Join me in standing up for Mountain Heroes–add your photo to the petition.

Stand in Solidarity with Mountain Heroes

Join me today in standing in solidarity with Mountain Heroes — add your photo and words of support to the online photo petition hosted by our friends at Earthjustice.

The heroes fighting for the mountains they know and love are asking us to stand with them against mountaintop removal mining and for a better way forward by joining the Mountain Heroes petition.

Mountains & Wildlife Destroyed

As I stood with local activists in the Coal River Mountain Valley, they pointed to the nearest mountain ridge and explained that hidden just beyond it were vast expanses of destruction.

The rich forests and streams where my new friends grew up exploring, searching for ginseng, and fishing were gone–replaced with rubble that resembled a moonscape.

The forests and streams of central Appalachia are abundant with diverse plants and wildlife–bears, coyotes, foxes, owls, Wild Turkeys, salamanders, trout and colorful darters. But, coal companies are blasting vast mountain ranges and dumping the rubble into huge valleys, destroying forests and communities. Coal processing plants are spreading coal dust and endangering the lives of everyone living in the valleys below the massive toxic slurry ponds, built with earthen dams that have collapsed with deadly consequences.

Join the Struggle Against Mountaintop Removal

Seeing the contrast from rich wildlife habitat to wasteland while visiting the struggling communities kept poor by “King Coal” is unlike anything I’ve seen before or since. Yet, people fighting for their homes and mountains are undaunted. They continue the struggle against wealthy coal companies and their massive tools of destruction.

Show your solidarity with Mountain Heroes against mountaintop removal and for clean energy.

Standing on top of another decapitated mountain.

Last week I travelled to Charleston West Virginia to see mountaintop removal coal mining. I saw the scale of mining underway and was taken aback. No community should be forced to tolerate this amount of environmental destruction.

The mountain forests and streams of Appalachia are magical places, with some of the richest biodiversity in North America. In my hikes through these forests, I have been fascinated by dazzling array of salamanders, crayfish, mussels and other unique aquatic species. Much of this treasure is now at risk because of mountaintop removal (MTR) mining.

What Is Mountaintop Removal?

MTR involves the removal of coal seams by destroying the forest, soil and rocks laying above them. This differs from traditional mining, where miners get to the coal with underground methods and leave the vast majority of the mountain undisturbed. The enormous amount of waste from MTR – 16 tons of material is displaced for every ton of coal mined - is either placed back on the ridge or dumped into neighboring valleys in a process known as “valley fill.”  Valley fills have caused the destruction of nearly2,000 miles of streams in Appalachia.

Because the region’s thick, easy-to-reach seams of coal are running out, coal companies in Appalachia are abandoning traditional mining and rapidly expanding MTR operations. In this respect, MTR closely parallels the oil industry’s shift to the more environmentally destructive deepwater drilling in the face of disappearing onshore and shallow water reserves.

As this map shows, nearly 1.2 million acres, an area roughly the size of Delaware, has now been heavily mined in Appalachia in large part due to the explosion of MTR mining. Dozens of permit applications for additional large-scale MTR projects are pending before state and federal regulators.

It is sad enough to think so many children from West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia could grow up without knowing the solace of a healthy mountain forest or without enjoying fishing in a vibrant mountain stream. But the consequences of MTR go beyond the loss of wildlife heritage.  Appalachian communities are now increasingly exposed to dangerous flooding as the forests that absorb and filter rainwater are removed.  Residents who live near mountaintop removal mine sites increasingly complain of orange and black tap water flowing from their faucets.  Meanwhile, a series of studies are emerging that suggest a disturbing connection between MTR and birth defects, cancer and other health problems.  

What You Can Do

Downhill from mountaintop removal, a lifeless stream

So how can everyday citizens help turn this situation around?  The first thing we can do is insist that the coal companies and state and federal agencies comply with environmental, health and safety laws.  Write to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at this address and insist that she veto any pending applications for MTR projects until new rules are put in place to protect people and their environment and compliance with the Clean Water Act is achieved. In particular, Administrator Jackson should reinstate the rule protecting streams from “valley fills” that was arbitrarily revoked by the Bush Administration in 2002.

To become an effective advocate, it helps to become more informed.  To study up more on this issue, I recommend the documentary “The Last Mountain,” starring Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Goldman Prize winner Maria Gunnoe, and a host of other leading voices in the MTR fight.

Once you hear these voices and see the images, it will be hard to sit on the sidelines.

