April 4, 2008

Dear Friends,

I am holding a press conference in the morning and I wanted to take an opportunity to share with you my statement on an issue that is near and dear to my heart. I hope that you will join with me in taking a stand on mountain top removal.

I grew up in the majestic mountains of Western North Carolina and I raised my children to love and respect our environmental heritage. Mountains have always held a special meaning for my family and for the people of the fifth district. Our mountains have given us pure water, fertile soil, and clean air that has sustained our families and shaped our way of life for generations. My parents and grandparents looked to those mountains and to the Lord above to find strength to build a brighter future for their children. As descendants of that proud heritage, we are charged with the sacred responsibility of ensuring the preservation of our beloved mountains so that our children and grandchildren will experience the beauty of the land we love.

In Western North Carolina we know the environmental challenges associated with issues such as ridge top development and the proliferation of second homes on steep slopes. We also know that environmental stewardship and economic development, rather than being opposed to each other, advance together. It is this deep love for our mountains and the challenges that face us to preserve them, that make us kindred spirits with our neighbors to the north who are losing their mountains wholesale to mountain top removal.

In the coalfields of central Appalachia, the ridge tops themselves are being forever leveled by a coal mining practice known as mountain top removal. In the past two decades more than 470 mountains have been decapitated, more than 1,000 miles of headwater streams have been filled, and more than a million acres of hardwood forests have been stripped from an area the size of Delaware, all for the purpose of extracting cheap fuel for coal fired power plants in the Midwest and South, power plants whose pollutants cause premature deaths, hospitalizations for respiratory and cardiovascular complications, asthma attacks, and the further deterioration of the forests in our own Blue Ridge mountains. In the name of economic development and job creation, large coal corporations in Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee are sapping the economic future of coalfield mountain communities. They are destroying the mountains themselves, degrading water quality in the area, increasing the risk of downstream flooding, and permanently altering aquatic and forest habitat.

Mountain top removal is not only an important environmental issue; it is also a family issue. Communities and working families are being ripped apart by this obscene practice. One of the lessons that I learned growing up in a mountain community was that when neighbors are in need, we have a moral obligation to extend a hand of friendship and offer help. I boldly stand with our mountain neighbors for a national energy policy that values people more than profit, respects the land, sustains alternative local jobs, and offers hope for the future.

As the United States strives for energy independence we must not mortgage the future of mountain communities for the short term gains of extracting coal in a manner that benefits a handful of large corporations while permanently altering the lives of our neighbors and the environmental heritage we cherish. We can not build a sustainable energy future for the United States by substituting one form of carbon dependence for another, exchanging big oil for big coal. The idea of “clean coal” is an oxymoron and a slap in the face to the long suffering people and the environment of central Appalachia.

For those of us who love mountains and who recognize the relationship between our own economic future and the protection of our sensitive mountain environment, the destruction of the central Appalachian Mountains by mountain top mining is both tragic and shortsighted. In Congress, I will be vocal in my opposition to mountain top removal and I will be a passionate advocate for practical investments in environmentally and economically sustainable solutions such as solar energy, hydrogen fuel, and home energy efficiency.

We must put a swift end to mountain top removal and stand by our Appalachian brothers and sisters by uniting against those energy companies in our own area that use coal from this immoral practice.

Please visit https://www.ilovemountains.org for more information on actions we can take to halt this abominable practice.

Visit my website https://www.roycarterforcongress.com and please donate to my campaign today, so that we can continue to draw attention to mountain top removal and the other issues that are facing the 5th district, North Carolina, and the entire country.

Sincerely,

Roy J. Carter

Appalachian Voices and N.C. WARN are leading the charge against the new Duke power plant being constructed at Cliffside in Western North Carolina. On Monday the two agencies filed an appeal in court seeking to halt construction of the new coal fired power plant. The new plant will produce 5.5 million tons of C02 a year. The center of the controversy involves the illegality of Duke opening a plant without the most stringent pollution control technology available in place.

“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last month found that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency violated the Clean Air Act when it scrapped a policy that required utilities to install the best available technology to capture mercury — a neurotoxin that can damage developing brains of fetuses and very young children.”

20 other agencies, including the Sierra Club and the Waterkeeper Alliance, say they would also appeal the decision to allow Duke Power to continue production of the Cliffside plant.

“We need to get this plant shut down right now,” said John Runkle, an attorney with N.C. WARN. “This plant is just not needed.”

Citizen Times News
BlueRidgeNow.com News

Dominion concedes its planned coal-fired power plant in Wise County won’t capture greenhouse gases

Opponents call on Governor to commit to cutting carbon and stop the power plant

In a motion to the State Corporation Commission made earlier this week, Dominion Virginia concedes that its proposed 585-megawatt power plant in Wise County is not “carbon-capture compatible.” The motion was submitted by SCC staff, the Attorney General Office Division of Consumer Counsel, and Dominion.

