shore of the town. The phrase “health problems” hardly does justice to the godawful deformities found in children born of mothers who had abnormally high levels of arsenic in their blood, one of many toxic metals associated with coal ash. Those “health problems” ranged from cranial deformities to missing limbs to organs outside their bodies.

The situation in Arroyo Barril is an extreme example, but it illustrates the general problem of toxic metal contamination of both air and water near coal ash disposal sites. The composition of coal ash includes a high concentration of toxic metals found in coal including arsenic, selenium, chromium, lead and thallium. While conventional disposal of CCW in wet impoundments has had demonstrable impacts on water quality, the practice of minefilling makes the problem of groundwater contamination far worse. According to the Earthjustice report:

The unique geologic characteristics of mines maximizes the risk of contamination from coal ash dumping. Mining breaks up solid rock layers into small pieces, called spoil. Compared to the flow through undisturbed rock, water easily and quickly infiltrates spoil that has been dumped back into the mined-out pits. Fractures from blasting become underground channels that allow groundwater to flow rapidly offsite. Because mines usually excavate aquifers (underground sources of water), the spoil fills up with groundwater. Unlike engineered landfills, which are lined with impervious membranes (clay or synthetic) and above water tables by law, coal ash dumped into mine pits continually leaches its toxic metals and other contaminants into the water that flows through and eventually leaves the site.

There are many cases where water contamination has already been found, according to the Clean Air Taskforce study of 15 minefilling operations in Pennsylvania.

So what’s next?

To be fair to the administration, the EPA specifically referenced a 2006 report on minefilling from the National Academy of Sciences as one of the documents that should guide the rule-making on minefilling. The recommendations of that report, as summarized by Earthjustice, include:

* Generators should pursue safe reuse of coal combustion waste ash before minefilling;
* Disposal sites must be investigated to determine the quality and location of groundwater, groundwater flow paths, the potential for coal ash to react with minerals or groundwater, etc.;
* Coal ash must be kept out of groundwater;
* Monitoring must be designed to detect movement of coal combustion waste contaminants;
* Deeds must record and fully disclose that coal combustion waste was disposed at the mine site;
* Bonds must be adequate to clean up any groundwater damaged by coal combustion waste disposal;
* Public input must be solicited in the development of national regulations and permits issued pursuant to those regulations.

If all of those recommendations were turned into regulations, the problems associated with minefilling would be largely alleviated. But the success of industry in stripping the EPA of regulatory oversight of minefilling provides little confidence that the administration will ignore that pressure when it comes to developing regulations on minefilling.

An even greater concern is that the industry will successfully delay rule-making on minefilling for another decade, the way they were able to delay disposal regulations for years until the TVA disaster woke people up to the hazards of unregulated coal ash storage. If their delay tactics are successful, the financial advantages of minefilling will make it the predominant method of coal ash disposal within a matter of years.

And if the momentum generated by the TVA disaster to regulate coal ash disposal is lost, it’s terrifying to think what the next disaster will be that would be needed to motivate agencies to action in the face of enormous industry pressure. As Lisa Evans, an attorney with Earthjustice who has tracked coal ash issues for nearly a decade, told the media in January:

Minefilling coal ash is a slow-motion and invisible counterpart to the TVA catastrophe. There, the destruction was unleashed in a matter of minutes. For communities with water poisoned by the country’s hundreds of coal ash mine dumps, the damage has been gradual and largely unseen, but it also presents a grave threat.

People in coal mining regions have suffered pollution of their water and air for decades, and with the EPA finally beginning to crack down on mountaintop removal mining and the disposal of mine waste into streams, what a tragic irony it would be if pollution from valley fills was replaced by even greater pollution from minefills. That’s the way it’s headed, and it’s going to take the involvement of thousands of Americans to counter the coal industry’s powerful pressure to keep regulations weak or nonexistent.

This is no time to sit on the sidelines – there are 89 days in the EPA’s Coal Ash Bowl, and your help is needed now.

[UPDATE: The link to take action above, “your help is needed now,” is not yet set up by the EPA – I will update again as soon as the EPA gets it straightened out]

Follow Matt Wasson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/forthemountains


Devastating News from Webster County, Kentucky

Thursday, April 29th, 2010 | Posted by Jed Grubbs | No Comments

Please keep western Kentucky in your thoughts and prayers today.

One miner has been found dead, while another is missing after a mine roof collapsed Wednesday night at 10pm. The accident occurred at Alliance Resource Partners’ Dotiki Mine in Webster County, and rescue efforts are underway.

The Dotiki mine has received 2,973 citations over the past five years and was cited 649 times in 2009. Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine, which took the lives of 29 miners on April 5, received 458 citations in 2009.

mine safety

Congressman Nick Rahall, Chairman of the Natural Resources Committee and long time leader in protecting miner safety, represents the district where the Upper Big Branch accident occurred. He recently said, “there is still much more that must be done to protect those who enter the mines each day working to support their families.”

You have been instrumental in the recent victories to protect Appalachian communities from the permitting of new mountaintop removal mines. While there’s much that still needs to be done to end mountaintop removal permanently, today we ask you to help protect those communities in a different way.

Will you please take a moment to sign this letter supporting Congressman Rahall’s efforts to strengthen protections for our nation’s coal miners?

Learn more about the Dotiki Mine accident from Jeff Biggers and/or the Herald-Leader.
Learn more about Alliance’s dismal safety record from Coal Tattoo.



 

 


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