Arboreal Salamander, via Bill Bouton/Flickr

In all of your accidental or not-so-accidental  salamander sightings, have you ever seen two that were identical?

With more than 500 species across the world that span the colors of the rainbow with speckles, spots, stripes, and some that can even morph colors, each one is pretty unique. Despite their endless multicolored diversity,  they all have (at least) two things in common: 1) tails and 2) just like us, they need water to survive.

While many species of salamander can drop off parts of their body to escape danger and regenerate them later (seriously, how cool is that?), there’s no escaping polluted water. For the last year, however, members of Congress have been doing their darnedest to take the bite out of our strongest water safeguards, the ones that protect our water as it travels from the mountain top to the creek near your house, where you spot the salamanders scuttling.

Here are just two examples of Congress’s attacks on salamanders and our water:

Mountaintop Removal Pollution

Mountaintop removal mining is a destructive method of extracting coal that has had far-reaching environmental effects in a region of incredible biodiversity; it has already buried and polluted more than 2,000 miles of streams. According to the Environmental Protection Agency:

“The impact of mountaintop removal on nearby communities is devastating. Mining dries up an average of 100 wells a year and contaminates water in others…the purity and availability of drinking water are keen concerns.”

If it continues unabated, by the end of the decade it will cause a projected loss of more than 1.4 million acres of habitat that is home to fish and freshwater wildlife such as salamanders, bird species, and people.

Fire Salamander via Strocchi/Flickr

Despite the clear threat to water and wildlife, efforts in Congress are underway to block EPA oversight of mountaintop removal. This would shield the coal mining operations from EPA review of proposed mining permits, most of which don’t require assessment of potential impacts on endangered or threatened species.

By preventing the EPA from conducting permit reviews based on the best science for our own ecological safety, Congress is accelerating the destruction of Appalachia’s lands and waters and endangering the unique and extraordinary biodiversity of the region, from flying squirrels and peregrine falcons to cougars and salamanders.

Thwarting Protection Against the ‘Unacceptable’

The Clean Water Act (CWA) has faced its very own deluge of attacks this year, but this one in particular would strip the EPA of its ‘Veto Authority’ under section 404(c) of the CWA to prohibit or restrict certain pollution discharges that would have an “unacceptable adverse effect” on our water, fish or wildlife. EPA has used this authority sparingly – only 13 times since the law was enacted in 1972. It is reserved for truly bad projects where the discharger cannot or will not curtail the impacts on our water resources.

This attack would force EPA to ignore the scientific evidence of the harms caused by destructive dumping proposals. The EPA’s 2011 veto of the Spruce Mine permit, one of the largest mountaintop removal coal mines in Appalachia, encouraged this amendment, but it would prevent the agency from blocking any project, not just mining, which would have unacceptable environmental impacts.

Sounds unacceptably dangerous to me.

Speak Up for Salamanders

Help protect salamanders and other wildlife by urging Congress to support programs that mitigate the consequences of water pollution on wildlife. Stop these sneaky attacks before our rainbow of salamanders vanishes for good.

Wildlife in the Crossfire – About this Series

This four-part blog series highlights wildlife caught in the crossfire of the federal budget battle raging in Congress and gives you the tools to fight back. Congress is in recess and members are back in their home districts. Now is the time to stand up for wildlife.

Fact: America’s investment in wildlife is not to blame for the budget problems we face today. Over the past 30 years, America’s investment in parks, wildlife, clean water and clean air has fallen from 1.7% to 0.6% of federal spending.

1. Highlight of the Week: House Spending Bill Attacks Endangered Species, Clean Water and Clean Air
2. Quote: Jeremy Symons, senior VP, Conservation & Education, NWF
3. Economic Story of the Week: Light it Up
4. Editorial of the Week: Climate Change and Disaster in Montana
5. Yellowstone River Oil Spill Doesn’t Bode Well for Keystone XL
6. Study: Mountaintop Removal Neighbors Risk Birth Defects
7. BLM Exempts Acres from New Mining Claims, Promotes Solar
8. Happening this Week

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Highlight of the Week

House Spending Bill Attacks Endangered Species, Clean Water and Clean Air

via Norbert Rossing

Leaders of the House Appropriations Committee are working to pass the fiscal year 2012 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill. According to NWF’s Adam Kolton, the bill is “riddled with special interest policy riders, pet provisions and unprecedented cuts to virtually every program that protects the air we breathe, the water we drink and the public lands and wildlife that we cherish.”

