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McKinley now displays a nearly life sized poster purported to be a coal miner standing with his arm around his little girl at the front of his podium as he tours the district. He says that the poster also hangs in his Washington office so that people who stop in can see what WV is about. Odd, since he represents the economically diverse 1st CD, not the 3rd.
At an August 17 "town hall" in Clarksburg his opening statement included a lengthy statement on the EPA's War on Coal. When asked about the eighteen separate research studies that showed a correlation between MTR and birth defects, disease, and death, McKinley pointed to the picture and said that his main concern was "this man's job." When a constituent attempted to pin McKinley down on the statement by asking him if the man's health and his daughter's health were less important than jobs and corporate profits, a policeman was called in and remained throughout the town hall. McKinley said he needed more research and facts first. Clearly our Congressional delegation chooses to navigate by its own set of "facts", scientific research be damned.
More important than profits is campaign contributors to these people. McKinley and the others in our congressional delegation including the Democrats could have a million scientific reports with rock solid data and analysis put in front of them but they'll claim there needs to be more research.
Ken Ward Jr. at Coal Tattoo highlights that the coal industry's lawyers are intent on perpetuating false, derogatory stereotypes about West Virginians in an attempt to hide the truth.
My daughter is an 11th generation West Virginian, and we are turning her heritage into a toxic waste dump, unfit for the next generation of West Virginia's children.
Given this groundbreaking new study, I find it particularly enraging that the US House of Representatives is currently trying to pass a bill (HR 2018) that would actually gut the Clean Water Act in order to make it easier for coal companies to continue blowing up Appalachia's mountains and spewing pollution into the air and water of nearby towns and homes. The bill is sponsored by Reps. Nick Rahall of West Virginia and John Mica of Florida. It is a polluter wish list, with ramifications that extend far beyond Appalachian coal country.
If Congressman Rahall knew the first thing about Central Appalachian mining, he might include some expert witnesses, or citizens whose lives are forever impacted by the very unnecessary (and unpopular) method of mining called mountaintop removal. Poll after poll show that a majority of people across America and across Appalachia oppose mountaintop removal. His constituents seem to agree, as Rahall's district in southern West Virginia is being swiftly depopulated.
But hey, at least the citizens of WV-03 still have it better off than their neighbors in KY-05, the only district with MORE mountaintop removal. (...hint, they are 434/435)
Via Ken Ward Jr. at Coal Tattoo, comes a New York Times story about how a West Virginia community disappeared after being bought out to make way for mountaintop removal by Massey:
The coal that helped to create Lindytown also destroyed it. Here was the church; here was its steeple; now it's all gone, along with its people. Gone, too, are the surrounding mountaintops. To mine the soft rock that we burn to help power our light bulbs, our laptops, our way of life, heavy equipment has stripped away the trees, the soil, the rock - what coal companies call the "overburden."
Now, the faint, mechanical beeps and grinds from above are all that disturb the Lindytown quiet, save for the occasional, seam-splintering blast.
What happens when the coal that can be profitably mined is gone in 20 years? Will much of West Virginia be ghost towns like Lindytown?
Congratulations Acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin because the coal association touted your rally as a "Call to arms."
To be honest, I'm not surprised because Tomblin's rally is a set up for conflict.
But the fact that Bill Raney, president of the WV Coal Association, tries to excuse the phrase by saying "not much thought went into it" gives a glimpse into the mindset of Friends of Coal. Their default setting is to go with a phrase that connotes violence.
The association has since changed the phrase after Ken Ward Jr. called them.
I'd say it's especially thoughtless of the association to use the phrase after Tucson, but they could just be taking their cues from our Senators Manchin and Rockefeller, who also have thrown out unnecessarily inflammatory language about the EPA's decision on Spruce Mine.
In the credit where credit is due department, Steven Adams make a great point about the rally in the comments at Coal Tattoo:
I wish they would be honest and call it a Rally for Mountaintop Removal. The rally is a result of the denial of last week's Arch Coal permit, so it only makes sense.
Tomblin and other MTR supporters always want to link opposition to MTR with the broader issue of coal mining because if they are not deceptive it makes it harder for them to rally support for the destructive and poisonous practice of mountaintop removal.
