No More Mountaintop Removals

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Steve Plonk
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No More Mountaintop Removals

Post by Steve Plonk » April 23rd, 2010, 9:49 pm

Tuesday, April 13, 2010
U.S. Senator from TN Calls For Legislative Action on Mountaintop Removal

“Our legislation is needed to end [mountaintop removal] before its destruction is so expansive that the Appalachian region can never recover,” said Senator Lamar Alexander in a recent article for Nashville newspaper "The Tennessean".

Senator Alexander said that Tennessee’s natural beauty attracts millions of tourists, generating employment and economic opportunities in the state. Blowing off mountain tops and burying streams with blast debris would harm this industry as well as the health of Tennesseans and their environment.

Senator Alexander, along with Senator Ben Cardin from Maryland introduced SB 696, the Appalachia Restoration Act, a bill in the U.S. Senate that would stop valley fills, the practice of disposing of blast rubble and waste in waterways. The bill currently has 11 cosponsors.

“Coal is an essential part of our energy future,” Senator Alexander said, “but it is not necessary to destroy our mountaintops and streams in order to have enough coal.” Read the full article.

Posted by jules, on "The Appalachian Voice's" "Front Porch Blog" website, April 13, 2010. Reprinted here in a slightly different form.

I was pleasantly suprised by Senator Alexander's support. He is pro-environment but was against the Health Care Bills. See above. Thank you to the news media for the heads up in both papers.

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Post by Steve Plonk » May 18th, 2010, 11:55 am

The oil keeps spilling, and, meanwhile back at the ranch, the coal companies keep removing mountaintops. This practice must stop.

Mountaintop removal happens periodically in any state which has mountains and coal. It has been happening in West Virginia for years and in Kentucky. I'm not clear how many have been removed in Virginia & Pennsylvania.
However, here in Tennessee it has just begun and we are trying to stop it.
One of the organizations trying to stop mountaintop removal is called "Save our Cumberland Mountains". The slag is fouling valleys, lakes and creeks as we speak and polluting rivers, etc. with mercury and other poisonous compounds. It is very destructive to the lifestyles of folks who live near a huge stripmine operation. Whole towns have been inundated in the past with slag-filled floods caused by the stripminers operations.

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stilltrucking
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Post by stilltrucking » May 19th, 2010, 5:40 am

EPA Announces New Water Quality Standards for Mountaintop Removal Permits

Some of us were hoping (if unrealistically) for an all-out ban, but the move should at least reduce the damage to water quality that mountaintop removal is known for.

Tree Hugger dot com

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Post by Steve Plonk » May 19th, 2010, 10:35 am

The new EPA regulations are an encouraging sign. There is legislation in congress, SB 696, which proposes an all-out ban on mountaintop removals. See my news article above. I hope this practice ends soon. I've seen the destruction close-up in Kentucky. Please write your senators to support the above bill.

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mnaz
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Post by mnaz » July 6th, 2010, 1:31 pm

steve, any word on what happened to this bill? i'm guessing it died a quick, quiet death, or will soon, if congress is as bought by corporate interests as I've been saying for the last several years. good topic. absolutely. full ban!

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Post by Steve Plonk » July 6th, 2010, 6:56 pm

The official name of Senate Bill 696 or S. 696 is "The Appalachia Restoration Act". It now has 12 senate co-sponsors and is worming its way through the U.S. Senate...More to follow.

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Re: No More Mountaintop Removals

Post by Steve Plonk » June 7th, 2011, 11:00 pm

SAVE BLAIR MOUNTAIN! See link, below:
http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/201106071193

Steve Plonk
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Re: No More Mountaintop Removals

Post by Steve Plonk » October 9th, 2011, 10:56 am

Here's the latest protest against Mountaintop Removal: See link and article, below...

http://ilovemountains.org/news/893

and...
Virginia Rising: DC Rally to save Ison Rock Ridge Nov 16th!
Thursday, October 6th, 2011

The following email was sent to supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.

In Wise County Virginia, a mountain known as Ison Rock Ridge is slated to be destroyed by a 1,200 acre mountaintop removal coal mine. Ison Rock Ridge sits above five small communities made up of 1,800 people. If the permit is approved, the quality of life for these people would effectively be destroyed as well.


The proposed mountaintop removal permit boundary calls for mining 300 feet from some community members’ homes as well as the burying of headwater streams that feed the creeks running through their communities.


Your efforts have held this permit at bay for years but now the EPA is close to making a final decision, and the state is siding with the coal companies. We need to make our voices heard louder than ever by showing up at their doorsteps and demanding justice.


On November 16th, we will gather in DC in front of the EPA headquarters alongside community members from Wise County to ask the EPA to Keep Ison Rock Ridge Standing.


I Love Mountains is teaming up with the Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition and others to bring hundreds of people to the doorstep of the U.S. EPA. The EPA’s authority is all that stands in the way of blasting on Ison Rock Ridge but the agency has indicated that it is considering allowing the permit to move forward!


No matter where you are from, please join us in DC for Virginia Rising: the rally to keep Ison Rock Ridge Standing!


Virginia Rising: Wednesday November 16th, 12:00 PM, Washington, D.C. – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW


Click here for the facebook event, invite your friends!

Best,

Matt Wasson
iLoveMountains.org

Steve Plonk
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Re: No More Mountaintop Removals

Post by Steve Plonk » January 28th, 2013, 6:07 pm

Here's a newer link from the NRDC on our subject:
http://www.nrdc.org/energy/coal/mtr/about.asp

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