Tourists watch as mining companies level mountains in Appalachia

[Thom Little]

Mountaintop removal coal mining, which had largely been relegated to the Appalachian back country, has been edging closer to major highways because of a mining boom sparked by higher coal prices.

And that's created a sort of reverse eco-tourism among people seeking to get their first up-close look at the much-debated practice. It's also provided a new opportunity for environmentalists to try to sway more people into opposing such mines.

.......

"Once people observe what is happening their jaws drop in disbelief," says Rausch, a Stanton priest who organizes tours to eastern Kentucky.

"You can't introduce people to Appalachia without addressing mountaintop removal," he says. "It is so large, so in your face. You can't overlook it."


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NH_MOUNTAINTOP_REMOVAL_TOURISM_NHOL-?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-12-18-09-27-28

[Lasher]

1. Hey, was that your 1000th post? (EOM)

[no_hypocrisy]

2. "Paradise" by John Prine

When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.

Chorus:
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Adrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.

Repeat Chorus:

Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.

Repeat Chorus:

When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'
Just five miles away from wherever I am.

Repeat Chorus:

[Dead_Parrot]

3. Bloody hell

Caylor says mountaintop removal also creates much-needed flat land for factories, airports, subdivisions, golf courses and baseball fields.

For some reason, this is probably the most profoundly disturbing statement I think I've ever seen in relation to the enviroment. Worse than methane releases, thermohaline shutdown or the species we've wiped out without naming them: Levelling a mountain is OK, because you get a golf course afterwards. What the fuck?

[phantom power]

4. That's what God gave earth to Man for, didn't you hear?

It's our duty to turn the earth into one unbroken mass of strip-malls, golf-courses and factories. And when the last acre is finally built over, Jesus will come and we will all go to heaven and own 72 Hummers.

[Dead_Parrot]

5. Wasn't that one of Regan's admin?

Said something along the lines of Jesus coming back when the last tree was cut down? OK, here's a thought - Proposal for changing the US Constitution, article II, Sec 4:

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors, or for being a screaming fundie whack-job with delusions of righteousness or desire to bring about Armageddon.

That should solve a few problems.

[phantom power]

6. That would be the infamous James Watt, secretary of the interior.

To my knowledge, he never mentioned any specific goals about "last tree," or "last acre," but it is definitely on public record that he believed environmentalism to be (at best) irrelevant, because he firmly believed that the Second Coming would be within his lifetime.

According to that recent movie "The God that wasn't there," 44% of Americans believe that the Second coming will either "absolutely" or "quite possibly" occur in our lifetimes. So that's close to 1/2 of America which is a total write-off when it comes to any environmental issue. At best 56% of Americans are even capable of considering the environment to be an important consideration for their children or grandchildren, etc.

56%. That's the upper limit. And when you look around at what's happening, it shows, don't it?


Oh, and it also explains a lot of other things, like our mysteriously cavalier attitude toward $8-trillion dollars of debt. 44% of Americans are evidently confident that nobody will be around to pay it anyway.

[Dead_Parrot]

8. Thanks. Watt's original quotes:

"That is the delicate balance the Secretary of the Interior must have: to be steward for the natural resources for this generation as well as future generations. I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns; whatever it is we have to manage with a skill to leave the resources needed for future generations." -- JW, testimony before the House Interior Committee, February 1981

-and-

"My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns." -- JW, The Washington Post, May 24, 1981

It was Bill Moyers who re-hashed this into the "last tree" quote, which was so catchy it stuck. whether this is an accurate summary of Watt's thoughts is something you can decide for yourself... ;)

(Just for the record. Gotta love Google...)

It amazes me that the US managed to become the world leader in so many areas, when a large chunk of the population seem to gravitate towards the fourteenth century as some sort of ideal. I'm surprised the Wright brothers weren't burned at the stake for invading heaven. :grr:

Still, look on the bright side...

Oh wait, there isn't one.

Fuck.

[phantom power]

7. Oh hell, you were right...

It's even worse than I remembered.

Odds are it was in 1981, when President Reagan's first secretary of the interior, James Watt, told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. "God gave us these things to use. After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back," Watt said in public testimony that helped get him fired.

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=18008