Carbon dioxide is one of the leading causes of climate change. The proposed Wise County power plant would emit about 5.3 million tons per year for an expected lifespan of at least 50 years, the equivalent of adding almost 1 million cars to Virginia’s roads.

Under intense questioning at an SCC hearing last month, Dominion officials admitted that regulation of carbon dioxide is “inevitable.” In the motion this week to the SCC, Dominion now concedes its proposed plant in Wise County is not carbon-capture compatible. The SCC has not yet ruled on the motion and stipulation. Briefs from respondents, including the Southern Environmental Law Center, are due Friday, March 14. The SCC’s ruling is expected sometime next month.

“This confirms what we have been saying all along – that Dominion is failing to plan for pending federal laws on global warming,” said Cale Jaffe, SELC staff attorney. “If Dominion does not build this plant to capture greenhouse gases, ratepayers will be left holding the bag. Pollution credits for this one plant will cost Dominion’s customers in excess of $100 million a year.”

“Dominion continues to call this a ‘clean coal plant,’ which is like saying ‘healthy cigarettes.’ There is nothing clean about a project that would blow up mountains, destroy water quality, dump mercury and 12,500 tons of pollution in the air every year, and ignore the climate change crisis,” said Mike Tidwell with Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

“All eyes are on Governor Kaine. He has committed to reducing global warming pollution by 30% below business as usual by 2025. He can not support Dominion’s Wise County power plant and reach that goal,” said Glen Besa, Conservation Director for the Sierra Club-Virginia Chapter.

“Dominion has told Virginians almost since Day 1 that this plant is carbon-capture compatible. Well, my driveway is Porsche compatible too, but that doesn’t mean I have one sitting in my driveway,” said Kathy Selvage of the Wise County-based Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards. “Dominion has essentially conceded that the plant is not carbon-capture capable at the present time.”

“The reality of what Dominion wants to do is unacceptable to the public, so the company has been attempting to mislead people through its ads and public statements,” said Tom Cormons with Appalachian Voices. “Now some of the truth is coming out.”

In light of Dominion’s concession, the Wise Energy for Virginia coalition (CCAN, SELC, Sierra Club, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and Appalachian Voices) are calling on Governor Kaine to stick with his oft-repeated pledge to reduce greenhouse gases in the state and stop the Wise County plant.

We need your help! Appalachian Voices is preparing to launch an online video outreach project called “America’s Most Endangered Mountains”. This project will showcase 10 mountains and surrounding communities that are slated for mountaintop removal operations. Each video will answer “Why is Appalachia worth saving?” and involve viewers in the campaign by:

1. Showcasing community assets and future plans
2. Clearly describing mining threats
3. Connecting viewers who want to help directly with community members
4. Connecting viewers with online campaign activities

For more videos click here

We’re looking for experienced volunteers to accompany our staff on filming trips to the coalfields. In all, we’ll travel 5 long weekends through July 2008. If you’re a college student looking for a great spring break trip, you’ve found it. Video and audio recording experience is a must.

For more information, contact Benji Burrell, Technology Coordinator, (828) 262-1500, (804) 662-0964, {encode=”benji@appvoices.org” title=”benji@appvoices.org”}

Please visit iLoveMountains.org at hhttps://www.ilovemountains.org/news/395 for this press realease.

In 2004 she created a body of artwork that explores the connection between kaleidoscopic images and music. Her newest artwork highlights diverse environmental issues. Dream catchers and painted buffalo’s are channels for the artist to explore universal connections between human spirituality, the non-human animal world and harmony with the environment.

Volunteering in Montana for the Buffalo Field Campaign moved Osher to create artwork to enhance awareness of the plight of the Yellowstone Buffalo. This experience also fueled her desire to learn about diverse environmental issues including global warming, threatened biodiversity, forest destruction, mountain top removal, and light and noise pollution.

Her gallery goes on exhibit:

Saturday March 1, 2 – 5 pm
Thursday March 6, 6 – 8 pm
Ceres Gallery 547 West 27 Street Suite 201 NYC 10001
www.ceresgallery.org

Read ALL about it in the Salina Journal’s online publication H E R E.

Google is going to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the Renewable Energy Sector….wanna know more? Read Grist’s interview with Bill Weihl, Google’s “green energy czar” HERE

The Christian Science Monitor reports:

“Instead of the $1.76 billion project, which was expected to capture and store underground 90 percent of its greenhouse-gas emissions, the Energy Department is budgeting $241 million for several commercial power-plant projects that will capture and store a smaller share of their emissions. Federal officials called it a money-saving move.”

