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This diary is my contribution to Blog Action Day: '09 Climate Change. "Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance."
Our planet is faced with a grave and serious danger: global climate change. How we go about addressing this issue will say as much about humanity as what we do to address it.
Unfortunately, here in Appalachia the fear of change is stoking divisions. Instead of coming together to face a common foe, man-made climate change, strong vested issues are stoking neighbors in fever-pitched disputes with one another.
The friends of coal may feel they made some tactical gains this week--they certainly showed they know how to shout down a speaker. But no matter how loud your cheering section is, it won't overcome being outmatched on the playing field.
In fact, if you listen carefully to the words of state Sen. H. Truman Chafin (D-Mingo) on the Youtube video above, you'll start to realize he not only stuck his foot in his mouth... he then proceeded to shoot himself in the foot.
Sen. Chafin completely ignored what the purpose of the hearing was. He failed to provide the Army Corp of Engineers with any useful information regarding rules changes they are required by recent court rulings to make. Instead, State Sen. Chafin decided to rile up the crowd to score cheap political points. That's grandstanding, not responsible leadership.
A National Backlash
Right now Big Coal has hat in hand in front of Congress asking for a huge new regulatory structure required in order for carbon capture and storage to have any chance of success.
To get that new regulatory structure enacted, Congress will need confidence that new enforcement mechanisms will favor long-term environmental concerns over short-term industry profit considerations. (CCS is a lot like nuclear waste... a toxic item to be stored forever.)
Pulling stunts like turning a deliberative public hearing into a political rally hurts Big Coal's lobbying efforts in Congress. Proving that the Army Corp of Engineers is unable to do something as simple as run a public hearing does nothing to inspire confidence they can handle permitting processes.
What Leadership Looks Like
Perhaps because they are there in D.C. negotiating on behalf of Big Coal, Rahall and Byrd seem to get this. The leaders here in W.Va. would do well to figure out this political calculus, too.
Just publicly going out and calling an agency names or beating up on an agency is not going to work when you go the next day or the next week to that agency and ask for their help. That's just human nature.
Coming Together
Trying to out-shout, rather than reason with, people with valid concerns does little to prove the coal industry is ready to be a partner in providing oversight for a complex new technology like carbon capture and storage. Plugging your ears and shouting yourself hoarse is a sure-fire way to get uninvited from a debate.
There are people who should know better--not just Internet commenters, but also people in charge of thing--equating the current non-violent protests with what I completely agree have been radical, extreme, violent actions in other parts of the country in the past.
Instead of making wild claims about threats to coal, we need honest brokers to negotiate a viable future for the West Virginia economy. If West Virginia coal companies want a place at the negotiating table for the future energy economy, they need to start acting responsibly. They owe that to their employees, they owe that the communities they claim to support, and, quite frankly, they owe it to their shareholders, too.
The suffering of those negatively effected by mountaintop removal is every bit as real as the fears of coal miners built up to an impassioned frenzy by friends of coal. Collaborating to find solutions, not confronting each other with yelling and screaming, will benefit us all.
We're all in this together. The sooner we can start working together to find solutions to the problems we all share, the better off we all are.
That'll certainly be some "Labor Day Wango Tango1" if God decides to send a three and a half story high wave of sludge roaring down the hollow just as Don Blankenship introduces the most upper of upper crust Lord Christopher Monckton, Third Viscount of Brenchley to one of the poorest areas in the United States.2. But it wouldn't be the first time God drowned a bunch of folks in Southern WV coal sludge.
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.
I don't know where to start with this post and I'm not sure where I'm going to end up either...
I thought I had all I had to say on the topic earlier this week when Carnacki and I called out Justin Marcum, (then) West Virginia Young Democrats chairman of the Labor Caucus and (still) president of Mingo County Young Democrats for what we felt was a non-apology apology.
On Monday, I wrote in a comment:
There are multiple activist organizations with formal ties to the Democratic National Committee. The Young Democrats organization is one. Because of their formal ties, they get automatic seats at conventions and other party benefits like that.
I believe if you are an officer in an organization affiliated with the DNC, you have a responsibility to support the Democratic President, to support the major tenets of the Democratic Party Platform, and to support party-building efforts. That does not mean you need to personally agree on every issue, but it does mean you have a responsibility not to actively aid those seeking to undermine the Democratic party.
A strength of the Democratic Party is our openness to diversity--we try to build a big tent. I would never tell anyone to leave the party over disagreements with President Obama or the Democratic party platform (there's plenty of issues where my views differ!). We'll never all agree on every issue (nor should we).
