Obama EPA approves another mountaintop removal mine

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

Come on, Barack!
I worked my butt off for you in WV last year.
I'm trying to be optimistic and am still in your corner, but this is very, very disappointing to me.

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Obama administration late last week quietly approved one of six major mountaintop removal permits that were said to be undergoing close scrutiny by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Without announcing the move publicly, EPA gave the nod for the federal Army Corps of Engineers to issue a Clean Water Act permit for CONSOL Energy Inc.'s Peg Fork Surface Mine near Chattaroy in Mingo County.

more
http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200908110642

[salguine]

1. It's SO obvious you want a pony. How dare you question St. Barack.

[Fluffdaddy]

2. What's wrong with mountaintop removal?

If it's done right with environmental protection.

We need the coal

[PVnRT]

3. Seriously?

Headwater stream contamination, destruction of forests and natural habitats, loss of jobs (requires a hell of a lot fewer miners), contaminated well water, damage to nearby homes, areas that look like Vietnam after a healthy dosage of bombs and Agent Orange:



By the way, all those effects happen when they're following the environmental permits they're given; since the Army Corps of Engineers gets them, they're usually much less restrictive than what the law would require.

http://www.ilovemountains.org/resources/
http://www.kftc.org/our-work/general-assembly/stream-saver-bill/toolkit/WHATISMTR.pdf
http://www.mountainjusticesummer.org/facts/steps.php

[uponit7771]

9. whoa, yeah...that's nasty...

[dionysus]

8. omg, was that a serious question?

:yoiks:

[Fluffdaddy]

14. Yes it's a serious question.

I have no problem with it as long as the land is reclaimed. Logging companies have been doing it for years.

We need the coal an jobs

[dionysus]

17. well, you can replant a forest, but once the mountain and valleys are gone, they are gone for good.

[northernlights]

12. how do you do complete environment destruction

with "environmental protection?"

This alone is enough to make me hate humanity. :grr:

[Captain Hilts]

4. Obama was pro-coal all through the election. nt

[OwnedByFerrets]

5. Doesn't mean hes right or that he shouldn't be called on it.

[Captain Hilts]

18. Didn't say he was or he shouldn't. nt

[glitch]

7. He made a big point about being for "clean" coal.

That must apply to only its consumption, not its extraction, right?

Beware the fine print.

edit: this weak defense shows how truly indefensible mountaintop removal is.

[PVnRT]

13. So? Does that mean this is perfectly fine?

No, it doesn't. I knew he would be friendly towards King Coal, didn't like it, but voted for him anyway. It doesn't mean he gets left of the hook for his administration allowing the continued destruction of our mountains.

[Captain Hilts]

19. Just stating a fact. Now. folks are surprised. Beats me why. nt

[Triana]

6. WTF?!

:mad:
:grr:

[Gregorian]

10. Only because there is demand.

What is the alternative?

If anyone if constantly plagued by the destruction of the world around him, it's me. I'm not defending this kind of action at all. I condemn it with every ounce of my body. I have given up more than most could take, because I couldn't tolerate seeing it. And now that I realize it's here to stay with us, I cringe in my sleep. It's that bad. I have no place to go to call home. Every place seems to have a piece of this death going on. And all because of demand. That translates to population, in case anyone needs to see that.

It's not Obama. It's us. Us, six billion times.

There is an alternative, but it means stopping what we're doing.


Here's just one little piece. The logging mill closed in this town. And it sits on a bluff overlooking the ocean. It must be a hundred acres of the most beautiful land on earth. And of course the idiots are already descending upon it to decide what it should be. I cringe and rage at this notion that we must do things. We cannot simply let alone. What about just leaving that land as it is. Why not just have a beautiful place. So it will probably end up another main street with stores. Or something equally as retched. Beauty, peace, silence. These are things that don't equate with American "values". We're a shitty people. That's my experience.

[ensho]

11. the coal Barons must have a foot on Obama's throat

West Virgina used to be a totally beautiful state

[Binka]

15. Remember Bob Murray?

The fuckhat responsible for the Crandall mine tragedy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Murray

[asphalt.jungle]

16. And the people of WV didn't want him. He got his butt kicked by McCain there.

They seem to like these pro-coal industry policies and thought he wasn't going to be pro-coal enough to satisfy their local economic engine. People power and all of that nonsense.