The FArCES of Coal:"With Our Head in the Sand, As Loud As We Can" Edition
Well, I'm not sure how it happened. But it seems like southern West Virginia has survived its first post-apocalyptic, economy-annihilating, way-of-life-ending weekend after EPA heroically vetoed Arch Coal's Spruce Mine permit last Thursday. As bad as Joe Manchin, Shelly Moore Capito, and the Friends of Coal said life was going to be after the veto, myself and most folks in West Virginia ended up having a pretty decent weekend, all things considered. Heck, we even learned that despite the snow many if not most nearby residents are celebrating EPA's veto of Spruce #1 mine.
Which leads me to wonder...has anyone ever been so loud and proud about shoving their head in the sand and ignoring the cries of their constituents and colleagues, the consensus of scientists, and the pleading of health professionals as loudly as Joe Manchin and Nick Rahall? Senator Manchin certainly hasn't had a very positive first few weeks in the United States Senate. In fact, despite not taking too many big votes, he has found that his actions have already left him with a lot to apologize for. He set another high bar last week when EPA announced its decision on Spruce. Not only was his rhetoric irresponsible, but his information is just plain incorrect - particularly in asserting that EPA was "retroactively" vetoing this permit.
First of all, if you do your research (as Ken Ward does) you know that EPA never signed off on the Spruce Mine Permit. GOT THAT? EPA has raised concerns since the very beginning about this permit, and when Arch Coal was pressed to address those concerns, what did Arch Coal do for the people of Appalachia? They walked away.
Despite EPA's willingness to consider alternatives, the company did not offer any new proposed mining configurations in response to EPA's concerns based on science and the law.
SNL Financial goes into further detail about a meeting between top EPA officials and Arch Coal from November 16th,2010:
"The permittee also indicated that other approaches previously discussed, such as 'sequencing' or 'phasing' of valley fills, remained unacceptable to Arch Coal, Inc., due primarily to economic considerations," EPA said. "In the meeting, the permittee did not propose new or additional corrective actions for EPA's consideration."
"This transaction gives us a direct stake in participating in the growth of U.S. coal exports off the West Coast," said Steven Leer, Arch's chairman and CEO. "With our superior operating position in the Powder River Basin and Western bituminous region, we have the capability to service growing coal demand in Asia, the world's largest and fastest-growing coal market. We believe this first project - along with others in the pipeline - will provide Arch with more exposure to the seaborne thermal market and will further unlock the value inherent in our western coal assets.".
...West Virginia's elected officials are rightly concerned about jobs and the economic impact on local communities. I share those concerns. But the time has come to have an open and honest dialogue about coal's future in West Virginia.
Let's speak the truth. The most important factor in maintaining coal-related jobs is demand for coal. Scapegoating and stoking fear among workers over the permitting process is counter-productive.
...
West Virginians may demonstrate anger toward the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over mountaintop removal mining, but we risk the very probable consequence of shouting ourselves out of any productive dialogue with EPA and our adversaries in the Congress.
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We can have a part in shaping energy policy, but we must be honest brokers if we have any prayer of influencing coal policy on looming issues important to the future of coal like hazardous air pollutants, climate change, and federal dollars for investments in clean coal technology.
Acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, announcing a pro-coal rally:
"We must stand up and show federal
regulators that we will not retreat from their unfair actions. We will continue the fight not just for the Spruce Number One mine but for every
coal miner, coal company and for our way of life."
Sen. Joe Manchin:
"Today's EPA decision is not just fundamentally wrong," he said. "It is an unprecedented act by the federal government that will cost our state and our nation even more jobs during the worst recession in this country's history.
"While the EPA decision hurts West Virginia today, it has negative ramifications for every state in our nation, and I strongly urge every senator and every member of Congress to voice their opposition."
Sen. Jay Rockefeller:
I am writing to express my outrage with the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decision to veto a rigorously reviewed and lawfully issued permit at the Spruce Number 1 Mine in Logan County, West Virginia. This action not only affects this specific permit, but needlessly throws other permits into a sea of uncertainty at a time of great economic distress.
