The Front Porch Blog

A Prayer for Tennessee Mountains

Thursday, January 12th, 2012 | Posted by JW Randolph | No Comments

Our good friend and ally Pat Hudson of LEAF has very kindly allowed us to republish her words from Tennessee’s “40 Days of Prayer for the Mountains.” I really wanted to share these with everyone. Please take action to support our efforts to end mountaintop removal in Tennessee here. – jw

For the past 40 Days, Christians across Tennessee have been praying for creation. From Mountain City to Murfreesboro, Red Bank to Rugby, Clarksville to Cleveland, people of faith are raising their voices, calling for a renewed respect for the gifts God has given us and expressing special concern for the fate of Tennessee’s endangered mountains.

This has truly been an inter-denominational vigil. During these 40 days, prayers have been offered by pastors and lay leaders from Baptist, Catholic, Church of Christ, Evangelical, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Nazarene, Presbyterian, Quaker, and United Church of Christ congregations.

Tonight, as we worship together, we should be mindful of the many faith communities and individuals who have shared this 40 Day journey with us. Although many of them could not be here tonight, they are with us in spirit.

LEAF is deeply grateful to Rev. Manning and Joyce Wilding for welcoming us into this beautiful and sacred space [Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral in Nashville] and to Kim Mclean for leading us in song. Kim is not only a successful singer/songwriter with a heart for creation, she’s also the pastor of Nashville’s downtown Tuesday Night Prayer Group.

From the day of its founding six years ago, LEAF’s mission has been to awaken Tennessee’s congregations to the Scriptural call to care for the earth. The Holy Scriptures, as well as the writings of the early church fathers, are filled with admonitions to care for creation out of respect for the Creator.

Indeed, it was Martin Luther who declared: “God writes the Gospel, not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.”

Sadly, overtime this view of creation has been lost, replaced with the belief that the earth is merely a resource to be exploited, rather than a revelation of the Divine.

The goal of the Creation Care movement is to revive this ancient wisdom, which the modern church has neglected for far too long.

Tonight, we gather with a sense of gratitude for the Divine gifts that surround us, and with a sense of hope for the ways in which this gathered community can help shape the fate of Tennessee’s mountains and frame the future for the generations that will come after us. We pray that tonight offers inspiration and courage to all of us for the journey ahead.

Scenic Vistas Efforts Becoming Headline News

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 | Posted by JW Randolph | No Comments

Tennessee Coal Industry Front Group Falsifies Information In Attacking Church-goers Motives

As the Tennessee General Assembly kicked off yesterday, 100s of supporters of our Appalachian Mountains gathered in congregations, gymnasiums, and homes across the state to complete 40 Days of Prayer for the Mountains. The efforts of LEAF, SOCM, Tennessee Conservation Voters and many others has helped make ending mountaintop removal one of the very top issues facing the legislature in 2012.

While the state’s largest paper – the Tennessean – ran this story, Nashville’s News Channel 5 headed off their evening news with this piece, highlighting the downtown service for the 40 days of prayer.

Lovely shot of my wife and daughter aside[:)], Pat Hudson and Reverend Ryan Bennett explain beautifully what we are up against here in Tennessee in our attempts to become the first state to ban mountaintop removal.

The somewhat anonymous Tennessee Mining Association (who doesn’t appear to have updated their website in 2 years) gave a weak and dithering response via Tim Slone that was half half-truths and half lies. I’d like to quickly go through it bit by bit.

Among their more egregious spurts of misinformation were the non-facts that…

It is my opinion that the prayer service is misguided. Their prayers should be directed at the guidance of the country in these difficult economic times and for the safety of the coal miners that provide for over 50% of the energy consumed by this country.

FALSE! Right out of the block he takes a typical elitist swipe at those who use reflection and wisdom rather than a paycheck to decide what to pray about. Then he makes a completely false statement. Coal no longer provides “over 50% of the energy consumed by this country.” The US gets roughly 45% of the electricity (a number that is continually falling) from coal, but far less if you want to include all forms of “energy.”

Secondly, I’m also curious if Mr. Slone cares to describe to us his umbrella organization’s stated opposition to and active lobbying against coal miners’ safety laws? That would seem to contradict his deep compassion for miners stated above. He’s trying to have it both ways.

Alright, lets continue… (more…)

Storage of TVA Coal Ash Waste Leads to Civil Rights Lawsuit

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 | Posted by Molly Moore | No Comments

December 22 marked the three-year anniversary of the disastrous coal ash spill at Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant. Residents of the damaged Swan Pond community are still struggling with the impacts of relocation and pollution. But the toxic effects of the more than 1 billion gallons of coal ash that flooded the Clinch and Emory Rivers are now affecting new neighbors.

