mountaintop-removal mining
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Obama administration can still protect streams from mountaintop-removal mining, despite setback in D.C. court
Environmental and community advocates got some jarring news Tuesday when a federal judge rejected EPA’s “guidance” on surface mine permitting in Appalachia — the centerpiece of its three-year effort to curtail the environmental damage caused by mountaintop-removal coal mining. While it was unwelcome news, it was not as devastating as portrayed in the initial round of […]
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Franzen on love, sex, population, birds, and making the world less toxic
If you’ve read the bestseller Freedom, you won’t be surprised to hear that novelist Jonathan Franzen describes himself as “a long-time green.” One of the book’s main characters, Walter Berglund, is “greener than Greenpeace,” Franzen tells us on the first page. Walter throws himself into campaigns to fight population growth and save birds, ultimately leading […]
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Mountaintop-removal mining is unpopular even in coal country
A strong majority of Appalachians oppose mountaintop-removal coal mining -- 57 percent -- according to a new poll conducted in the region.
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People living near mountaintop-removal mines have way more cancer
Mountaintop-removal mining is not only bad for the environment, it's bad -- very bad -- for the health of the people who are exposed to it. A new study, based on a door-to-door survey, found that in communities exposed to this type of mining, cancer rates were twice as high as in communities that weren’t exposed. That's after controlling for all of those other cancer-causing factors: age, sex, smoking, occupation, etc.
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Ain’t no mountain high enough: Taking down Massey Coal
An effective combination of civil disobedience and legal reform is actually taking shape in the fight against mountaintop-removal mining and Massey.
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Coal company: 'Birth defects aren't from mining, they're because you're inbred hicks'
Babies born in areas with mountaintop-removal mining have higher rates of birth defects -- we know that from a study that came out last month. But, say coal companies, that doesn't mean the mining CAUSES the birth defects! They could easily be caused by something else -- like, say, rampant inbreeding.
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Don’t you dare blow up this mountain: Defending a historic spot against Big Coal [VIDEO]
Hundreds of activists from around the country joined local unionized coal miners in standing up to the coal industry last week, marching for five days and 50 miles through West Virginia. Their protest culminated on Saturday at Blair Mountain, the site of a violent clash in 1921 between 15,000 striking coal miners and a hired […]
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Blair Mountain: A new milestone in the climate justice movement?
Those making the March on Blair Mountain are part of a long history of activism.Photo: Cheshire Tongkat/March on Blair MountainTim DeChristopher is a climate activist and cofounder of Peaceful Uprising. He has been beatified as a saint in the Church of Earthalujah by the Reverend Billy and convicted as a felon by the United States […]
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The New Yorker slams oil-focused Obama for letting the planet burn
We’re screwed.Check out Elizabeth Kolbert in The New Yorker: When Obama took office, he appointed some of the country’s most knowledgeable climate scientists to his Administration, and it seemed for a time as if he might take his responsibility to lead on this issue seriously. That hope has faded. The President sat on the sidelines […]