Appalachia
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The Climate Post: The Tea Party climate and the future of clean energy
Read about CO2 regulations, dueling country stars, geoengineering's effects, algae fuel, and more.
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My old Kentucky home: Threatened by mountaintop removal
Ashley Judd speaking about mountaintop removal at the National Press Club. Cross-posted from onearth. I love and am proud of being a hillbilly. I trace my family in the mountains of eastern Kentucky back at least eight generations. There is no better home than Kentucky. But the land I love and the way of life […]
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They’re still blowing up our mountains and there still oughta be a law
Cross-posted from iLoveMountains.org A month ago, before the nation’s attention was drawn to the tragedies at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia and the oil rig off the Louisiana coast, the EPA issued a blockbuster announcement about a strict new guidance for the permitting of mountaintop removal mines in Appalachia. The announcement left many people — reporters, politicians, […]
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Appalachians hail EPA’s great victory for Clean Water Act and justice
Earlier this morning, I wrote a piece for April Fool’s Day, Obama Ends 150-Year War of Strip-Mining in 24 States: Mountaintop Removal Loses Its Groove. Well, turns out the second part wasn’t an April Fool’s joke after all. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson invoked the rule of science and law today — and for the first […]
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Citizens gather in Washington to end 'mountain bombing' of Appalachia
More than 200 citizen lobbyists from across the nation gathered in Washington, D.C. this week to urge Congress to pass legislation curbing mountaintop removal. This especially destructive form of coal mining involves blasting off the tops of Appalachian mountains and dumping the waste into headwater streams below, a practice known as “valley fills.” The activists […]
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Philadelphia activists rally & risk arrest to tell the EPA no more MTR
Philly EPA Considering 16 New Mining Permits This morning activists in Philadelphia descended upon their Regional EPA branch to put an end to Mountaintop Removal mining (MTR). Decisions made here in Philly have devastating consequences for Appalachian communities and our country as a whole. Activists prepared to enter the building and risk arrest by sitting-in […]
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Roberts, take 1: Coal is in short supply, expensive, and cannot be made clean
This is the second entry in a series of six email exchanges between two climate-change experts on the future use of coal. The series was originally posted here. Editorial note: Roberts argues that the key question is not “how can we best reduce carbon dioxide emissions?” Rather, we need to confront a more fundamental question […]
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Copenhagen, U.S.A. December 7
If the Obama administration is unwilling or unable to stop the massive environmental destruction of historic mountain ranges and essential drinking water for a relatively tiny amount of coal, can we honestly believe they will be able to phase out coal emissions at the level necessary to stop climate change? –Dr. James […]
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An Appalachian tale
Editor’s Note: Author Ann Pancake grew up in the heart of West Virginia coal country. Her 2007 novel Strange as this Weather Has Been is the story of one family’s struggle against the relentless destruction of its beloved mountains. I went home to West Virginia a couple weeks ago. October is the most beautiful season […]