In Alabama, residents of the state’s poorest county have issued a civil rights complaint against the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, alleging that the agency is discriminating against the largely African-American community by allowing a nearby landfill to accept over half of the coal ash from the TVA disaster.

As The Institute for Southern Studies reported,

The operation of the Arrowhead Landfill in rural Perry County, Ala. “has the effect of adversely and disparately impacting African-American residents in the community,” states the complaint, filed this week with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Civil Rights by Florida attorney David A. Ludder on behalf of 48 complainants, almost all of them living near the landfill.

The complaint charges ADEM with violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prevents discrimination by government agencies that receive federal funds. ADEM receives millions of dollars in financial assistance from the EPA each year.

Moving TVA coal ash to the Arrowhead Landfill in Alabama has been controversial since the deal’s approval in 2009. According to a blog about state corruption, investors and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management said the cash-strapped county would gain $3 million by storing the coal ash, and ADEM stands to make just as much. A citizens’ group called Impact Perry County filed a complaint alleging that the Perry County Commission violated the state’s open meetings and open records laws. Further, the company behind the landfill, Perry Uniontown Ventures, was accused of a “take the money and run” scheme after it filed bankruptcy in Jan. 2010 to avoid environmental lawsuits, the Perry County Herald reported.

In a blog post, the Perry County Herald wrote:

The investors who are taking the bulk of the $95 million generated by the coal ash contract will never have to set foot in our county again once the landfill outlives its usefulness. They’ll never drink our water, or breathe our air, or eat bream from our creeks. They can call the shots from offices with glitzy addresses, never get a speck of ash on their hands, and endorse fat checks until those pristine fingers need a latte break. Can you?

In Perry County, over 68% of the population is African-American and over 35% live below the poverty line. The population in the census blocks surrounding the landfill ranges from 87 to 100 percent African-American. As The Institute for Southern Studies reported,

The landfill sits only 100 feet from the front porches of some residents, who say they have experienced frequent foul odors, upset appetite, respiratory problems, headaches, dizziness, nausea and vomiting. They also complain that fugitive dust from the facility has contaminated their homes, porches, vehicles, laundry and plantings.

Coal ash is a dangerous by-product of burning coal for electricity that contains heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, mercury, manganese, and selenium that are known toxins. People living near an unlined coal ash pond are at a 1-in-50 risk of cancer from arsenic, a rate that is 2,000 times greater than the acceptable level of risk.

Currently, the federal government has no authority to regulate coal ash, which is the nation’s second-largest waste stream after municipal garbage. Read more about proposed protections from coal ash here.

While the EPA and federal government continue political wrangling and delays over regulation of coal ash disposal, the citizens of Perry County are calling out their state’s environmental agency, arguing that, by using Arrowhead Landfill as a dumping ground for toxic waste, the state is engaging in discrimination against the landfill’s neighbors.

Black Water Spill Near Devonia, TN Highlights Out-Of-State Ownership Fears

Monday, January 9th, 2012 | Posted by JW Randolph | No Comments

While One Company owned by WV Businessman Jim Justice Sends Black Water Into the New River, Another Lays off 155 workers

WV Businessman Jim Justice Only a few years removed from the catastrophic coal sludge disaster at the Kingston coal plant, some central Tennessee residents may be again on the run from coal waste in nearby Devonia. Sometime last week, reports indicate that a coal preparation plant above Rosehill near Frozen Head State park was spilling black water from a pond discharge into the New River. The New River, an American Heritage River, flows into the Big South Fork. The flow was so strong it is said to have flowed up stream, and it has been reported that black/gray water was observed about 40 miles downstream from the plant.

Companies are required to report such spills to both the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) and the Tennssee Department of Environmental Conservation (TDEC). In this case they didn’t, it came from a citizen report. This particular coal preparation plant is owned by ~~Ranger Energy~~ Premium Coal and West Virginia businessman Jim Justice. Justice owns several other coal companies, which control at least five of the active mining sites in the state of Tennessee, including Zeb Mountain. He made waves last year, when Ranger bought out National, the largest coal producer and employer in Tennessee. It was a shock for all of us then to hear over the weekend that Justice was essentially shutting down National Coal, laying off 155 workers, at least temporarily. If true, this would represent more than 40% of all coal employment in Tennessee, reported at around 370 total statewide jobs for 2011. Appalachian Voices sends our deepest condolences to these workers and their families as they look to find new work.

The Charleston Gazette’s Ken Ward has written several in-depth articles on Jim Justice’s record in West Virginia here and here. Needless to say, it doesn’t inspire confidence in how these out of state operators will treat our mountains and are communities here in the Volunteer State.

