The Front Porch Blog

Who Cares About Coal Ash? “Have A Sip, Take a Dip, Eat Some Fish”

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | 1 Comment

Yesterday, we wrote about a bluff containing coal ash pond breaking, allowing a football field chunk of debris into Lake Michigan. According to a We Energies spokesman “it is probable that some of the material that washed into the lake is coal ash”.

The dangers of coal ash have been made apparent through the coal ash disaster which spilled over a billion tons of coal ash into the Emory River in December 2008. This disaster prompted the EPA to study the issue. They found that there were several dozen high-hazard structurally-insufficient coal ash dam across the country, and initiated a rule-making on how to handle coal ash.

Coal ash is the toxic by-product of coal-burning, and there are hundreds of coal ash ponds littering the country. North Carolina tops the list of high-hazard dams, with 12 coal ash dams from the French Broad River in Western North Carolina to Cape Fear River in eastern North Carolina.

Rachel Maddow covers the coal ash pond wall break, as well as the U.S. House of Representatives’ vote on H.R. 2273, which would block the EPA’s efforts to protect communities from this danger.

Unfortunately what she failed to do is to mention that a virtually identical bill has been introduced in the Senate. After watching this video, please email your Senator and ask them to oppose S.1751 and stand up for our waterways and safety.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Heath Shuler and Others Who Stood Up Against Dangerous Coal Ash Legislation

Friday, October 14th, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | 1 Comment

Congressman Heath Shuler Stood Up for Communities Today

Today, Congressmen Heath Shuler (NC), David Price (NC), Mel Watt (NC), Brad Miller (NC), John Yarmuth (KY), Gerry Connolly (VA) and Frank Wolf (VA) voted against H.R. 2273 , the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act, a bill that does nothing to protect our communities from the dangers of toxic coal ash.

Though we are disappointed that H.R. 2273 did achieve passage on the floor of the House today by a 267 to 144 vote, we are pleased that these members of Congress had the strength and courage to stand for communities who live near high-hazard coal ash dams, across Appalachia, the Southeast and the country.

H.R. 2273 does not provide any true safeguards against the danger of coal ash and subverts the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s public rule-making process already in progress. More than 450,000 Americans have commented on EPA proposals to address coal ash pollution and dam safety — H.R. 2273 essentially drowns out their voices. You can read more about this dangerous bill in our blog post from yesterday. (more…)

Walter Jones One of Two Republicans To Vote Against Delay of Mercury Standards for Cement Plants-

Friday, October 7th, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

As part of the wave of anti-public health bills that are oozing from what it is supposed to be the People’s House (not the Polluter’s House), H.R. 2681, the Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act passed 262 to 161. The vote fell largely on party lines, with 25 Democrats voting for the bill, and two Republicans voting against. H.R. 2681 is designed to allow cement plants to keep burning toxic garbage such as plastics and tires for electricity minus the technology needed and available to reduce the amount of mercury that enters our waterways.

However, in North Carolina, there were some bright spots. One of the two Republicans to vote against was Walter Jones from the 3rd district of North Carolina. Not only is the vote against the party line, it is also a change from how he voted on a federal budget (H.R. 1) amendment that denied EPA to direct funding towards implementing a mercury standard for cement plants.

We are also pleased that Rep. Mike McIntyre (NC 07) voted against this bill, despite the fact that he voted for the TRAIN Act, a bill that would delay mercury standards for coal-fired power plants two weeks ago. Larry Kissell, joined 24 other Democrats and voted for H.R. 2681.

The rest of the delegation voted along party lines. Check out how your member of Congress voted on OpenCongress.org. Not sure who your member of Congress is? You can also find that out on OpenCongress.org.

We encourage to call your member of Congress and thank them if they voted to protect our waterways from mercury (a “No’ vote) or if they voted to allow more mercury into our water by voting for H.R. 2681.

Please call the Congressional Switchboard, ask for your member of Congress and leave a message either thanking them for voting against H.R. 2681, or express your disappointment if they voted for it and ask them to please vote for protecting our waterways, our food and our public health from the impacts of mercury pollution.

Dirty Politics: The Biggest Threat to America’s Waterways

Friday, September 23rd, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

It Took a Movement to Create the Clean Water Act- We Need Another to Save It

Update: The House passed the polluter-friendly TRAIN Act, H.R. 2041 by a vote of 249 to 169.

A People's Movement Made This Clean Water Possible

At this moment, the U.S. House is debating HR 2041, the TRAIN Act. The Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act is a dangerous bill designed to give coal-fired plants a free pass when it comes to controlling pollutants like mercury- for up to 5 years.

