Breaking news -- Act now!
How can humans even consider the practice of literally blowing the tops off mountains in order to remove coal?
President Obama, are you listening?
When the coal is all removed, when the wildlife is extinct, when the river basins are filled with debris and the coal miners are out of work forever, the mountains will still be gone. Nothing will repair the landscape, the majesty, the lifestyle of the people, the extraordinary biodiversity, the sacred completeness.
Trip to the mountains this spring? Watch these videos. Read the linked stories. Then make other travel plans, because the Smokies, the Appalachian Trail, the Blue Ridge . . . they could all be flat and lifeless heaps of rubble if a new bill is passed allowing big coal companies to rape our country for a few more dollars. Coal use is destroying the planet anyway. What are we thinking?
If you've never had a chance to visit the glorious range of ancient green mountains that runs up the east coast of the United States, think cool, green, lush, verdant. Brimming with life, deep peace, grandeur. Ferns soften rock outcroppings covered in mosses and lichens. Clear, clean, cold streams trickle or roar, full of fish, frogs, salamanders and other wildlife. An amazing variety of brilliant, tiny birds and butterflies stop by here or make their homes here. Deer, bear, raccoons, foxes . . . this is a treasure trove, a North American gem. One of the richest and most diverse hardwood ecosystems in the world.
It's all in danger.
Don't let a few powerful and greedy companies steal this from everyone. Once the coal is gone, once the money they made is gone, what will they exploit next? The mountains won't grow back. This is not a renewable resource. Take a look at the video.
We Humans are doing a bang-up job of planet-wide stewardship, aren't we?
Speak out. Now. This minute. Hearings going on now.
Save what is ours. What is yours.
Once it's gone, it's gone.
Comments
Why did you not write that this is being re-instituted by BARACK OBAMA?
You wrote a week ago about a Bush policy you could not support but when it is a Obama policy you neglect to attribute it!
Sounds pretty biased to me.
Mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia is not being re-instituted since the coal operators have never stopped doing the evil practice. Secondly, don't blame President Obama, because we should be blaming ourselves for not yelling loud enough both to congress and the president.
You must be lost in the woods of Argentina
Why must you people be educated on the same subjects you write about?
Obama campaigned on stopping the practice.
www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2009/2009-06-15-091.asp
"WASHINGTON, DC, June 15, 2009 (ENS) - The Obama administration's new interagency plan to regulate mountaintop removal coal mining met with mixed reactions from Appalachian community advocates.
The agreement signed Thursday between officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Interior, and the Army Corp of Engineers aims to reduce the environmental impacts of mountaintop coal mining in the six Appalachian states of Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia."
"Recently, the administration unveiled its new position on mountaintop coal mining and set out a number of new restrictions on the practice in six Appalachian states. These new rules will require tougher environmental review before blowing up mountains. But it's a minimal step."
Become better educate
Watch this and you will see where we are going. Straight from the horses mouth.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlTxGHn4sH4
From his mouth WITHOUT a teleprompter!
This bill is being touted as the Obama bill
Kerry, Boxer: U.S. ‘Needs’ Cap-and-Trade on Carbon Emissions Even if Energy Costs Rise
www.cnsnews.com/public/Content/Article.aspx?rsrcid=45330
“It’s a win-win in so many different ways, we can’t afford not to do it,” Kerry said.“There could be some (price) increases,” Kerry admitted, adding that the “costs of doing nothing could be greater,” including a decline in the food supply. “But there’ll be higher rises if we don’t do it and start to curb these emissions because you’re going to pay more for the adaptations, the loss of food, all the other problems that come along with it.”
Boxer also acknowledged that energy prices will rise.
“In the short run, in the transition, there’s always an up-tick (in prices)”
“The problem is can you get the American people to say this is really important and force their representatives to do the right thing, that requires mobilizing a citizenry…..
Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad, because I’m capping greenhouse gasses, coal power plants, natural gas you name it whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retro-fit their operations, that will cost money and they will pass that money onto the consumers.”
"they would have to retro-fit their operations"
Mercury causes brain damage. It costs money to install pollution controls. Take your pick.
porro visum says: "they would have to retro-fit their operations" Mercury causes brain damage. It costs money to install pollution controls. Take your pick."
If you believe for a nano second that that is the only cost he is talking about, you are deaf, dumb and blind! Obama has you like Rev. Jim Jones had 900 people in the jungle!
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