Taking Back Tennessee

Thursday, January 5th, 2012 | Posted by JW Randolph | No Comments

Team AV Joins Forces to Take Back TN, Push Scenic Vistas Legislation

Almost three years ago, we ran a little piece on Tennessee and coal, exposing coal-industry front group FACES of Coal for the false numbers they were giving to legislators, utilities, and to the public. Of course, a week later Appalachian Voices first broke the story that these “FACES of Coal” were actually just iStockPhotos. Needless to say that we counted it is a small victory when the “FACES” scrubbed Tennessee’s coal information completely from their website. In a sense, the industry was ceding the state to those of us who want to protect our mountains rather than destroy them. But that didn’t mean that the destruction of our mountains has stopped.

Fast forward to 2012, a time when Tennessee has shown bipartisan support for ending mountaintop removal at the state and federal level, with the state legislature seeing action on the Scenic Vistas legislation, Congressional Representatives Cooper (D) and Cohen (D) championing the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1375), and Republican Senator Lamar Alexander introducing federal legislation to curtail valleyfills. Study after study has emerged showing coal’s negative impact on the state budget and on public health. Ending mountaintop removal has become so popular in the Volunteer State that the coal industry even attempted to organize a boycott of the state, which they also failed at. After all, Tennessee is a state where the tourism industry employs more than 175,000 people, magnitudes more than are employed by coal mining in Central Appalachia, or even the entire United States… (more…)

Bad Coal Boyfriend Doesn’t Want Change His Dirty Ways!

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

Our letter about the EPA’s new Mercury and Air Toxics Rule was published in the Charlotte Observer last week.

In response to “EPA limits toxic plant emissions” (Dec. 22):

Thanks to EPA, it just got easier to dump that ‘bad boyfriend’ coal

The coal industry reminds me of a controlling, abusive boyfriend when it complains about the EPA’s new guidelines to reduce coal plants’ mercury emissions. He tries to convince you that you can’t live without him. But the toxins he emits give you bronchitis, give your children asthma and poison the fish you eat. Fortunately, the EPA just performed an intervention. Big Coal has known for two decades that he’d have to make changes to stick around. If he can’t treat you better, there are better options out there. Thanks to the EPA, it will be a little easier to break the cycle of abuse. Now you can breathe a little easier – and maybe one day, eat the fish again.

Sandra Diaz Boone

Now, what I couldn’t fit into a 150-word letter is all the false arguments our bad boyfriend coal makes for not being able to make these changes. Like it’s going to cost him too much. And because of that, you will end up freezing in the dark.

Joe Romm cuts through the industry talk with aptly titled blog post: Big Coal: Children’s Health and Clean Air Are Not Worth Our Spending One Penny of the Billions in Cash We’re Sitting On, he shows that the utilities overall have the cash reserves to make these changes.

Right now, that cost is being paid- by us, by the American people. When mercury and other toxins enter our air, water, and food supply, there is a cost to that. When we and our children get sick, there is a cost to that. To that child missing school, from the adult missing work. There is the cost of going to the doctor, to the medicine that will be needed, to the hospital stay that may be required. The coal industry wants YOU to keep footing that bill, not them. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Coal isn’t really becoming more expensive, in that regard. It just coal always has been that expensive, we were just blind to the cost. Let’s make the transition to new sources of energy, wind, solar and energy efficiency (which I know isn’t a a source of energy). It can be done, and it is being done, all across the world.

Businesses that adapt make it in the world, the ones who cling to their old business models, will not. The people are demanding cleaner air, cleaner water, and the jobs that come with making those treasure. Coal is a dead man walking, and there are other sources of energy eagerly awaiting to take its place.

Breathe Easier: EPA Finalizes Historic and Life-Saving Guidelines To Reduce Power Plant Pollution

Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | 2 Comments

The American people have won a fundamental victory in our right to clean air and water. Special thanks to the 900,000 Americans who spoke their truth to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about how power plant pollution has impacted their lives. And the EPA listened.

Yesterday, the EPA released scientific guidelines that will slash toxins like arsenic, chromium, nickel and particulate matter from coal-fired power plants starting in 2016. Coal-fired power plants are the single largest, and till now, unregulated, source of air pollution in the U.S.

These standards have been 20 years in the making. In 1990, Congress gave EPA the authority to limit hazardous air pollutants from coal-fired power plants through amendments in the Clean Air Act.

George W. Bush’s EPA actually finalized a rule in 2005, but the D.C. Circuit threw it out because the agency had removed power plants from the Clean Air Act list of sources of hazardous air pollutants. The court “required EPA to develop standards that follow the law and the science in order to protect human health and the environment.”

