June 14th, 2007
The coal industry receives another federal judgement against them. This time, a judge ruled that a 40 year old technique of waste and sediment removal is in violation of the Clean Water Act. The lawsuit was filed by the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, Coal River Mountain Watch, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy.
Mine ponds ruled illegal – Judge deals second blow to coal industry by United States District Court
– By Ken Ward Jr.
Richmond, VA – Coal operators cannot evade the Clean Water Act by building sediment-treatment ponds just downstream from strip mine valley fills, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers essentially outlawed the common coal industry practice of turning small stream segments downstream from fills into waste treatment systems.
In a 26-page decision, Chambers concluded that the Clean Water Act protects parts of streams where mine operators traditionally build sediment-control ponds. The judge also said the law protects small segments of streams between those ponds and the bottom of valley fills.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Chambers declared, “has no authority under the Clean Water Act to permit the discharge of pollutants into these stream segments.”
Wednesday’s ruling is the second time in three months that Chambers has dealt a major blow to the coal industry with a ruling to more strictly regulate mountaintop removal mining.
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Originally published in the Charleston Gazette in Charleston, WV. Click here to read the entire article.
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June 14, 2007 — The following email was sent to supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.
The momentum behind our combined efforts to end mountaintop removal coal mining continues to build.
Just a few weeks ago, we wrote to tell you about the new record of support in Congress for the Clean Water Protection Act (H.R. 2169) – a critical piece of legislation in our effort to end mountaintop removal.
Since that email, the efforts of people like you have added 5 more Congressional co-sponsors to the Clean Water Protection Act — bringing our total number of co-sponsors to 83.
Hundreds of other supporters like you have been spreading the word about www.iLoveMountains.org – growing our online campaign to more than 11,200 people in the last few weeks alone.
And just last week, USA Today featured an article with Appalachian Voices’ Executive Director Mary Anne Hitt that prominently featured our efforts to use Google Earth to pull back the curtain on the coal companies’ destruction of Appalachia. Click here to read the full article.
But even as we make progress to stop mountaintop removal coal mining, we need to ensure that Congress doesn’t pass a bad energy bill that would increase America’s consumption of dirty coal.
And right now, Congress is doing just that as it considers several bills that would offer BILLIONS of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies to promote the conversion of coal into liquid form for use as transportation fuel.
Supporting coal-to-liquid technology would be a disaster for the mountains and people of Appalachia – and for the entire world. Its a dirty technology that will increase mountaintop removal coal mining.
The process of converting coal-to-liquids requires so much energy that it produces almost double the global warming emissions as regular gasoline. In fact, one ton of coal yields just two barrels of fuel.
Liquid coal technology would dramatically increase the need for mountaintop removal coal. To replace only 10 percent of our nation’s transportation fuels with liquid coal would require a 40 percent increase in coal mining throughout the United States.
This is a national issue – and that’s why we’re asking you to take action today.
Please click here to email your representatives in the US Senate and House today. Tell them to vote against any bill that promotes liquid coal. You can also call the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121:
Thank you for taking action today, and for all you continue to do for the mountains.
Lenny Kohm
www.iLoveMountains.org
PS – Please forward this email to your friends and family, and ask them to contact their representatives. All of Congress needs to hear from the American people that when it comes to America’s future energy needs, coal to liquids is the wrong answer.
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June 8th, 2007
Today, the USA Today featured an article with Appalachian Voices’ Executive Director Mary Anne Hitt that prominently featured our use of Google Earth in the National Memorial for the Mountains to pull back the curtain on the coal companies’ destruction of Appalachia.
Environmentalists warm to Google Earth
– by Stefanie Olsen
BERKELEY, CA, June 8th, 2007
Three-dimensional maps from Google Earth are giving non-profits new artillery in their battle to raise awareness of issues like deforestation and genocide.
For example, Mary Ann Hitt, executive director of non-profit Appalachian Voices, said a collective of grassroots organizations is using 3D maps in Google Earth to show how millions of acres of Appalachian Mountains across four states have been destroyed by mining companies. In a process called mountaintop removal, the coal-mining industry blows off the tops of mountains with explosives to get at coal faster and cheaper, she said. As a result, surrounding areas are buried by pollution and waste, streams dry up and a soot lingers in the air, she said.
So with the help of Google, the non-profit built a virtual “national memorial” for 470 topless mountains in the area-marked by half-mast flags-with information and guides on the process of mountaintop removal. The map layer, found in Google Earth’s “featured content,” also shows historic before and after aerial photos of the mountains; overlay comparisons to illustrate the scope of destruction; and links to first-hand stories and videos from the communities affected by mountaintop removal.
“This has revolutionized our thinking,” Hitt said here Wednesday at the Fifth International Symposium on Digital Earth. “It’s given us the ability to give the kind of tour of the mountains that we only could give previously to the media or government officials. This gives an audience of 200 million people,” she said.
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Click here to read the full article.
On their website, the organizers of the “International Symposium on Digital Earth: Bringing Digital Earth Down to Earth” explain their mission:
Digital Earth is a visionary concept for “spaceship Earth” sparked by R. Buckminster Fuller, grokked by the Apollo astronauts returning from their moon missions, and popularized by Vice President Al Gore
. . .
This is the first time the bi-annual symposium is being held on U.S. soil – previous gatherings have been held in China, Canada, Czech Rebuplic and Japan. The five day gathering will feature world-class representatives from industry, academia, government, NGOs and the private sector who have come from around the globe to highlight a central theme regarding shared interest in the concept of a digital Earth.
The symposium was sponsored by the following organizations:
ESRI | Google | University of California, Berkeley | Buckminster Fuller Institute | Chromatrope | International Center for Remote Sensing Education (ICRSE) | Imaging Notes Magazine | International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE) | National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) | NextNow | Stanford University | UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) | UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme)
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