Apparently they West Virginians who don't want poisoned wells or to live in fear of flash floods or having to live surrounded by the remains of a destroyed mountain don't deserve leaders fighting for them even though the EPA did exactly what the coal supporters wanted in forming a long review process based on scientific evidence.
Tomblin, Manchin, and Rockefeller are doing exactly what Byrd warned against.
Mountaintop removal hinders future economic development. Those that claim MTR enhances our economy by providing flattened land in the Mountain State need to check the stats. Per the AP, only 7% of surface mined land in WV and 1.8% of land in KY have some type of economic development. Now, let's be serious about even those percentages listed. That includes land designated for pasture land, forest, and other shameful statistical padding.
You hear all this talk about airports, schools and shopping malls being built on reclaimed MTR sites but that represents a fraction of the moonscapes left by MTR. Calculate all the negative economic impacts of MTR like waterways polluted by selenium and heavy metals, enhanced risk of catastrophic floods, the damaging impacts of blasting, and the expedited removal of coal that may have otherwise been mined via other more labor intensive methods and you will see that MTR is more of an economic shackle than savior.
There will be folks that point out a golf course, school, or park smattered about in the devastated mountain landscapes but that represents just a fraction of the total acreage where this extreme mining practice machetes West Virginia mountains. Most of these locations, once mined out, are just ruined moonscapes, void of what made it God's wonderful creation.
Any time you speak up on this issue you hear the catcalls about being anti coal or some other nonsensical statement. Just for the record- I recognize the importance of coal and certainly respect and support the coal miner, being one of many West Virginians that have had coal miners throughout my family tree. There is a middle ground on coal extraction, a balance between socioenvironmental stewardship and industry, but mountaintop removal represents an extreme that WV should move beyond.
Taking it a step further, I think it would be reasonable to hear out proposals that allow for scaled back surface mining if there were a post mining plan that had real economic development included (no more of this pasture land bs). I'd even be open to some forms of well regulated surface mining. I am not, however, open to the extreme position that we should allow our beautiful state to be exploited and forever scarred for short term economic kickbacks, especially when the vast majority of the wealth leaves West Virginia.
Talking with folks all over the State, I think most people this moderate view of coal and coal mining. Most people want to strike a balance between energy/industry and socioenvironmental needs. Major state policymakers just don't seem to want to take the industry on to make something like this happen. We need a leader to stand up and take the case to the public. It is our coal and we will mine it our way. Here is to Almost Heaven, West Virginia.
If a lie is stated often enough does it become the truth? The liar sure hopes it does. Corporate Coal has spent millions upon millions not only lobbying Congress but also inundating the public with a multi-million dollar and multifaceted propaganda campaign. Sitting on their piles of money, Corporate Coal has not only bought politicians, they have brainwashed the public. West Virginia is ground zero in this war for public opinion and with most of our politicians being either cowards or culprits, there is little leadership in the political arena representing the vast majority of us that demand a balanced approach to coal mining.
Coal Lies Author Jeff Goodell's recent article on the strength of Big Coal today is disheartening as it is honest.
Reflecting just some of Corporate Coal's expenditures, Goodell writes:
The first and most obvious way that Big Coal gains leverage is simply with money. By any accounting, Big Coal - and by that I mean not just coal mining companies, but also the railroads that haul the coal, as well as the electric utilities and power companies that burn it - exerts a huge influence not only in Washington D.C., but in state and local governments, too. The Southern Company, a large Atlanta-based power company that is one of the largest coal burners in the country and a longtime opponent of global warming legislation, spent about $9 million in federal lobbying fees this year alone - that's nearly as much as ExxonMobil, a company that is 10 times larger. Peabody Energy, the largest privately-held coal company in the world, spent almost $6 million.
According to an October article in the NYT,
Political spending by the coal industry is on track to exceed what it spent in the 2008 cycle, when the presidency was at stake and Congress appeared determined to move forward with a national energy policy designed to address climate change by cutting back on the use of coal and petroleum.
As of early October, the mining industry, which is mostly coal, contributed more than $3 million to federal candidates, the great majority of it going to Republicans. The industry backed up its contributions with a major media blitz - the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, an industry front group, spent more than $16 million on ads this year touting the virtues of "clean" coal.