But, if someone is in a leadership position in the party, and they don't feel personally comfortable supporting major Democratic legislative and presidential initiatives, they just might want to reconsider if party leadership is the right place for them.
On Tuesday, I learned that Justin Marcum had resigned as West Virginia Young Democrats chairman of the Labor Caucus and I thought the entire matter closed.
Mingo young Democrats primed for change in state
I was quite surprised yesterday when I got multiple emails informing me about a newspaper article in the Charleston Daily Maily, Mingo young Democrats primed for change in state. I'm still kind of stunned by the article and have sat on it for over a day trying to sort through what to say.
(Among other things, I can't point to a single change in West Virginia that Justin Marcum called for.)
What went wrong
The article reads like a press release for Justin Marcum. It's the kind of fawning coverage someone running for office begs for. (Unfortunately for Justin Marcum, at this point I think it would only help him run for office as a Republican, not as a Democrat.)
As an example, the photo text reads, "Justin Marcum, a second-year law student and president of the Mingo County Young Democrats, is working with other students to inject some fresh blood into the Democratic party in southern West Virginia."
Now, hardly a day goes by without a newspaper in West Virginia publishing something I find insipid or inane. Mostly I just ignore them. But, here's what makes this article so concerning. A frequent reader of this website noted via email:
I read your post the other day regarding the labor caucus emails advertising the conservative event in Southern West Virginia. It sure sounds as if this guy is making a declarative statement against our sitting president on behalf of all young Democrats in the state.
I didn't read his quotes quite that way--I don't think Justin Marcum speaks for anyone other than himself--but I can see how easy it would be to get that impression.
In the article Justin Marcum claims he "hopes that the younger generation of Democrats will win back the Mountain State when it comes to the national elections." If he wants to help Obama win W.Va. in 2012, debunking rumors is a lot more helpful than repeating them.
If "the Mingo chapter ... is focused on what is best for the county" he should be using time in front of reporters to speak to the urgency of action on climate change legislation and health care reform, not undermining the agenda of the Democratic President and the Democratic Congress.
Standing up for workers
More than anything else, there's one more thing that really gets me angry about this article.
The West Virginia Young Democrats worked diligently this past year to (successfully) enact an official West Virginia Coal Miner's Appreciation Day. This action had the potential to build a broad coalition of interests to find common ground to honor coal miners, improve their working conditions, and to live up to our obligations to pensioners (widowers and survivors).
Instead, by introducing a discussion of climate change policy into the mix, Justin Marcum has overtly politicized the honoring of coal miners. Coal miners are real human beings--your neighbors and mine--not political pawns. For too many decades coal miners have fought--often with their lives--to be treated with dignity. They deserve better.
I'm still trying to figure out exactly how (or if) they plan to sequester CO2. Also, there's no details on where the waste by-products will go either.
The fancy slide show on the company makes it sound like every bit of toxic stuff in coal can be repackaged as a valuable commercial product. Somehow, I'm a wee bit skeptical about that, too.
For all the sound and fury from Clean Coal advocates, it is worth noting this project is a real loser for job creation. At $3,000,000,000 spent, it will only generate 200 permanent jobs in West Virginia after it goes online in half a decade.
I'm still trying to figure out exactly how (or if) they plan to sequester CO2. Also, there's no details on where the waste by-products will go either.
The fancy slide show on the company makes it sound like every bit of toxic stuff in coal can be repackaged as a valuable commercial product. Somehow, I'm a wee bit skeptical about that, too.
For all the sound and fury from Clean Coal advocates, it is worth noting this project is a real loser for job creation. At $3,000,000,000 spent, it will only generate 200 permanent jobs in West Virginia after it goes online in half a decade.
It's 10:27 p.m. and I just fired up the computer. We began at 8 a.m. and traveled 300 miles. I took close to 100 photos. Here's some and I'll have more tomorrow. Video should be up tomorrow. I'll post much more tomorrow.
Opening press conference in Charleston
United Mine Workers of America at the Lincoln County press conference Veterans Memorial 9:15 a.m.
International Union of Painters and Allied Trades
10:15 a.m. Boone County Democratic Rally, Danville.
12 p.m. Logan Democratic Rally, Logan Mall
1:30 p.m. Williamson Democratic Rally, Williamson Fire Hall
Democratic cheerleaders
State Auditor Glen Gainer
Audience at Logan
...
Office is closing so I'll post more tomorrow.
...
Update
Welcome Politco readers.
More photos here and photos and event details here.
