Archive for August, 2011
The following email was sent to the 100,000+ supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.
Great news! This week we received the results of a public opinion poll that confirms that voters in Appalachia overwhelmingly want to end mountaintop removal and strengthen protections provided by the Clean Water Act.
A new poll commissioned by Appalachian Mountain Advocates, Earthjustice and the Sierra Club shows staggering support for ending mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachian coal mining states. Conducted by two bipartisan firms, the poll has revealed that 57% of informed voters oppose the practice, versus 20% approving.
And even more astoundingly, when asked about increasing Clean Water protections on mountaintop removal, 78% of respondents supported increasing Clean Water Act protections, with just 9% opposing.
This announcement comes on the heels of a national poll released by CNN last week, showing that Americans across the country oppose mountaintop removal 57% to 36%.
People like you have made it clear for a long time that the majority of citizens in the U.S. oppose mountaintop removal. This poll puts to rest out-of-date perceptions that Appalachians support mountaintop removal.
These two polls give us great leverage to demand that our elected officials follow their moral compass, follow the science, and follow regional and national public opinion by ending mountaintop removal. Please take a moment to write your congressperson about this poll to make sure that they see these figures.
www.iLoveMountains.org/we-dont-want-MTR
For the Mountains,
Matt Wasson
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Controversial Appalachian politicians promoting mountaintop removal are in the vast minority in their own states
Joe Lovett, as he is known to do, says it best:
There is unfortunately a fundamental disconnect between what voters want and what our elected officials are giving us…We think that our Representatives, like Rahall and Capitom should be urging EPA to strongly enforce current law, rather than trying to weaken it.
A new poll conducted by two bipartisan firms shows overwhelming support for ending mountaintop removal within the Appalachian states of KY, TN, VA, and WV. The poll was commissioned by the Appalachian Mountain Advocates (formerly “Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment)”, EarthJustice, and the Sierra Club, and sampled more than 1300 likely voters, oversampling in WV and KY, and has a margin of error of just ±2.8%. These organizations are releasing the complete poll to the public, and you can find the full cross-tabs are here. Without description, voters oppose mountaintop removal 38%-24%. Given a brief description of mountaintop removal, likely Appalachian voters oppose the practice 57%-20%. This announcement comes on the back of a national poll released by CNN last week, showing that Americans across the country strongly oppose mountaintop removal (57%-36%).
The results are astonishing in that Appalachian voters clearly differentiate between coal mining (which they strongly support 61%-21%) and mountaintop removal (which they strongly oppose 57%-27%). These are not “out of state hippies” or “anti-coal activists.” These are the Appalachian people, who clearly understand that mountaintop removal is a unique form of coal mining that has unprecedented negative impacts on our region, and needs to end. In fact, when asked if they supported increasing Clean Water Protections to protect ourselves from mountaintop removal, voters responded with an astonishing 78% supporting an increase in Clean Water Act protections and just 9% opposing.
The support for the Clean Water Act is both deep and wide. According to the pollsters’ memo:
Support for [increasing protections in—the Clean Water Act to safeguard streams, rivers, and lakes in their states from mountaintop removal coal mining] is far-reaching, encompassing solid majorities of Democrats (86%), independents (76%), Republicans (71%), and Tea Party supporters (67%).
Our movement to end mountaintop removal and increase protections within the Clean Water Act is working, and has strong popular support not just across the country, but across all political lines and all geographic lines. This new poll confirms that voters across the Appalachian region feel just as strongly about protecting the Clean Water Act, and protecting our mountains.
But of course, you’ve noted a lot of Appalachian politicians saying just the opposite…
Throughout the last two years, Democratic Congressman Nick Rahall (WV-03) has made promoting mountaintop removal his #1 issue in Washington. Time, after time, after time the Congressman has fought Congressional and Administrative efforts to protect Appalachian citizens from the impacts of coal, joining the most radical elements of our Congress in calling regulation of mountaintop removal , and gleefully ignoring the flood of new peer-reviewed scientific studies showing horrific health impacts to his constituents. After the 2010 elections, Rahall was joined in Congress by Senator Joe Manchin, whose defense of mountaintop removal has been equally verbose, and perhaps even more willfully ignorant.
