| By Clem Guttata (also available in Orange)
 For decades, how closely a coal miner paid attention to the canary in the coal mine was, literally, the difference between life and death. Today, the "canary in the coal mine" is a more sophisticated set of man-made monitors and biological indicators, but just as important for our long term health and welfare.
So what happens if the canary dies and no one hears its dying cries?
The modern day canary includes little known marker species like mayflies. As local newspaper comments retort that coal miner jobs are more important than mere mayflies, who will ask: if your job poisons your neighbors well water, is that a job worth saving?
Listening to the Canary
Here in Appalachia this Labor Day weekend, Big Coal is distracting the public with a line-up of aged entertainers and climate change denialists. Meanwhile, the local power company is asking for $365,000,000 of stimulus money to spend on, among other things, more coal removed by mountain top removal.
Two brave West Virginians have taken roost in the trees along a Mountaintop Removal site. It's easy to understand why the nearby miners might feel invincible in their huge earth-moving equipment, but the dead canary says otherwise.
In a bombshell revelation last Friday, we learned that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has known about adverse effects of Mountaintop Removal since at least 2002. Yet, somehow, Sec. Huffman was unable to testify about the full extent of them in front of the U.S. Senate in 2009.
Gov. Joe Manchin's appointee for Chair of the WV DEP is in quite a pickle. Either he truly knew nothing about the information described in the released memo--in which he's incompetent as an administrator of an organization that requires the free flow of scientific information--or he lied to Congress. Either way, it is no wonder so many people are calling for a Federal takeover of the WV DEP. (Update: A non-clarification clarification was issued late this afternoon. Secretary Huffman is yet to come clean.)
Stealing from a batman script
King Coal will do its best to say there's nothing to see there. After all, who cares about a few mayflies? In a setup that could come straight out of a batman script, Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship is inviting the public to join him, a few aged rock stars, and a British climate change denialist for a Labor Day celebration in a reclaimed strip mine below a coal sludge impoundment dam.
As One Citizen points out, Warning: Doing the Labor Day Wango Tango with Don Blankenship may be fatal:
Although Blankncheck hasn't warned anyone pre-registering to attend his "I HEART COAL" fest3, folks planning to go really should be made aware that there are more coal sludge impoundment dams per square mile around this doodah than anywhere else in the US.
Just one of the many nearby toxic sites holds an incredible 4.74 billion gallons of deadly slime soup behind a 345 ft. high dirt wall. By comparison, that's quadruple the amount of muck released in Tennessee's giant TVA spill not so long ago. The amount of toxic sludge spilld across Tennessee was reportedly 100 times larger than the famous Exxon Valdez disaster! According to the Coal Impoundment Location and Information System website4 there are absolutely NO evacuation plans filed with the state of WV, or with either of the counties of Mingo or Logan for an event the size of the one planned by Blankenship and his pals. NONE. Nor are there any instructions to the public on Blankenstein's spiffy "Friends of America" website warning folks of the imminent dangers. So good luck to all those Ted "Crusty Pants" Nugent fans when he starts machine gunning the crowd to clear them out of HIS way even as they trample each other to keep from drowning in liquified mercury, lead, arsenic, and selenium.
One more thing. While friendsofamericarally.com website advises everyone pre-registering to bring a lawn chair, do NOT plan to sit directly or go barefoot on any reclaimed site. The chemicals sprayed across reclaimed quarry topsoil in an attempt to force it to be "green" can be both caustic AND toxic.
No matter how loud the music gets, it still won't drown out the haunting cries of the dead canaries.
Meanwhile...
In other major coal news this week:
* The coal industry continues to spawn new astro-turf groups: Pro-coal 'grassroots group' created by Washington, D.C., lobbyists
* The Obama administration is moving forward with consideration of dozens and dozens of Mountaintop Removal permits. We must act fast! ALERT: The Clock is Ticking on Mountaintop Removal Permits
* Do you want stimulus dollars to be spent buying coal from mountain top removal coal mines?
* Charges against former (W.Va.) congressperson Hechler (for his high profile anti-MTR protest with Daryl Hannah) were dropped.
* The TVA may shut down its oldest coal fired electric plants.
And, some DailyKos diaries you might have missed:
* Ongoing anti-MTR action in West Virginia
* Shower Congress with copies of "Burning the Future: Coal in America"
* Coal Industry Sinks Deeper in FORGERY Scandal
* USGS: Mercury in EVERY fish in EVERY stream tested
* Coal Finds More Ways Than 1 To Get Into Our Bodies
Take Action
* Visit I Love Mountains to learn how you take action to end mountain top removal.
* Tell the EPA to strictly regulate the disposal of contaminated coal waste.
* Support Climate Ground Zero in its "ongoing campaign of non-violent civil disobedience in southern West Virginia to address mountaintop removal coal mining and its effects on our future."
Image credits: ex-canary by Secret Tenerife, WV Sludge impoundment locations by One Citizen
Legacy of Coal is a newly-launched diary series inspired by the panels at Netroots Nation. We are publicizing issues around coal use and mining, including Mountaintop Removal (MTR), the damage to less-politically-powerful areas of our country, and the broader impact of energy and economic policy. Of course, this intersects with issues of climate change, health care, and human rights. While no one person can know all there about these issues, working together we can make a difference. If you would like to guest-host a diary, please contact jlms_qkw AT xmission DOT com. This diary series is dedicated to our country's coal miners and the people waiting for them to come home. |
