mountaintop removal
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Trump halted a study of coal’s health effects in Appalachia
This is bad news for people living near mountaintop coal removal sites.
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The Dark Lord of Coal Country could (finally) spend time behind bars
Don Blankenship, the former CEO of Massey Energy, has been indicted on charges that could land him in jail for 30 years.
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Larry Gibson
Fr. Dan Berrigan once wrote a poem, “Some,” that I thought of after hearing of Appalachian hero Larry Gibson’s death two days ago: Some stood up once and sat down. Some walked a mile and walked away. Some stood up twice then sat down. It’s too much, they cried. Some walked two miles then walked […]
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Mass Movements in the USA Today
What does it take to build a popular movement that has a chance of succeeding in its objectives? I thought about this a good bit during my recent vacation in the West Virginia mountains. I’ve been personally involved in several mass movements over the course of my adult life: the draft resistance and anti-Vietnam war […]
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With HR 2018 House – Once Again – Passes Attack on Water, Science, Humans
Yesterday evening, the House of Representatives passed The Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act (HR 2018), a bill that turns back the clock 40 years on the environmental and public health protections in the Clean Water Act. This brazen attack on public protections is the closest big industrial polluters have ever come to completely gutting laws […]
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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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Kentucky coal companies remind us why we really, really need the EPA
The latest episode in the saga known as Big Coal's Watergate began Tuesday when environmental and citizen groups filed a second notice of intent to sue the two largest mountaintop-removal mining companies in Kentucky.
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More birth defects in mountaintop removal mining areas
Babies born in West Virginia regions where mountaintop removal mining takes place suffer from higher rates of birth defects than those born in non-mining regions. Mining regions tend to be low-income and deal with the slew of problems correlated with that, but the birth defect rates are higher even when accounting for "socioeconomic disadvantages."
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A Powerful March on Blair Mountain
“There will come a time, I know, when people will take delight in one another, when each will be a star to the other, and when each will listen to his fellow as to music. The free people will walk upon the earth, people great in their freedom. They will walk with open hearts, and […]