mining and drilling
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Massey denies time off for workers to attend funerals of mine victims
The coal and oil industries are really trying to outdo each other these days. Massey Energy, the criminally unsafe coal mining and intimidation company, refuses to give workers time off to attend the funerals of friends who died in Massey’s Upper Big Branch Mine, the Washington Independent reports: Massey Energy, the Virginia-based coal giant that […]
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What the green movement needs from the next Supreme Court justice
Courtesy Kyle Rush via FlickrFederal-court watcher Glenn Sugameli suggests two ways President Obama’s next Supreme Court nominee can help make the court more ecologically intelligent. Nine years ago Sugameli founded Judging the Environment, a clearinghouse for info on how federal judges (who get lifetime appointments) determine environmental policy. He’s also a staff attorney at Defenders […]
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Mining industry invests in politicans; stopped mine safety laws
A bill to help rescue miners in emergencies and protect miners’ safety was defeated in Congress three years ago. After passing the House, the bill, called the S-MINER Act, died in a Senate committee. Mining interests, who were opposed to this bill, gave twice as much money in campaign contributions to House members who voted […]
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Before the Massey mine disaster, there was Crandall Canyon
I’m reposting an essay I wrote in 2007 about another mine disaster. It’s relevant to what’s happening now in West Virginia. In March 2007, I testified before a House subcommittee on energy and mineral resources about the impact of climate change on public lands. There were seven witnesses, and one was Robert Murray, founder of […]
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Obama’s mountaintop-removal crackdown could mean more than offshore drilling
Offshore drilling, auto-efficiency standards, water-heater regs, green jobs for strippers … there’s a ton going on this week. But today’s big news is a lot brighter than yesterday’s offshore drilling hubbub: the Obama administration announced sweeping new regulations for mountaintop removal, the coal-mining method that tends to (a) remove mountaintops, (b) fill mountain valleys with […]
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‘Britain’s Appalachia’ engineers a brighter post-coal future
Can renewable energy turn Wales as clean and shiny as the Cardiff waterfront?Courtesy ttfnrob via FlickrThe sparkling, sanitized waterfront of Cardiff, Wales, reveals barely a hint of the country’s grimy industrial past. Where one of the busiest ports anywhere once shipped Welsh coal out into the world, a complex of upscale shops, pubs, and restaurants […]
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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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Science confirms that blowing up mountains harms mountains
Scientists would shout this from the mountaintops, but …Photo: farukahmet via Creative CommonsLet’s say you trundle a bunch of enormous industrial equipment into North America’s oldest mountains (an intact temperate ecosystem boasting rich biodiversity, including a number of endangered species), clear-cut the forests, blow millions of tons off the top of the mountains, dump the […]
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The True Impact of Coal Mining
We learned with sadness this week that blasting has begun on Coal River Mountain in West Virginia, site of a long battle between Massey Energy and local residents who want the mountain to be a site for 200 wind turbines instead of mountaintop removal coal mining. Massey has ignored these pleas, despite research showing that […]