The Orwellian named clean coal is a myth spun by Big Coal. Don't believe the hype. There is no such thing as clean coal.
There are two types of coal: toxic coal and even more toxic coal.
There are two ways to mine coal: mining with debilitating social, ecological and environmental effects and mining with merely devastating damages.
There are two ways to burn coal: by letting all the toxic stuff spread out into the earth, water, and air (long term consequences be damned) or by concentrating the toxins into difficult to contain, difficult to store, and highly dangerous pollution stores (long term consequences be damned).
Coal, in any form of extraction and production, is arguably the most environmentally damaging source of energy. No matter how hard Big Coal tries to green-wash itself, coal remains toxic.
It is toxic to mine, toxic to extract, and toxic to burn.
There are a number of adverse environmental effects of coal mining and burning. These effects include:
- release of carbon dioxide and methane, both of which are greenhouse gas
- waste products including Uranium, Thorium, and other heavy metals
- acid rain
- interference with groundwater and water table levels
- impact of water use on flows of rivers and consequential impact on other land-uses
- dust nuisance
- subsidence above tunnels, sometimes damaging infrastructure
- rendering land unfit for the other uses.
The mining of coal by mountaintop removal has turned large swaths of Appalachia into a national sacrifice zone. The extraction of coal creates toxic sludge. The burning of coal creates toxic pollution.
No technology exists to magically make coal less toxic. No technology exists to clean toxic coal. We can move the toxins around, but we can't make them disappear.
Really, just getting to the coal in the first place makes a real mess of things.
Mountain Top Removal
We have covered the social, economic, and environmental damage of mountain top removal coal mining extensively on this blog.
"I introduced Senate Bill 588 because I fervently believe that God did not intend for us to destroy the mountains, the streams, the forests and His people in order to mine coal," Sen. Hunter said.
"Senator Hunter's bill would stop mountain top removal operators from continuing to use West Virginia's mountain streams as giant garbage cans to dispose of billions of tons of mining waste," said Joe Lovett executive director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment. "West Virginians overwhelmingly oppose mountaintop removal, and I hope that the Manchin administration and others in the Legislature will stand with Senator Hunter to stop the permanent destruction of a huge swath of one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world. It is time for the madness of mountaintop removal to come to an end, and Senator Hunter's bill is an important step in that direction."
In addition to the ecological destruction, coal mining -- accelerated by the major job reductions due to Mountain Top Removal coal mining practices -- has been an economic disaster for Appalachian communities.
Even though the US coal industry has reaped billions of dollars in revenue - Peabody Energy reported $5.2 billion in revenues in 2006 - the coal-rich regions have some of the worst poverty in the country. According to the US Census, the median income for Twilight and the surrounding region is less than $20,000 a year, and more than a quarter of families live below the poverty line.
Twilight is simply a line of double-wide trailers with no general store, set in the folds of steep hills, on a road that ends at a mountaintop coal operation.
"The coal industry just wants to keep what's happening here a secret," said Steve "Spankey" Webb, 51, of Twilight, who now works in an underground coal mine, a 33-year veteran of the business. "I know the country needs coal, but they don't worry about the people who live in these areas. They just don't care, I reckon."
Coal mining causes a number of harmful effects. When coal surfaces are exposed, pyrite (iron sulfide), also known as "fool's gold", comes in contact with water and air and forms sulfuric acid. As water drains from the mine, the acid moves into the waterways, and as long as rain falls on the mine tailings the sulfuric acid production continues, whether the mine is still operating or not. This process is known as acid rock drainage (ARD) or acid mine drainage (AMD). If the coal is strip mined, the entire exposed seam leaches sulfuric acid, leaving the subsoil infertile on the surface and begins to pollute streams by acidifying and killing fish, plants, and aquatic animals who are sensitive to drastic pH shifts.
Coal mining produces methane a potent greenhouse gas. Methane is the naturally occurring product of the decay of organic matter as coal deposits are formed with increasing depths of burial, rising temperatures, and rising pressures over geological time. A portion of the methane produced is adsorbed by the coal and later released from the coal seam and surrounding disturbed strata during the mining process.[1] Methane accounts for 9% of greenhouse gas emissions created through human activity.[2] According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, methane has a global warming potential 21 times greater than that of carbon dioxide on a 100 year time line. While burning coal in power plants is most harmful to air quality, due to the emission of dangerous gases, the process of mining can release pockets of hazardous gases. These gases may pose a threat to coal miners as well as a source of air pollution. This is due to the relaxation of pressure and fracturing of the strata during mining activity, which gives rise to serious safety concerns for the coal miners if not managed properly. The buildup of pressure in the strata can lead to explosions during or after the mining process if prevention methods, such as "methane draining", are not taken.[3]
No technology exists to magically make coal less toxic. No technology exists to clean toxic coal. We can move the toxins around, but we can't make them disappear.