The Riverbend Plant near Charlotte, NC, is ancient. Built in 1929, part of the plant will close in 2015

Over half the power plants in the country already use some form of pollution control– the guidelines are actually based on existing technology being used today on many of these plants.

The coal industry has been crying that the new guidelines are too expensive and will cause grandmothers across the country to freeze in the dark.

Actually, coal-burning for electricity has been a bad investment for a long time, and the price of not having these pollution controls has been unduly placed on the American public, in the form of health costs.

Power plant pollution like nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx) can cause and/or aggravate respiratory diseases like bronchitis and asthma.

Mercury enters local waterways, where it bio-accumulates at levels dangerous enough for human consumption. People of lower income tend to eat more fish from their local rivers and streams, and therefore have more exposure to mercury. Children and infants are most at risk, since their brains have not developed the blood-brain barrier needed to keep toxins like mercury from affecting mental capacity.

Instead of touting this victory of public health, especially for low-income communities who are unfairly impacted by power plant pollution, some news outlets have decided to focus on the impact that these life-saving guideline will have on the power plants themselves.

In anticipation of the EPA guidelines, the Associated Press published an article titled, “EPA rules threaten old power plants” that went on to say that while EPA’s guidelines were a factor in their decision to shutter these plants, that “these plants have been allowed to run for decades without modern pollution controls because it was thought that they were on the verge of being shuttered by the utilities that own them.”

Yes, placing pollution controls will be the final straw for some of these power plants, but according to the AP article, “The average age of the plants that could be sacrificed is 51 years”. 50 years is the average lifespan of a coal-fired power plant, so these plants should up for retirement, regardless of any EPA rules.

The other fear that the coal industry like to inflame is the issue of reliability. Anticipating that, the EPA guidelines give plants more time if needed in order to ensure reliability. Quoted in the AP article is John Moura, manager of reliability assessment at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation

“We can’t say there isn’t going be an issue. We know there will be some challenges,” Moura said. “But we don’t think the lights are going to turn off because of this issue.”

Thank the EPA for siding with public heath, not polluters!

Not only will the lights stay on, we will be healthier in the long run. In central and southern Appalachian states, the new EPA standards will prevent 2276 premature deaths and provide 18.8 billion in health benefits.

Now that is news that should make us all breathe a little easier.

Let the EPA know that you appreciate their leadership; the way that Big Coal’s allies in the House of Representatives have been ripping into the EPA for simply doing its job, they need to be encouraged to do more to represent the public interest.

The Scoop on Coal Ash at Asheville Plant in North Carolina

Thursday, December 15th, 2011 | Posted by Sandra Diaz | No Comments

Big Thanks to Hartwell Carson, French Broad Riverkeeper for his help with this post.

Bird’s Eye View of Coal Ash

Coal contains heavy metals by its very nature. Heavy metals are toxic and oftentimes, a little dab will do ya. For example, just one teaspoon’s worth of mercury can contaminate a 20 acre lake to the extent that the fish become contaminated enough that they can become unsafe to eat.

When coal is burned for electricity, heavy metals are concentrated in the resultant coal ash (known more technically as “coal combustion waste”). Heavy metals of concern include but are not limited to arsenic, lead, mercury, manganese, and selenium. Each of these heavy metals can have differing negative effects on the body. (more…)

Nally & Hamilton Case Continues in State Court

Friday, December 9th, 2011 | Posted by Eric Chance | 2 Comments

Yesterday Appalachian Voices along with our partners Kentucky Riverkeeper, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, and Waterkeeper Alliance challenged the recent settlement between Nally & Hamilton and the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet in state court.

Click here to see the press release with more information on this newest development.

Click here to see the how the case has developed.

Click here to view the state court petition.

Several Kentucky news outlets covered this development. Click the links below to see the news articles.
Ronnie Ellis for the Daily Independent
Erica Peterson for WFPL Public Radio
Bill Estep and Beth Musgrave for the Lexington Herald-Leader

Renewed Call to Revoke Massey Energy’s Corporate Charter

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 | Posted by | No Comments

PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS RENEW CALL TO REVOKE MASSEY ENERGY’S CORPORATE CHARTER

JOINT STATEMENT OF FREE SPEECH FOR PEOPLE, APPALACHIAN VOICES, AND THE RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK

Dec. 7, 2011

Yesterday, Alpha Natural Resources, the parent company of the Massey Energy coal company, agreed to pay $209 million in criminal penalties, civil penalties, and compensation to the families of the 29 miners who were killed when its Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia exploded on April 5, 2010. The company was also fined an additional $10.8 million yesterday by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration — the largest fine in that agency’s history.

