Today, President Obama took questions from the House Republican Caucus, including one from Congresswoman Shelly Moore Capito (WV-02) about coal jobs in West Virginia. The exchange begins around minute 19.
CONGRESSWOMAN CAPITO: Thank you, Mr. President, for joining us here today. As you said in the State of the Union address on Wednesday, jobs and the economy are number one. And I think everyone in this room, certainly I, agree with you on that.
I represent the state of West Virginia. We’re resource-rich. We have a lot of coal and a lot of natural gas. But our — my miners and the folks who are working and those who are unemployed are very concerned about some of your policies in these areas: cap and trade, an aggressive EPA, and the looming prospect of higher taxes. In our minds, these are job-killing policies. So I’m asking you if you would be willing to re-look at some of these policies, with a high unemployment and the unsure economy that we have now, to assure West Virginians that you’re listening.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Look, I listen all the time, including to your governor, who’s somebody who I enjoyed working with a lot before the campaign and now that I’m President. And I know that West Virginia struggles with unemployment, and I know how important coal is to West Virginia and a lot of the natural resources there. That’s part of the reason why I’ve said that we need a comprehensive energy policy that sets us up for a long-term future.
For example, nobody has been a bigger promoter of clean coal technology than I am. Testament to that, I ended up being in a whole bunch of advertisements that you guys saw all the time about investing in ways for us to burn coal more cleanly.
I’ve said that I’m a promoter of nuclear energy, something that I think over the last three decades has been subject to a lot of partisan wrangling and ideological wrangling. I don’t think it makes sense. I think that that has to be part of our energy mix. I’ve said that I am supportive — and I said this two nights ago at the State of the Union — that I am in favor of increased production.
So if you look at the ideas that this caucus has, again with respect to energy, I’m for a lot of what you said you are for.
The one thing that I’ve also said, though, and here we have a serious disagreement and my hope is we can work through these disagreements — there’s going to be an effort on the Senate side to do so on a bipartisan basis — is that we have to plan for the future.
And the future is that clean energy — cleaner forms of energy are going to be increasingly important, because even if folks are still skeptical in some cases about climate change in our politics and in Congress, the world is not skeptical about it. If we’re going to be after some of these big markets, they’re going to be looking to see, is the United States the one that’s developing clean coal technology? Is the United States developing our natural gas resources in the most effective way? Is the United States the one that is going to lead in electric cars? Because if we’re not leading, those other countries are going to be leading.
So what I want to do is work with West Virginia to figure out how we can seize that future. But to do that, that means there’s going to have to be some transition. We can’t operate the coal industry in the United States as if we’re still in the 1920s or the 1930s or the 1950s. We’ve got to be thinking what does that industry look like in the next hundred years. And it’s going to be different. And that means there’s going to be some transition. And that’s where I think a well-thought-through policy of incentivizing the new while recognizing that there’s going to be a transition process — and we’re not just suddenly putting the old out of business right away — that has to be something that both Republicans and Democrats should be able to embrace.
The guidelines, hammered out over the past year by federal and state regulatory officials, environmentalists and coal-industry representatives, call on coal operators to place more “spoil” material disrupted by mining — such as dirt and rock — back on the mine sites, instead of dumping it into valleys and stream beds. They are already in effect.
Though the guidelines aren’t mandatory, mine operators are expected to follow them because the state and federal agencies that issue permits for surface mining are part of the agreement and will base their permit decisions on it, said Linda Potter a spokeswoman for the state Department of Natural Resources.
The state is encouraging coal companies to use the new guidelines, but it’s not mandatory. However, federal agencies that have authority over some aspects of permit applications are requiring the use of the new practices, so as a practical matter, coal companies will use them, FitzGerald said.
And here is the response from Kentuckians for the Commonwealth:
There is an important new protocol now in place for lessening the amount of toxic mining wastes dumped into streams. If enforced, it could help reduce significantly the destruction of our waterways. That is a good thing,
Titled the “fill placement optimization process” the document establishes a protocol (it reads largely like an engineering paper) for determining the amount of mining waste and where it should end up — first on the site being mined, then on adjacent abandoned mines and possibly in upper valley elevations (above stream level). It potentially diverts mining wastes from streams but does not ban dumping into streams. Basically, it establishes a possible protocol for enforcing existing law.