The Orwellian-named Clean Coal
There are two "families" of not-so-magic technology Big Coal touts under the Orwellian-named moniker of Clean Coal.
First, they bundle any technological improvement in the coal extraction, production, and burning process into the term Clean Coal. In this manner, they give themselves credit for doing what they should have been doing all along -- keeping dangerous pollutants out of the air, water, and ground around coal mines and coal-burning factories.
"Cleaner" coal technologies actually produce more toxic coal ash in the resulting solid waste than "dirty" coal technologies, says Jeff Stant of the Clean Air Task Force. These technologies pulverize low-grade fuels in a way that releases fewer pollutants into the air. But those pollutants have to go somewhere, and they end up as ash.
Second, there is a push to increase investment in coal-to-liquid fuel (and/or coal-to-gas fuel) plants. These huge factory investments -- like the one billion dollar plant proposed for Mingo County -- turn coal into liquid fuel.
So far these plants suffer from three major problems:
1) Considering all the energy it takes to convert coal to a liquid (or a gas), there's not much net gain in energy. It's like using up 90% of your existing coal to turn that last 10% into another form of energy.
2) There's no natural market for the fuel. The two potential buyers of fuel talked about for the Mingo County plant are (a) the US Government for jet engine fuel and (b) coal mining companies to mine more coal(!).
3) The coal liquefaction process concentrates toxic byproducts. Furthermore, major investment institutions will only finance utility projects if they are economically viable under expected future federal caps on carbon dioxide emissions.
No technology exists to magically make coal less toxic. No technology exists to clean toxic coal. We can move the toxins around, but we can't make them disappear.
Toxic Coal
In summary, coal factories pollute our water and pollute our air. It's bad for your health to live near a coal plant.
Yes, we need to make existing coal plants safer. No, we should not build new coal plants.
Coal to liquid fuels is an environmental disaster, a horrible idea. We need to invest in other energy solutions that provide both domestic energy independence and address the global climate crisis.
No technology exists to magically make coal less toxic. No technology exists to clean toxic coal. We can move the toxins around, but we can't make them disappear.
We need to start planning today for a post-carbon economy in West Virginia. We need to diversity our economy beyond natural resource extraction of coal, oil, and natural gas. We face difficult transitions ahead, the sooner we make a realistic, reality-based appraisal of our current situation, the sooner we can begin to solve the challenges ahead.
Instead of postponing that day of reckoning, let's figure out how to invest for a more positive future.
I have the audacity to hope for a brighter future for even the least fortunate among us. Can we give the residents of rural coal country drinking water that won't poison their kids, clean air to breath, and a hope that someday their grand-children will have a good-paying job without moving clear across the country? Instead of investing billions of dollars in corporate welfare lets invest that money in helping the least fortunate among us. They've already suffered enough on our behalf.
Selling a false panacea of non-existence technology to clean toxic coal is a disservice to Appalachia. Get real, West Virginia. Let's start looking forward to a brighter clean, green, alternative energy future.
Tax reform and teacher pay are hot issues. Worker's compensation will receive attention. Gov. Manchin says the recently privatized system deserves more time. He'll probably get his way, even as Brickstreet undergoes some much deserved scrutiny.
It should be noted that this year's legislative agenda is expected to be light. With Gov. Manchin and 100 legislators up for re-election, don't expect anything controversial to be decided. Merely balancing the budget will be work enough.
Here are a few odds and ends in the news. Click on the links for more details on lists of legislative priorities:
"Coal and coal gasification will be a major issue this year," Chafin said. "We have a major plant coming into the district, but we have to be able to come up with a carbon sequestration plan. Producing gas from coal results in a lot of carbon dioxide, and we have to be able to deal with that byproduct."
* Besides teacher pay, another education-related topic on the horizon is a potential state-wide ban on unhealthy sodas and snacks in schools.
* The W.Va. GOP has a wish list long on tax cuts yet short on any suggestions for making up the resulting revenue short falls. I note with irony that the GOP also suggests -- now they're almost done replacing Dem judges with Republican ones -- we should elect judges on a non-partisan basis. Funny, that... it's like the pundit-class only calls for bi-partisanship after it looks like Democrats are going to have some real power, not during the years of highly partisan autocratic Bush rule.
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