Some especially concerning provisions would block the Environmental Protection Agency from curbing dangerous carbon pollution, similar to the attacks we saw in the continuing resolution legislation. Other harmful provisions would endanger the survival of countless species of wildlife, fish and plants by eliminating investments to list endangered species, block regulations of mountaintop-removal coal mining, and endanger public health by allowing coal ash to pollute groundwater.

To learn more about how appropriators are sacrificing public lands, wildlife conservation, and our health in favor of subsidizing Big Oil, click here.

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Quote:

Jeremy Symons

“Clearly, the legislation to rush the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline should be postponed until we know the cause of the Yellowstone River oil spill and deal with pipeline safety issues. Instead, we’re seeing Congress rush to build America’s next great oil disaster.”

-Jeremy Symons, senior VP, Conservation & Education, National Wildlife Federation.

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Economic Story of the Week

Light it Up

via p. Gordon/Flickr

The House is slated to vote on H.R. 2417 this week, a measure to repeal efficiency standards for light bulbs that were enacted in 2007 with strong bipartisan support. The standards require new bulbs to use 25 to 30 percent less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs and are likely to encourage more energy-efficient technology.

Contrary to criticisms, the standard is not a ban on incandescent light bulbs (and would not affect consumer freedom), but rather one of many energy efficiency measures that are the cheapest and quickest ways to reduce carbon pollution. The light bulb efficiency standards will reduce pollution that harms our public health and prevent more 100 million tons of carbon pollution per year.

The lighting industry has already made significant investments to develop and produce more efficient bulbs and repealing this standard would create uncertainty and threaten jobs. The New York Times called the measure “daft and destructive” and “utterly without merit.”

Stephen Chu, secretary of Energy, has said that consumer choice will be maintained and households will see savings in their electric bills.

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Editorial of the Week

Climate Change and Disaster in Montana

(Los Angeles Times)

Everyone agrees that the two disasters — the flooding of the Yellowstone River and the oil spill in the riverbed — are connected. According to Exxon officials, the high and fast-moving river has four times its usual flow this year, which has hampered cleanup and prevented their workers from reaching the exact source of the spill….Government and company officials have also speculated that the flooding may even have caused the spill in the first place….

But here is the really uncomfortable question: Did the pipeline cause the flooding? Not this one particular pipeline, of course, but all the pipelines, and all the coal trains, and all the refineries and the power plants they supply? Was the flooding that has made the oil spill so much worse caused by the burning of oil and other fossil fuels? (More…)

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Yellowstone River Oil Spill Doesn’t Bode Well for Keystone XL

via NWF

Last week hundreds of barrels of crude oil spilled into Montana’s Yellowstone River after an Exxon Mobil pipeline beneath the riverbed ruptured. Officials are still scrambling to protect the health and safety of local communities and wildlife.

While Exxon Mobil had claimed the rupture of its Silvertip oil pipeline had only released oil for 30 minutes, federal documents now show it took 56 minutes to completely close the pipeline. And although Exxon Mobil originally estimated the oil would travel just 10 miles downstream, pools of oil have now been reported 80 miles down the Yellowstone River.

Including the Gulf oil disaster and Michigan’s Kalamazoo River oil spill, the Yellowstone River spill becomes America’s third major oil disaster in just the last 15 months. Now the oil industry wants to build a new pipeline cutting right through America’s heartland. The Keystone XL pipeline wouldn’t carry just any oil – it would carry tar sands, one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet.

Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) has introduced legislation (H.R. 1938) to force regulators to rush their decision on the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The bill has already cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee and could reach the House floor as soon as this week.

But according to a recent report, the potential frequency and magnitude of oil spills from the tar sands oil project, as well as the consequences of worst-case spills into the Yellowstone, Missouri and Platte Rivers and atop the Ogallala Aquifer, are far worse than the Canadians are letting on. Analysis of the report indicates that, “A worst-case scenario spill from the proposed Keystone XL pipeline into the Platte River in Nebraska would form a plume of oil that could extend more than 450 miles, contaminating drinking water for people as far away as Kansas City, MO and threatening wildlife habitat.”

You can take action and tell the Obama Administration to reject Keystone XL.

More on this story: NY Times, Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Star Journal, Huffington Post

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Study: Mountaintop Removal Neighbors Risk Birth Defects

Mountaintop Removal in Kentucky, iLoveMountains.org

Folks living near mountaintop removal mining operations may be at greater risk for birth defects according to a new study by West Virginia University (WVU) researchers. Co-author Michael Hendryx said, “Research related to infants has found that mothers residing in coal mining areas are more likely to have a low birth weight infant. This study extends that research, showing that mountaintop mining areas are associated with elevated levels of birth defect prevalence rates.”