With this admission by the company of criminal liability in those miners’ deaths, we renew our call today on Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden to revoke the corporate charter of Massey Energy.

Corporations like Massey are artificial entities, granted a right to exist by we the people through our state corporate charter laws. Just as surely as we grant that right, we can also revoke it.

When a corporation is criminally responsible for killing people — as Massey’s parent company has now agreed that it is — it should lose its right to exist.

“Massey Energy has shown little regard for the people of Appalachia,” says Appalachian Voices Executive Director Willa Mays. “When people commit grave crimes, we imprison them and take away their rights as citizens. Massey can’t simply pay its way out of culpability in the criminal deaths of 29 miners. We need to stop Massey from doing more dirty business.”

Massey Energy was acquired by Alpha Natural Resources in June 2011. But it cannot merge its way out of responsibility for its actions. Massey still maintains its own charter in Delaware and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alpha.

A financial settlement, even for hundreds of millions of dollars, is just not enough to prevent corporations like Massey from abusing their enormous power over our lives. Alpha earned $2.3 billion in the last quarter alone.[1]

It is simply not acceptable for corporations to buy their way out after criminally killing people, any more than it is acceptable for them to buy control over our government.

We urge Attorney General Biden to initiate charter revocation proceedings against Massey Energy.

Join us in asking Attorney General Biden to revoke Massey Energy’s corporate charter today.
###

The groups’ letter issued on June 8, 2011 to Attorney General Biden can be accessed here:

https://www.freespeechforpeople.com/sites/default/files/FSFPAPPVOICESlettertoAGBiden060811.pdf

Related Media:
Reuters: Jail coal execs, says U.S. Rep

Lisa Jackson comes to Durham, N.C.

Monday, December 5th, 2011 | Posted by Molly Moore | No Comments

UPDATED: View live footage of EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson’s speech and Q-and-A at Duke University.

———————————

Attention, Raleigh/Durham area residents! EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson will be speaking at Duke University on Tuesday, Dec. 6. Come out and tell your friends! If you’re interested in asking questions at the event and would like to speak with an Appalachian Voices staff member about the issues, email Sandra@appvoices.org.

The following release was distributed by the Nicholas School of the Environment.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to Speak at Duke, Dec. 6.

Dec 06, 2011
from 01:00 PM to 02:15 PM
Reynolds Auditorium, Duke University

DURHAM, N.C. – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, a member of President Obama’s cabinet, will discuss current EPA policies and recent Congressional challenges to environmental laws in a conversation at Duke University’s Reynolds Theater at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6.

The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Advance tickets are available at the Duke box office in the Bryan University Center.

Jackson’s talk is the 2011 Duke Environment and Society Lecture, sponsored by the Nicholas School of the Environment.

A Q&A with audience members will follow. Advance questions can be submitted to jacksonqanda@nicholas.duke.edu. The event will be streamed live at nicholas.duke.edu/deanseries.

“A hallmark of Lisa Jackson‘s tenure has been her unwavering commitment to give all stakeholders a voice in the decision-making process,” says William L. Chameides, dean of the Nicholas School. “We are honored that she is making time to speak to members of the Duke community, meet with our students, and share her vision.”

Jackson, the first African-American to serve as EPA administrator, was named one of Newsweek’s “Most Important People in 2010” and was included in Time magazine’s 2010 and 2011 lists of the “100 Most Influential People in the World.” Jackson, who leads a staff of 18,000 professionals, has pledged to focus on core issues: protecting air and water quality, reducing greenhouse gases, and preventing exposure to toxic contamination in communities. She has promised that EPA’s efforts will follow the best science, adhere to the rule of law, and be implemented with unparalleled transparency.

The Dec. 6 talk is part of a series instituted in 2009 by Chameides to bring to Duke major thought leaders to speak on environmental topics of significant social import. Past speakers have included former Vice President Al Gore Jr. and energy visionary Amory Lovins.

Reynolds Theater is in the Bryan Center. Ticketed overflow seating with live video will be in Griffith Theater. Paid parking is available in the Bryan Center deck. There are charges associated with online ticket reservation and will call through the Duke box office.

40 Days of Prayer for the Mountains

Monday, December 5th, 2011 | Posted by Jamie Goodman | No Comments

The Lindquist Environmental Appalachian Fellowship’s 40 days of prayer for the mountains started on Dec. 2 and runs through Jan. 10. While primarily a Tennessee-based organization and action, anyone is invited to receive the emails and participate.

Visit LEAF’s website to learn more and to sign up for the daily prayer.

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