News
Mountain Monday
Friday, February 20th, 2009
The Green for the Planet Among the Green for the Economy:
On Tuesday, President Obama signed a $787 billion economic stimulus package. As he promised on the campaign trail, the package contains some significant measures toward supporting green energy initiatives. According to an AP analysis of the bill, the package contains “more than $42 billion in energy-related investments from tax credits to homeowners to loan guarantees for renewable energy projects and direct government grants for makers of wind turbines and next-generation batteries.”
The AP report also details another $20 billion aimed at “green” jobs to make wind turbines, solar panels and improve energy efficiency in public buildings, and an addition $6 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy projects as well as tax breaks or direct grants covering 30 percent of wind and solar energy investments.
However, as this New York Times editorial points out, this should not be mistaken for a climate change bill. Though these are absolutely steps in a positive direction, it is not enough, and it doesn’t address the pressing need for disincentives for the use of dirty energy sources such as coal and other fossil fuels.
“Windmills Not Toxic Spills”:
Speaking of disincentivizing dirty energy, two activists stopped a Massey Energy mountaintop removal mining operation on Cherry Pond Mountain in Raleigh County, West Virginia by blocking a road with a large banner reading “Windmills Not Toxic Spills.” The photos from the action, shown in the YouTube video below are pretty powerful.
Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve:
Patagonia recently came out with a great new T-shirt design that uniquely expresses the intensely intimate tie many people feel to the mountains. Even better, when you turn in inside out, you can read about Appalachian Voices, one of the groups that coordinates all the great content you find on iLovemountains.org! Click here to order yours!
Better Know a CWPA Co-Sponsor: Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA-08)
has signed on as the lead Republican co-sponsor of the Clean Water Protection Act. Paired with lead sponsor Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ-), Reichert’s sponsorship makes the bill bi-partisan in nature, and shows support for the bill from both coasts! Rep. Reichert is also intimately connected to the mountains, his district contains Mount Rainier, one of the nation’s last inland old-growth rain forests. He has long been a voice for conservation of natural resources in his home in the Pacific Northwest. Watch his statement on protecting the environment.
Better Know a CWPA Target: Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA-02)
serves on the House committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, a key committee in the passage of the Clean Water Protection Act. His district also contains the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Though his official positions on energy mainly pertain to high fuel prices and the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, we hope that Rep. Larsen understands that petroleum is not the only fossil fuel that is threatening communities because of our unrestrained demand. Mountaintop removal mining is a symptom of our current energy economy as well and our “coal addiction” needs tempering just as our “foreign oil addiction” does! Energy needs cannot be a justification for the destruction of ecosystems and communities.
NEXT WEEK: A look at an exciting new national anti-coal campaign, a new edition of Better Know a CWPA Sponsor/Target, comments on West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin’s energy bill, and more!!