Other coal-state politicians have shown a desire to bend over backwards to the demands of a radical and shrinking regional coal industry. This includes Republican Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky, Senator Rockefeller of West Virginia, Representatives Shelly Moore Capito and David McKinley of West Virginia, and Morgan Griffith of southwestern Virginia.
They’ll all be disappointed to know that most of their constituents, including a majority of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents oppose ending mountaintop removal, while even 67% of tea party supporters support increasing protections within the Clean Water Act. Not only that, but those who want more protections from mountaintop removal are more likely to help them make a decision in the voting booth.
It sure does make Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who supports ending mountaintop removal, look awful smart.
There is hope yet for Rahall and his Congressional comrades. He has known for a long-time that the writing is on the wall for mountaintop removal. Just two short years ago he said:
The state’s most productive coal seams likely will be exhausted in 20 years. And while coal will remain an important part of the economy, the state should emphasize green job development. That is especially important as pressure against mountaintop mining increases. Pressure is coming from both Republicans and Democrats. During the 2008 presidential race, Republican nominee John McCain came out in favor of ending mountaintop mining. It’s something that’s evolving over time in our industry and the responsible segment of our industry realizes that.
– Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WV-03), 04-02-09
This was, of course, before he learned that these words upset Don Blankenship, and went on a full-court press to promote mountaintop removal and eliminate the few citizen protections that re currently in place. Thanks to our friends at Appalachian Mountain Advocates, EarthJustice, and Sierra Club, we now know that Nick Rahall can feel free to express what he already knows – we must protect his constituents and end mountaintop removal. And he can do it knowing that West Virginia Democrats, West Virginia Republicans, and even West Virginia Tea Party members support increasing Clean Water Act protections regarding mountaintop removal.
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On Sunday, CNN premiered an hour-long documentary by Soledad O’Brien on the battle to save historic Blair Mountain in West Virginia from destruction by mountaintop removal coal mining. Blair Mountain, site of the second largest armed insurrection in American history, is also one of the most important historical sites for organized labor in the country.
While O’Brien and her crew were able to tell both sides of the debate in compelling and emotionally powerful ways, the documentary suffered from the same flaw that just about every environmental story CNN has ever done suffers from: it is presented in a “jobs vs environment” frame that is devoid of any actual analysis of whether that frame is appropriate. Following is a brief fact-check of statements made by by mountaintop removal supporters and opponents in O’Brien’s documentary.
Is “Jobs vs Environment” the Appropriate Frame for the Issue of Mountaintop Removal?
There are two conflicting statements made by local residents in the documentary regarding the impact that mountaintop removal has had on jobs and the community around Blair Mountain. On the one hand, in response to a question by O’Brien about when the community around Blair Mountain started to disappear, resident Diane Kish responded:
“[The community began to disappear] when federal judges and the EPA came in and started messing with our livelihood.”
On the other hand, another nearby resident, Billy Smutko, said that the community began to disappear when mountaintop removal started. Fortunately, data are readily available to resolve these two conflicting versions of events and it turns out those data support Smutko’s version beyond a shadow of a doubt.
According to data from a study recently published in the Journal Population Health Metrics , Logan County, WV (the county that is home to both Blair Mountain and the controversial Spruce #1 mountaintop removal mine), saw a 10.7% decline in population between 1997 and 2007. This would at first seem to support the pro-mountaintop removal version of events, as the timeframe roughly correlates with the timeframe in which federal judges and the EPA first began to impose restrictions on mountaintop removal mining. Specifically, the first temporary restraining order on mountaintop removal permits was imposed by Judge Haden in 1999.