So what lies has Big Coal been shoving down all of our throats? Here are just some of their more insidious fabrications:
*Lie #1- If you are against mountaintop removal then you do not support coal mining. This is lowest common denominator logic and further from the truth than a Don Blankenship interview but this association is made and no where more than in the WV Democratic Party. Not to worry, these cowards and culprits shall have their day. For the record, MTR is the most destructive mining technique ever unleashed on God's Earth. It destroys communities with floods, blasting, and poisons; covers up watersheds with waste and rubble; and poisons WV people, plants, and animals with heavy metals like selenium. I am against that. I am not against other types of coal mining. I want well paying coal jobs for WV as long as they are safe and not permanently and perversely destructive.
*Lie #2- Obama is launching regulatory jihad on coal. The National Mining Association's racist jab at the President of the United States underscores Corporate Coal's strategy of propagandizing citizens into thinking that outsiders are trying to come in and change your life for the worse. The reality is that this has already taken place. Absentee coal kings, hiding behind regional and local henchmen, have robbed coal producing regions blind, especially in Appalachia, especially in West Virginia. The regulations Corporate Coal complain about are meant to protect the citizens of West Virginia. Be it safety or public health, these absentee robber barons don't care about West Virginians- never have, never will. Corporate Coal would have us eliminate the already weak stop gap between them and scorched earth greed in the West Virginia hills. There message is effective and it is dangerous.
*Lie #3- They are taking our jobs and ruining our economy. Another whopper of a lie but one that folks sometimes go too far in arguing against. West Virginia does benefit from coal through employment and taxes. As a resource rich State, we were able to keep our State budget out of the Red during the Great Recession. However, let's be honest on what West Virginia is actually getting out of this arrangement. We rank near the bottom of every national fiscal category and allow billions in coal profits to leave our State, while only charging a pittance of a severance tax.
Beyond that, the number of coal mining jobs has dropped by tens of thousands thanks to mechanized mining. How many MTR miners are there really? According to the US Energy Information Administration, there were only 3,600 surface miners in 2007. Given that some of those surface miners may be engaged in other methods of surface mining that is not MTR, I am not sure what the real figure is. This is not to say that these jobs are not important, but if you calculate the coal that would be extracted via other more labor demanding means on top of other job opportunities that are permanently eliminated (wind mills, tourism, timber, etc) then I would wager you would find a long term net loss in jobs because of practices like MTR.
How to Fight Back So in the face of this onslaught of propaganda what can folks do to fight for a more balanced approach to coal extraction in West Virginia?
Be tenacious- Don't give up. They may have more money but we have the truth and the resolve to defend our State, our People, and our childrens' future. It is like a street fight. When debating, hit the other person first and never stop swinging. Keep them on the defensive. Continue to blog, talk to neighbors, write editorials, call politicians, and organize. Continue to fight.
Have the facts but don't confuse the message- Have research readily available and cite it when debating. There is no need to come up with whopping lies like they do. Structure what you are trying to say and infuse a few stats to back it up. Always end with a simple branded message- I personally like "Our Coal, Our Way" because it goes right in the face of the opposition's message.
Push for a moderate, balanced approach- I truly believe that coal can be mined and used responsibly as a resource. It is those that would put their heads in the sand regarding the destruction of mountaintop removal or the long term threat of global warming for short term energy and profit that are radical. We need balance and balance sells with the public.
Stay positive and stay simple- These are both hard as hell given the tough subject matter but pushing positive solutions and being able to wrap your argument up with a bumper sticker line is crucial to marketing a political message. You can get painted in a corner on a coal debate by trying to be too elaborate in defense. Hit em' with your talking points and always brand your argument.
Hold folks accountable- Cowards and culprits litter WV Democratic Party leadership. Coal politics are cutthroat. These folks need to be strategically identified, isolated, and forced to defend their position. We have to be relentless, smart, and organized and we have to have one another's backs. I do not believe in single issue advocacy but we have to be willing to use political capital if we really want to make a difference in the State and in the Democratic Party.
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Which leads me to wonder...has anyone ever been so loud and proud about shoving their head in the sand and ignoring 
First of all, if you do your research (as Ken Ward does) you know that