That’s the rub: state officials could (and should!) have been enforcing these laws all along had they chosen to do so. And the industry could have been obeying these laws. Instead, state officials have routinely granted waivers of the stream buffer zone (165 waivers out of a total of 251 new permits issued in 2005 and 2006) and reclamation laws. There is no evidence that they will not continue to do so, and this “new” policy — which the state is “encouraging” coal companies to follow — means nothing if the state and federal agencies are not going to require it. There are still plenty of loopholes.
That’s why the Stream Saver Bill and the Clean Water Protection Act are still needed. Coal companies should be prevented by law from filling our streams with their toxic wastes, not just “encouraged” to do so.
And given the Science journal study cited in our January 7 blog post, an outright prohibition of mountaintop removal and valley fills is the only real guarantee that our streams (and land and forests and people) will be protected and preserved.
We applaud the efforts of Tom FitzGerald and the Kentucky Resources Council to move the enforcement agencies a step closer to real enforcement of the law. Now it is up to enforcement officials to prove there will be action behind these words. Kentucky Resources Council to move the enforcement agencies a step closer to real enforcement of the law. Now it is up to enforcement officials to prove there will be action behind these words.
Mountaintop removal coal mine in Floyd or Magoffin County Kentucky by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr
We are excited to announce that the Forum on the Future of Energy, where Waterkeeper Alliance President Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will debate Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, will be an online, interactive event.
Find out the latest news about the January 21, 2010 event and how you can participate by following us on Twitter and The Dirty Lie fan page on Facebook.
The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) is charged with enforcing the law on mountaintop removal. Unfortunately, decades of rollbacks and giving in to coal industry corruption have left coalfield communities virtually undefended. Exceptions to the surface mine law have become the rule, and problems with dust, blasting, toxic water and giant wastelands remaining unreclaimed are impacting the lives of thousands across the coalfields.
The OSMRE is asking for advice on how to enforce the law – and we need you to offer it. (link to website) Comments are due by January 19th – please click here to send in sample comments or offer your own. Many of you have had personal experiences with the OSMRE – and we encourage you to write about them.
When the OSMRE doesn’t hear from citizens, they assume you have nothing to say – please let them know we are paying attention and we expect the laws to be enforced.
Can you come to Washington, D.C., March 6-10 for our 5th Annual End Mountaintop Removal Week — and help make 2010 the year that we put an end to mountaintop removal coal mining?
In 2010, we have a real opportunity to pass the Clean Water Protection Act (H.R. 1310) and the Appalachia Restoration Act (S. 696) — bills that would significantly advance our goal of ending mountaintop removal coal mining.
But for these bills to pass, Congress needs to hear from ordinary citizens like you — and that’s what the Week in Washington is all about.
Last year’s Week in Washington was a tremendous success. More than 150 people from over 20 states came to Washington, holding more than 150 meetings with Congressional offices.
The result? We now have a record 160 co-sponsors in the House and 10 co-sponsors in the Senate.
Can you join us this year in Washington? You’ll get to meet and work with other passionate Appalachian activists from around the country; learn to engage decision-makers and others in your community about the issue; and meet face to face with legislators to help inspire and educate them to end mountaintop removal coal mining in 2010.
Full and partial scholarships are available on a needs-basis. To learn more and register for the Week in Washington, click here:
If you can’t make it to Washington, please mark your calendars for Tuesday, March 9 — that’s the day we’ll be holding a national call-in day that you can participate in from anywhere.
Please also consider sponsoring a participant by donating here.
In this landmark article in Science magazine, 12 scientists conducted an independent study and literature review on the impacts of environmental contamination from mountaintop removal mining. Results included evidence of water pollution even on reclaimed sites, increased hospitalizations for chronic pulmonary disorders and hypertension, and increased incidents of lung cancer, chronic heart, lung and kidney disease, and overall mortality rates. As a result of these findings, the paper calls for the halting of all new mountaintop removal mining permits.