However, data from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) show that the number of mining jobs in Logan County stayed roughly the same over that period, even as production of coal from mountaintop removal mines declined by a third. But what really blows a hole through the pro-mountaintop removal arguments is the fact that the population of Logan County decreased by a jaw-dropping 14.4% between 1987 and 1997, during which time the EPA and federal judges did nothing to restrict mountaintop removal and production from such mines more than tripled — from less than 5 million to more than 16 million tons.
As shown in the graph below, and in stark contrast to some claims in the CNN documentary, the number of mining jobs in Logan County has more than doubled since 1999 when Judge Haden imposed the first moratorium on mountaintop removal permits, and mining jobs across West Virginia as a whole have increased by a third.
(more…)
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The following email was sent to the 99,000+ supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.
Right now, two important mountains are slated for destruction in Southern West Virginia and we need your help. This week the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection is taking comments on the renewal of the now expired Camp Branch Permit on Blair Mountain, as well as the Beetree Surface Mine Permit on Coal River Mountain.
If approved, these surface mines would not only contribute the destruction of nearby communities by jeopardizing the health and economies of the people living beneath them, but these two mountains have become the line in the sand for our movement.
Thousands have now raised their voices to protect Coal River Mountain and Blair Mountain. We can’t lose momentum now! Please do your part and join us in the fight to protect these communities and save these important places.
Take Action Now!
Submit comments for Coal River Moutnain by August 9th – http://iLoveMountains.org/Coal-River
Sumbit comments for Blair Mountain by August 13th – http://iLoveMountains.org/Blair-Mountain
In 1921, 10,000 workers marched on Blair Mountain to demand basic labor rights in the largest armed uprising in the nation apart from the Civil War. Just two months ago, 1,000 people gathered in Southern West Virginia to march on the same mountain as part of the Appalachia Rising March on Blair Mountain, demanding that the mountain be preserved and rightly recognized as a National Historic Place.
Just weeks later, two tree sitters began an occupation of Coal River Mountain, which as a result, have stopped blasting on the mountain for over two weeks. This occupation is ongoing as part of the RAMPS Campaign, and continues to prevent blasting on Coal River Mountain.
Over 500 mountains have been destroyed in Appalachia due to mountaintop removal. For the safety of the citizens of Blair and those in the Coal River Valley, please take action today and help us prevent these two mountains from being added to that list.
Thanks for all that you do!
Matt Wasson
iLoveMountains.org
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The following message was sent to 13,000 Virginians this morning from the Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition of which Appalachian Voices is a part. To sign up for alerts form Wise Energy for Virginia click here
The state of Virginia has signed off on destroying Wise County’s Ison Rock Ridge through mountaintop removal coal mining. They have OK’d the leveling of 1200 acres above several communities – home to about 1,800 local residents. Many families’ back yards abut the slopes of Ison Rock Ridge. These families could be forced to live through explosions, dust, for years as they watch their mountain leveled, streams buried and lost forever.
Right now, further review of the permit by the Environmental Protection Agency is the only thing stopping the coal companies from planting explosives uphill of these families. The locals at the Southern Appalachian Mountains Stewards have been fighting hard, and many of you have sent several letters to the EPA, but now it’s time to step up the pressure.
This Wednesday, August 3rd, we need you to call the EPA and ask them to deny this permit and to keep Ison Rock Ridge standing. The EPA needs to hear from as many of us as possible so please recruit friends and family to also make calls.
Early on Wednesday morning you will receive another email with the number to call and some points to bring up. Once you make the call please ask your mom, your spouse, your uncle, your coworkers and your friends to also make the call. It is a simple call to make, no expertise is necessary, and it could help protect the heritage and quality of life for those living near, and downstream of, Ison Rock Ridge.
Thank you for all that you do.
Until Wednesday,
Mike McCoy
Wise Energy for Virginia
To sign up for alerts form Wise Energy for Virginia click here
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