The TRAIN Act would delay vital protections like the utility mercury standard, still under EPA consideration, and the recently finalized Cross-State Air Pollution Rule.

The Utility mercury rule would reduce mercury from coal-fired power plants by 91%. 500,000 Americans recently let the EPA know that they support this safeguard. The recently finalized Cross-State Air Pollution Rule would curb smog and particulate pollution that blow across state lines from coal-fired power plants. (more…)

Speaking Truth to Power: Appalachian Women Travel to Delaware To Hold Massey Energy Accountable

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

This summer, Appalachian Voices joined Free Speech for People and Rainforest Action Network to petition Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden to repeal Massey Energy’s corporate charter due to their gross disregard for Appalachian communities. Massey Energy, like many corporations, is legally chartered in Delaware. And though Alpha Resources bought Massey Energy earlier this year, Massey still exists as wholly-owned subsidiary.

Massey Energy has violated the Clean Water Water Act over 60,000 times, has been the biggest perpetrator of mountaintop removal coal mining and is directly responsible for the preventable deaths of 29 miners in the Upper Big Branch mine explosion in April of 2010, according an independent report commissioned by then- West Virginia Governor (now Senator) Joe Manchin.

Willa Mays, Appalachian Voices Executive Director and Lorelei Scarbro prepare to meet with Delaware Attorney General's office

Over 35,000 Americans have joined our call to action to hold Massey Energy accountable for the lives, mountains and waterways they have ruined. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., also joined the campaign and on a tele-conference implored Attorney General Biden,

“…to be one of the few public officials … who is willing to stand up in this country, to corporate power, to say at some point, corporations do not have the power to dismantle our democracy and violate our laws, willfully and systematically.”

Full audio of tele-conference here:

On Friday, we took the campaign to Delaware. We met with the Attorney General’s office to deliver the petitions and to meet two strong Appalachian women who have been directly impacted by Massey’s various wrongdoings. Betty Harrah is the sister of Steve “Smiley” Harrah, one of the 29 miners that died during the Upper Big Branch mine disaster. Lorelei Scarbro has been an advocate of the Coal River Wind project, a campaign to halt Massey Energy from blasting away the top of Coal River Mountain, the last intact mountain in the Coal River Valley. She is the granddaughter, daughter, and widow of coal miners, and has family who currently work at the Upper Big Branch mine.

We then hosted a screening of The Last Mountain, the film that shows the massive destruction that Massey Energy has imposed upon the people of the Coal River Valley and beyond. After the film, we held a forum with Betty Harrah, Lorelei Scarbro, Clara Bingham, producer of The Last Mountain and representatives from Appalachian Voices and Free Speech for People.

Special thanks to Delaware Pacem in Terris, a peace group based in Wilmington and Sarah Culver, founding member of Rising Tide Delaware for help in getting the word about the campaign and the screening. Below is Sarah’s reaction to the evening.

Written by Sarah Culver:
The auditorium in the Delaware Art Museum was standing-room-only, and an audience ranging from high school freshmen to WWII veterans witnessed the utter horror and senseless devastation perpetrated by Massey Energy. The film was as powerful as it was grave, and I could tell from the continued silence after the film had ended and the lights were brought up that each person in that auditorium was still trying to process what they had just seen.

After the screening, an intense public forum was held to discuss the campaign to revoke Massey’s corporate charter.

Since Massey Energy’s corporate charter is issued right here in Delaware, and it is within our Attorney General Beau Biden’s right to revoke that charter as a consequence of their unimaginable number of safety and environmental violations, their reckless abandon of air and water safety standards, and, of course, Massey’s blatant, and unyielding disregard for the culture and communities of Appalachia.

To revoke Massey’s privilege to operate as a company would be a massive step towards the fight to save Coal River Mountain, to educate more people about mountaintop removal, to empower and defend union miners, towards a sustainable economy in Appalachia. Finally, it would bring a sense of closure and justice to the heartbroken people like Betty Harrah and the scores of others who are still struggling to get on, day to day, knowing that it wasn’t an ‘act of God’ but the utter negligence of Massey Energy that took the lives of their husbands, brothers, sons, and fathers at Upper Big Branch on that senseless day in April 2010.

To hold Massey accountable would be nothing short of the beginning of an ethical and environmental revolution in this country, and the hills and hollows of Appalachia might be able to begin that long, slow road of recovery.