Mountaintop removal mining is a destructive technique for extracting coal that destroys mountains, forests, wildlife, water and the way of life for people who live near the operation. As the WVU study reveals, the process can also have a terrible impact on babies, the next generation of West Virginians who will see the Mountain State with fewer mountains, greater pollution and potentially more health problems.

H.R. 2018, the Dirty Waters Bill, could make mountaintop removal mining even dirtier by gutting the Clean Water Act. Click here to tell lawmakers to protect our future, our health and our precious natural resources from pollution.

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BLM Exempts Acres from New Mining Claims, Promotes Solar

Desert Solar Panels, via Winam/Flickr

The Bureau of Land Management announced it is setting aside 677,000 acres of lands in the Southwest from future mining claims to promote renewable solar power development.

The temporary two-year segmentation is working to prevent new speculative mining claims from derailing proposed solar farm applications in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

According to BLM spokeswoman Megan Crandall they are “trying to facilitate renewable energy generation.” BLM said it is identifying which lands are most suitable for commercial-scale solar development and have limited conflicts with wildlife or other resources and land uses.

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Happening this Week

Tuesday, July 12

Markup of EPA and Interior appropriations bill, Appropriations Committee, 9AM, 2359 Rayburn
Hearing on renewable energy legislation, Energy and Natural Resources, 10 AM, 366 Dirksen
Markup of TRAIN Act and coal ash bill, Pt. 2, House Energy and Commerce, 10AM, 2123 Rayburn

Wednesday, July 13

Markup of bills to accelerate development of renewable energy, oil and gas and minerals, Natural Resources, 10AM, 1324 Longworth

Thursday, July 14

Hearing on regulations and job creation, Energy and Commerce, 9 AM, 2322 Rayburn
Markup of energy bills, Energy and Natural Resources, 10 AM, 366 Dirksen
Hearing on pipeline safety, Transportation and Infrastructure, 10 AM, 2167 Rayburn
Hearing on Appalachian mining permits, Oversight Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, 1:30 PM, 2154 Rayburn

Friday, July 15

Hearing on the American Energy Initiative, Energy and Commerce, 9:30 AM, 2322 Rayburn

Coming Soon…
Wednesday, July 19

Farm Bill Energy Title: Rural Energy for America Program, Environmental and Energy Study Institute, 10-11:30 AM & 2 – 3:30 PM, 188 Russell Senate Office Building

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For more global warming news on Wildlife Promise click here.

Research related to infants has found that mothers residing in coal mining areas are more likely to have a low birth weight infant. This study extends that research, showing that mountaintop mining areas are associated with elevated levels of birth defect prevalence rates.

Mining industry lawyers attacked the findings, noting the study failed to account for consanguinity, which is just a really long word for inbreeding. Interestingly, the online rebuttal by attorneys from Crowell & Moring mysteriously disappeared, but you can read it here. After the Charleston Gazette questioned the law firm about the missing post, a spokeswoman for the organization had this to say:

Photo credit: Vivian Stockman

Our website alert is not intended to reflect views of the National Mining Association, but is an attempt to identify certain potential weaknesses of the study in question. Consanguinity is one of a number of commonly addressed issues in studies of this type, regardless of geography. Scientists address this consideration regularly because it can matter to scientific conclusions, and do so regardless of locale. We did not raise this issue with particular reference to any region, and we did not mean to imply any such thing. That said, we apologize for any offense taken, as none was intended. We can appreciate the view that our alert may not have provided enough context to explain the scientific points we aimed to address, and so have removed it from our site.

Another spokeswoman for the National Mining Association also said her organization was not involved with the infamous web posting. As for what the potential fallout of all of this will be, your guess is as good as mining.

Mountaintop removal mining is a destructive technique for extracting coal that destroys mountains, forests, wildlife, water and the way of life for people who live near the operation. As the WVU study reveals, the process can also have a terrible impact on babies, the next generation of West Virginians who will see the Mountain State with fewer mountains, greater pollution and potentially more health problems.

H.R. 2018, the Dirty Water Act, could make mountaintop removal mining even dirtier by gutting the Clean Water Act. You can speak up for wildlife, water and future generations of Americans today. Click here to tell lawmakers to protect our future, our health and our precious natural resources from pollution.