Palmer, M.S., E. S. Bernhardt, W. H. Schlesinger, K. N. Eshleman, E. Foufoula-Georgiou, M. S. Hendryx, A. D. Lemly, G. E. Likens, O. L. Loucks, M. E. Power, P. S. White, P. R. Wilcock. (2010) “Mountaintop Mining Consequences.” Science, 327: 148-9.
The characters are different but the plot is all too familiar:
In the movie Avatar, Parker Selfridge of the RDA mining corporation, has the bulldozers take down the Na’vi history tree. It’s standing between them and a valuable black energy rock called “unobtainium.”
In Appalachia, Randall Reid Smith, WV Commissioner of Culture and History, asks the National Park Service to remove National Historic Register designation from Blair Mountain, site of a major 1921 confrontation between the coal miners unions and the coal industry. On Jan. 8, 2010, Carol Schull, Chief of the National Register for the Park Service, announces an unprecedented de-listing of a national historical site, effective immediately.
Appalachia’s history is standing in the way of another valuable black rock.
“If they can Stalinize our history like this, it shows that big coal still owns our state government,” said Wess Harris, editor of “When Miners March,” a book documenting the union’s side of the battle of Blair Mountain. “This action does not stand alone but is part of a deliberate effort to erase Appalachian history.”
Letters of support for the original historic places listing—approved just last March of 2009—came from the Presidents of the United Mine Workers of America, the Society for Historical Archeology, the Society of American Archeology, and many other historians and scholars.
“The Blair Mountain Battlefield is a unique historic and cultural treasure that deserves all the recognition and protection we can muster,” said archeology professor Harvard Ayers of Appalachian State University. “The coal industry…conducted a scare campaign to con property owners within the nomination boundary into signing formal objections to the listing. ”
The decision to de-list Blair Mountain (first reported in a blog post by Jeff Biggers) is questionable on a number of levels, not the least of which is that two of the property owners who supposedly object to the Historical listing are deceased.
In the movie Avatar, the Na’vi of Pandora have intricate language, customs and connections to the natural world that supports them. They are under assault from corporate greed, and one of the first places attacked is their historical memory contained in the Tree of Voices.
Appalachian people have similarly intricate connections to the natural world of Appalachia—connections that they are losing as explosives and giant bulldozers destroy the mountains for coal.
Their history is also under assault.
Its one thing to watch a movie, but it’s another to understand the point that a movie like Avatar is trying to make.
Outside the popcorn palaces, the harsh reality of the struggle over valuable black rock is evident not in distant lands or remote worlds, but very close to home.
Just days after the EPA approved the expansion of the largest mountaintop removal coal mine in West Virginia, a dozen prominent national scientists have published a major study that concludes that the environmental and public health impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining are “pervasive and irreversible.”
Published in the journal Science and summarizing dozens of scientific papers, the study states that “attempts to regulate [mountaintop removal] practices are inadequate,” and that “regulators should no longer ignore rigorous science.”
This new study illustrates the urgent need for the Obama administration to uphold its pledge to put science ahead of politics in environmental decision-making.
“It’s about listening to what our scientists have to say, even when it’s inconvenient – especially when it’s inconvenient,” President Obama said in a recent interview.
And the inconvenient truth is that regulating mountaintop removal coal mining is not enough. The only way to address the harmful impacts of mountaintop removal is to stop the practice entirely.
But we need your help to ensure that the administration hears what scientists are saying about the irreversible consequences of mountaintop removal coal mining.
Recently, President Obama said that “It’s time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America’s place as the world leader in science and technology.”
President Obama can demonstrate that leadership by ending mountaintop removal in the United States today.
As the scientists write in their report, “The United States should take leadership on these issues, particularly since surface mining in many developing countries is expected to grow extensively.”
Enough is enough. The scientists have spoken, and there are no more excuses for inaction on mountaintop removal.
Thank you for taking action — and please forward this email to your friends and family, and ask them to join you and thousands of others in calling on President Obama to end mountaintop removal coal mining today.
According to the EPA, Patriot Coal will still be able to mine 91 percent of the coal they were originally planning to produce, even
without any new valley fills.
Mountaintop removal has shown to be a disaster for the communities, economy, and ecology of Appalachia. Mountaintop removal has buried and polluted nearly 2,000 miles of headwaters streams in Appalachia and contaminated them with toxic heavy metals and chemicals.