The good news is that you can help. Yes, you. Sign the petition to Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden today and ask him to investigate and revoke Massey Energy’s charter. As Lorelei asked so bluntly during the forum – “If not now, when?”

If the wonderful Appalachians who joined us on Friday night take nothing else back with them from their long trip to Delaware, I hope that it’s this: They have advocates here.

This message is for Betty and Lorelei: We know what’s happening, and we’re fighting for you. We marched with you on Blair Mountain in June, and we’re marching in solidarity with you still. Your sacrifices have not been in vain, and we have been so deeply honored and humbled by your trip over to see us.

Please sign the petition today.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Targets Massey Coal Company

Dear Big Coal: You’re Not Above the Law

Massey Energy Gets to Continue Business-As-Usual While Tim DeChristopher Gets Two Years in Prison

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | 4 Comments

Please join Appalachian Voices, Free Speech for People and Rainforest Action Network in asking that Massey Energy’s corporate charter be revoked

True community exists when neighbors respect each other. Good neighbors are mindful of the impacts that their actions have on the whole. When a powerful neighbor, like a corporation, does not respect their neighbors, communities can become literally endangered.

The corporation is Massey Energy, and this time around, the community is Rawl, West Virginia.

Over 700 people from Rawl and surrounding communities are suing Massey Energy in a class-action lawsuit claiming that Massey Energy is responsible for poisoning hundreds of southern wells with coal slurry. Water pollution is one of the most severe and life-threatening impacts of coal mining and processing. The trial is set to begin August 1.

UPDATE: According to an AP report, Massey Energy has settled the coal slurry lawsuit. The deal was struck earlier after a three day long mediation. The terms are confidential and all parties remain under a gag order.

Jennifer Massey-Hall, who is featured in the movie The Last Mountain, walks us through her neighborhood in Prenter, about 50 miles away from Rawl as the crow flies. Six people have brain tumors, with most of them now deceased. The national average for brain tumors is 6.5 per 100,000 men and women per year.

Here is the first of a 3-part video series by WCHS- TV, the local station about the illnesses. You can watch the other two here:

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Blair Mountain: Preservation or Devastation?

Monday, May 16th, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

Guest Blog Post by Dr. Harvard Ayers, a professor emeritus in anthropology at Appalachian State University, a board member of Friends of Blair Mountain and one of the founders of Appalachian Voices.

Appalachian Voices is an official sponsor of the Blair Mountain March and Rally.

The Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921 was the second largest armed insurrection in U.S. history, and the culmination of the “mine wars”, where much blood was shed in order to secure labor rights for miners.

Will Blair Mountain be preserved as the iconic symbol of the union coal miners’ struggle for human rights, or will it be destroyed by the powerful coal operators, who have done so much to repress any knowledge of the 1921 battle? (more…)

And the Hits Just Keep on Comin’! More Flagrant Clean Water Violations By Another Appalachian Coal Mining Company

Monday, May 16th, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

As part of our Appalachian Water Watch initiative, Appalachian Voices, with partners, officially filed a federal lawsuit against Nally & Hamilton Coal Company for over 12,000 violations of the Clean Water Act at more than a dozen of its operations in eastern Kentucky. As we have witnessed before, there is evidence that Nally and Hamilton may have cut-and-pasted previous sets of data rather than submitting accurate data for each month.

Could it be that the “wash, rinse and repeat” method of collecting water monitoring data is how mountaintop removal coal companies make up their water monitoring data? After all, Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy said as much when he debated Bobby Kennedy Jr. early last year. (more…)

Mountaintop Removal Mining Linked to Poor Community Health

Friday, May 13th, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | 2 Comments

Cross-posted from Facing South, the Online Magazine of the Institute for Southern Studies. By Sue Sturgis.

Living in a community where coal is mined by mountaintop removal can be bad for your health.

mtr

That’s the finding of a new study conducted by researchers at the West Virginia University School of Medicine. Based on a random telephone survey of residents in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, the study used a health-related measure developed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings appear in the May 2011 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Research has previously found an increase in health disparities in Appalachian coal mining communities. But the new study showed those disparities are especially concentrated where coal is mined via mountaintop removal, where mountain peaks are blasted off using explosives and the waste dumped into valleys below.

“Mountaintop mining county residents experience, on average, 18 more unhealthy days per year than do the other populations,” said co-author Keith Zullig, an associate professor in the Department of Community Medicine. “That’s approximately 1,404 days, or almost four years, of an average American lifetime.”

