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POPSMama said: "there'd be days like this." Hopeless Hopi What I like to know is where do you go to report a planetary rapist, pimps for Peabody Coal, and the ravaging of land held sacred for thousands of years by Hopi and Navajo who only walk with us as spirits now? The sickest of criminals and lifelong bullies are those who commit crimes against humanity just because they can - aka: Peabody Coal.
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POPSThe Unstoppable Coal Fire Blazing Beneath Pennsylvania In 1962, firemen in the Pennsylvanian mining town of Centralia successfully extinguished a minor blaze at a landfill dump – but little did they know a layer of coal just below the surface had ignited, creating a hidden and deadly inferno that raged undetected beneath the town for almost twenty years.
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POPSCourt Allows Gold Mine to Dump Waste in Lake He said the ruling will allow any developer of a project -- from Pebble to a coal-fired power plant in the Midwest -- to get around federal water-quality standards by petitioning the U.S. Corps of Engineers to redefine its waste as fill material, Waldo said. That allows for easier, cheaper disposal: when industrial waste is considered fill, it doesn't have to meet state water-quality standards at the point of discharge; however, the water downstream still must meet water-quality standards. The Corps approved a permit allowing Coeur Alaska to put the tailings in Lower Slate Lake, even though it would kill the fish -- Dolly Varden and threespine stickleback. The permit required the company to restore the lake when the mine closes and restock it with fish. Otherwise, the company would have to forfeit its reclamation bond.
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POPSStopping the Desecration of Mountaintop Removal Of course, that's not the question. There are many ways to mine coal besides blowing up the environment. The question is whether Obama will turn his back on the mountains, the people and his own integrity. The industry rationalizes its greed in the name of creating jobs for this hard-hit region - but mountaintop removal relies on dynamite and huge machines, not workers. In fact, thousands of mining jobs have been lost as corporations switched to this method. In all of Appalachia, there are only 19,000 jobs connected to every form of surface mining - and the tiniest fraction of those are in mountaintop removal. A much brighter job future is to develop Appalachia's boundless green-energy potential - a blue-green initiative that's supposed to be one of Obama's top priorities.
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POPSObama, Minions cave in to Big Coal, Mountaintop Mining
Gawd what a buncha hypocrites and LIARS they are becoming. More: And EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said this year that the agency had "considerable concern" about the projects. She pledged that her agency would "use the best science and follow the letter of the law in ensuring we are protecting our environment." Soon afterward, the agency blocked six major mountaintop projects in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. But this month, after White House meetings with coal companies and advocates such as Rahall and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, the EPA gave the green light to at least two dozen projects. "It was a big disappointment," said Joan Mulhern, a lawyer for Earthjustice, an environmental law firm that has led court challenges to mountaintop removal. Mulhern charged that the EPA "blew off" Jackson's earlier promises that the agency would adhere to science and conduct an open process. Ed Hopkins, a top Sierra Club official, said that some of the projects that obtained
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POPS17 Arrested in West Virginia Protesting Mountaintop Mining
Protesters left a banner on top of 7 billion gallons of toxic waste and were fined for littering. The irony of this is over the top. We think nothing of flipping a switch to light our homes, to turn on a computer, or a TV, or keep food in a refrigerator. We pay our electrical bill and think nothing of it. These people are paying for our convenience with more than money. They live downstream from a dam holding back billions of gallons of toxic sludge. The fear they live with day and night worrying when that dam will break must be overwhelming. I wonder, if we were to trade places with these people and let them flip an electrical switch for the sake of convenience, what they would think of us protesting against what coal companies are doing to our surroundings, to our homes, to our sanity. Remember, all their protests are falling on deaf ears at every level of government. Their representatives turn their backs on them and have them arrested for exercising their right to prote
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POPSOne Brave Soul "Indeed, the Lijiawa mine tragedy might still be an official non-event, but one brave soul reported the cover-up in September on an Internet chat site. The central government in Beijing stepped in, firing 25 local officials and putting 22 of them under criminal investigation. The results of the inquiry are expected this month. In September, an Internet posting pleaded for justice. The writer said he had repeatedly reported the accident to the authorities. “No feedback for over 70 days!!!!” he wrote. Instead, callers threatened him. Hebei’s governor finally disclosed the accident in October. The Beijing news media subsequently reported that 25 officials had been fired, that an official report had been faked and that dozens of journalists had taken bribes. Now the central government is busily trying to make an example of Yu County by shutting down illegal mines. A new cast of officials is in charge."
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POPSBlack and orange water prompts lawsuit The lawsuit filed recently in Boone County Circuit Court claims decades of surface and underground mining activities near the West Virginia communities of Prenter and Seth fractured the geologic strata that had contained the slurry, a byproduct of cleaning the coal. It claims the network of cracks created a pathway for the slurry to contaminate the aquifer. An environmental consultant hired by the plaintiffs says "a very toxic and pungent" hydrogen sulfide gas was evident in every home, while every water sample had apparent odor and discoloration. Testing revealed varying levels of arsenic, lead, iron, manganese and sulfides, according the report the consultant filed with the court.
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POPSHow Bush altered Appalachian landscape "And this here is what hell looks like to me on Earth," Gibson says on a rainy winter day. Bill Raney of the West Virginia Coal Association says having a friend in the White House — President Bush — has been great for coal.
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POPSBush’s Backward Sprint To The Finish (in depth report) LABOR - Allowing truckers to work 14 hour days - Requiring labor unions to file extensive financial reports - Making it harder to regulate toxic substances on the job - Stripping collective bargaining rights from federal employees - Relaxing rules on investment adviser conflicts of interest - Revising H-2A visa rules to lower wages and encourage exploitation
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POPSBush sneaks laws to undermine Obama Public health and safety be damned. Bush is paying back industry leaders for their support during his terms and he is still "leaving office with a clear conscience:. One rule will make it easier for coal companies to dump debris from strip mining into valleys and streams. Another will allow power companies to build coal-fired power stations nearer to national parks. Another will allow coal-fired stations to increase their emissions without installing new anti-pollution equipment. One lengthens the number of hours that truck drivers can drive without rest Another surrenders government control of rerouting the rail transport of hazardous materials around densely populated areas and gives it to the rail companies. A common theme is shifting regulation of industry from government to the industries themselves, essentially promoting self-regulation. And we have all seen how well that worked with the banking industry.
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POPSFind a Nice Cave We are dependent on Oil, congress won't let us drill at home. We are dependent on foreign countries for uranium, no mining for uranium in VA. Obama wants to bankrupt the coal industry.
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POPSBush Last-Minute Rules Cement Obscene Environmental Legacy We'll be working for many years just to undue this insanity. Where is the Congress? Oh, yeah, busy bailing out failed capitalism with our tax money.... what a clusterfuck of "leaders" we have and what we leave our children gets more and more horrible...Thanks a bunch George, you insane asshole! I hope you die soon and in much pain. I've lost all compassion for you, buddy. And Yo Mama and Papa and brothers too!
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