Yesterday, the North Carolina Division of Air Quality (DAQ) granted Duke Energy Carolinas an air quality permit to build a new 800-megawatt unit at its Cliffside power plant near Shelby. Construction, operation and maintenance of the new Cliffside Unit 6 locks North Carolina into a 50-year commitment to outdated electricity generation that will contribute to global warming, increase the devastating social and environmental impacts of mountaintop removal and other surface coal mining, and exacerbate air pollution from ozone, particulate and mercury.

Following is a statement from Appalachian Voices’ In-house Counsel, Scott Gollwitzer, on the permit.

*Scott Gollwitzer: “This permit represents a giant step backward in confronting the devastating social and environmental impacts associated with producing electricity by incinerating coal. It’s common knowledge that the lifecycle of coal-based electricity has significant impacts on people, communities and the environment. From mining, to burning, to disposal, the coal-based electricity industry leaves behind a legacy of untold human misery and environmental destruction—a legacy that DAQ simply ignored when issuing this permit.

It’s maddening when you think about it. Burning more coal at Cliffside will dramatically expand the number of Appalachian peaks erased from the skyline by mountaintop removal strip-mining. Burning more coal at Cliffside will increase global warming. Burning more coal at Cliffside will increase ozone, particulate and mercury pollution. Burning more coal at Cliffside will create millions more tons of toxic, radioactive combustion waste. Burning more coal at Cliffside will evaporate 21 million gallons of North Carolina water per day—straining our already drought-limited water resources. Burning more coal instead of using wind, solar and efficiency—technologies proven to meet future demand without all of these impacts—is irresponsible.

Equally irresponsible are the “numbers” games that Duke and DAQ are playing to justify erecting this monument to a bygone era. By allowing Duke to escape review of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions, DAQ has not analyzed the effects of these pollutants on the Great Smoky Mountains and other sensitive areas in Western North Carolina. Likewise, DAQ is violating the Clean Air Act, by not requiring maximum achievable control technology for mercury. Further, while DAQ is requiring Duke to offset carbon dioxide emissions, DAQ is not requiring Duke to actually reduce its carbon footprint.

With more than sixty percent of North Carolina’s electricity already coming from coal, Tar Heel residents have an ethical obligation to minimize the impacts of our power production on the people, communities and environments in which coal is mined, burned and disposed of as air pollution and post-combustion waste. Our first step in fulfilling this moral imperative is to use all legal means to prevent Duke’s irresponsible expansion plans. As such, Appalachian Voices is taking a hard look at this permit and evaluating our legal options.”

Under the agreement with the EPA, Massey Energy will pay $20 million in civil penalties and invest an additional $10 million in pollution control improvements at its 44 mines and coal facilities. The agreement settled a complaint filed by the EPA in May 2007 alleging that Massey violated the federal Clean Water Act on at least 4,500 occasions between January 2000 and the end of 2006 by discharging mining waste and sediment (including hazardous metals) into hundreds of streams and waterways and failing to control spills of coal slurry during mining operation. Some of the waste water discharges were more than 10 times the amount allowed by state permits according to the EPA. The complaint alleged that Massey routinely released metals, sediment and acid mine drainage into streams and rivers at amounts 40 percent or more than allowed by state permits.
The maximum penalties facing the company for the thousands of violations and days when permits were exceeded could have been as high as $2.4 billion, according to the EPA.

The $10 million investment in pollution control will be used to develop and implement new procedures and tracking systems to prevent waste water discharges and slurry spills, the agreement also calls for third-party audits of its pollution prevention program. The company has also agreed to set aside 200 acres of riverfront land in West Virginia for conservation and protection against future mining.

Ronald Tenpas, head of the Justice Department’s environment and natural resources division, said the measures agreed to by the coal company “represent a significant step forward in the way that mining facilities currently address Clean Water compliance.”

The new pollution prevention measures are expected to keep an estimated 380 million pounds of sediment and other pollutants from Massey’s mining operation out of the three states’ waters each year.

The company has been embroiled in a string of legal and environmental disputes from complaints about its hilltop mining practices and pollution of waterways to mine safety and high-profile contract disputes.

See the full article here: Coal Producer Agrees to Pay $30M by H. Josef Hebert

Environmental Protection Agency
Massey Energy Company

Duke Energy plans to build the 800-megawatt coal-fired plant in the Blue Ridge foothills, but needs a permit from the state Division of Air Quality. Both candidates said that the Division of Air Quality should wait to issue a permit for the new coal-fired plant.

In a statement, Moore said, “North Carolina should focus on new, efficient energy choices and conservation rather than building more high polluting, coal fired power plants…This type of plant should be a last resort, not a first option.” He argued that carbon dioxide emissions from the plant could contribute to global warming and damage air quality in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Perdue said, “North Carolina’s priority must be on creating long-range goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with a focus on increasing energy efficiency and conservation.” As governor, Perdue said she would work for a “green economy”.

Here are Cliffside’s MTR connections:

Moore says Cliffside plant can wait
Perdue says Cliffside plant can wait