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Virginians Sure Do Love Mountains!

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

Reposted from Wise Energy for Virginia, a coalition committed to securing a clean energy future for Virginia. Appalachian Voices is a proud member.

March 25^th, 2011 was the second annual Virginia Loves Mountains Day. Instead of having a rally in one place as we did in 2010, this year we had a rally at each of the 11 US Senate district offices across the state. Over 100 people came to visit Webb and Warner’s senate staff in Hampton Roads, NOVA, Roanoke, Richmond, Danville, Norton, and Abingdon. Another 200 plus people who couldn’t make the trip in person made themselves heard by calling Webb and Warner’s DC offices.

Over the last year the EPA has shown that they have been listening to the science, and the cries of the people of Appalachia and our nation to stop the horrendous practice of mountaintop removal coal mining. The EPA has also taken measures to get back on track with clean air and water regulations across after years of backpedaling under the Bush administration. The EPA has worked with the public to make plans for Chesapeake Bay restoration and is developing scientifically sound air pollution standards.

But now, the coal lobby is taking note and is working to undo all the progress we have made.

That’s why this year’s Virginia Loves Mountains Day was geared toward urging Webb and Warner to use their critical votes in the senate toward protecting the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act and to let the EPA keep our air and water clean. This is especially timely in Appalachia where mountaintop removal, coal dust, and tainted water are ruining people’s health and the well being of the region.

This week both Webb and Warner’s offices have responded. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts and the fact that Webb was against a similar bill in 2010 (though most likely because he thought climate change legislation was coming down the line), Senator Webb is now calling for a vote on the “Rockefeller amendment” which would delay any action by the EPA to regulate greenhouse gasses for two years and is now saying that C0₂ should not be regulated.

Warner’s office didn’t make any promises but seemed disinclined to push for the Rockefeller amendment. While we apparently did not convince Webb, let’s hope Warner works to protect the one agency tasked with keeping our environment livable.

Meanwhile, if you participated in Virginia Loves Mountains Day you should feel proud. We made quite a showing.

DENIED! Attempted Legal Run-Around by State of Kentucky

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

Cross-posted from Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, one of our partners in our legal action against ICG and Frasure Creek Mining:

The Kentucky Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of KFTC, Appalachian Voices, Kentucky Riverkeeper and the Waterkeeper Alliance by denying the request from the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet and Frasure Creek Mining and ICG coal companies for “emergency relief” from Judge Phillip Shepherd’s Feb. 11 ruling.

The Cabinet and coal companies want to block citizens’ intervention in a consent agreement they reached that addresses the thousands of water pollution violations that were brought to light by the citizens groups in a notice of intent to sue last fall.

“In sum, the fact that petitioners would prefer to settle their differences without submitting to the additional discovery requested by Appalachian Voices (and other groups) simply does not warrant intervention by this Court on an emergency basis. Accordingly, the requested stay must be DENIED.”

The Appeals Court has so far only denied the request for “emergency relief”, which means that Judge Shepherd’s ruling is allowed to stand until the Court of Appeals makes its ruling on the appeal by the Cabinet and the coal companies. This means that the lawyers for the citizens groups will be allowed to move forward with their investigation into the consent agreement and the lawyers will be allowed to depose people in their investigation.

We have no word on when the Court of Appeals will make a final ruling on the Cabinet and coal companies actual appeal of Judge Shepherd’s ruling.

Jeff Biggers: Legislators Are Going to Unbelievable Lengths to Gouge Clean Water Laws and Cozy Up to Big Coal

Monday, February 28th, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | 1 Comment

Cross-posted from AlterNet.org

acid mine drainage ‘As an air-breather and a water-drinker, I take offense to the notion that coal company profits are more important than my children’s lives.’

Big Coal’s backlash over the EPA crackdown on future mountaintop removal operations went from denial and anger to the outright absurd last week, as state legislatures conjured their own versions of a sagebrush rebellion and the new Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a sheath of regulatory gutting amendments to its budget bill.

On the heels of its Tea Party-backed coal rallies last fall, the dirty coal lobby couldn’t have paid for a better show. As millions of pounds of ammonium nitrate fuel oil explosives continued to detonate daily in their ailing districts and affected residents held dramatic sit-ins to raise awareness of the growing health crisis in the central Appalachian coalfields, Big Coal-bankrolled sycophants fell over themselves from Virginia to Kentucky to West Virginia, and in the halls of Congress, to see who could introduce the most ridiculous and dangerous bills to shield the coal industry.

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