A landscape visibly ravaged as our lawmakers look the other way. (Photo credit: Vivian Stockman)

Specifically, members of Congress want to block funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to tighten water quality protections for mountaintop coal mining. Others want to prevent EPA from issuing clean water permits for mountaintop removal projects. And still others want to prohibit the Interior Department from using government money to write new rules that would protect streams from mountaintop coal mining waste.

I wonder, those who are advocating for the coal companies, are they able to drink water from their faucets at their in-district home? Can they take quiet strolls through valleys where streams still flow, where houses still stand? Can they visit their family cemeteries that are built on the hillside (as is customary in Central Appalachia) without getting formal permission from the coal companies? Can they take their children and grandchildren fishing on the weekend to a stream that’s not filled with toxic pollutants?

Polluters have sliced off the tops of mountains to obtain dirty fuel without regard for the health or safety of the communities or landscapes that surround them. (Photo credit: Vivian Stockman)

Government has an important role to play to protect those who are at the front lines of dirty industries. Federal agencies like the EPA are required to ensure that all Americans can drink the water that comes out of their faucets, and can breathe the air without getting sick. They are required to hold companies accountable and to demand that they operate as good neighbors and put profits second to protecting public health and our environment.
Coal companies have found enough friends in Congress who are willing to shut down the entire federal government so they can avoid even the most basic, essential restrictions on how they conduct themselves.

I ask Congress, take a trip to Central Appalachia, talk to residents. If you go with eyes wide open, you will see that it’s time for government to step in and protect local communities and their surrounding mountains and streams.

Take action!  Follow this link to contact your Representative and let him or her know you don’t want to see anti-environmental riders in the budget.

The mountains of West Virginia are a respite for so many of us. But sadly this respite—a place that so many call home—is being ravaged by corporate greed.

The coal industry blows off the tops of mountains. (Photo credit: Vivian Stockman)

When I told my 10-year-old son that I had to take another business trip, he became despondent. Why, he asks? First, tar sands mining in Alberta, Canada, and now mountaintop coal mining in Appalachia?

I shared with him, I need to see the other West Virginia, the one I had only seen in pictures, in order to truly grasp what is happening to a region so close to home.

Two weeks ago I joined a few of my National Wildlife Federation colleagues on a trip to Charleston, WV, that countless others with similar interests have taken. We wanted to better understand what is going on in a region of our country where the coal industry is allowed to blow off the tops of mountains and rip apart communities, families, and the rich landscape.

What we found reminded NWF CEO, Larry Schweiger, of the lawless mining days of the 1960s: politicians and law enforcement officials looking the other way when confronted with egregious violations of federal law. Big coal owns Central Appalachia and operates with complete and utter disregard for the people and the land—a land rich in stories, history, cultural heritage and natural beauty.

One local resident-turned-activist, Maria Gunnoe, summed it up this way: “We have an outlaw industry, where the politics are almost as dirty as coal.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Lise Van Susteren, NWF board member

Instead of Majestic Mountains…Moonscape

A landscape visibly ravaged by an industrial cancer (Photo credit: Vivian Stockman)

After two days of touring the region from the land and air with local leaders like Vivian Stockman of Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, I returned home to my two children who were eager to hear what I learned and saw. I paused— how could I communicate in words the depths of the tragedy that I had seen?

Central Appalachia is home to some of the oldest mountains on earth. The area where mountaintop mining occurs—including southwest Virginia, southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and northeastern Tennessee—is also one of the most biologically diverse regions in the U.S., providing habitat to over a thousand different plant and animal species.

Now it is a landscape that is visibly ravaged by an industrial cancer. Mountaintop coal mining has destroyed over 500 mountains, a million acres of forests and over 2,000 miles of streams. It also has destroyed a way of life among the people there, people who delighted in the refuge the region’s mountains offered.

Welcome to Central Appalachia: where tap water runs brown and the air is filled with soot and smog. It’s where towns have been displaced or flooded or otherwise destroyed. In those that remain, family members suffer from a range of illnesses, many of them chronic or fatal. It’s where locals talk about black bears being buried alive in their dens as bulldozers literally move mountains to get to the coal seams. It’s where the fish are now too toxic to eat and the residents can’t go hunting the way they used to—it’s where their children are no longer safe to roam.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Central Appalachia: where the local people feel like they are being erased—their towns, their families, their traditions.

Central Appalachia is a place filled with sadness, yet it is simultaneously filled with individuals who have tremendous courage and spirit. It is their deep connection to the land that has inspired them to join hands and fight. For their home. For their way of life. For their children.

Get involved. Get connected.