I’m trying to be hopeful with this Administration, but it is not easy. First, there was the appointment of a factory farm insider to the Agriculture post, then another Westerner interested mostly in exploiting our wild places for oil and gas to the Interior post, and now this disaster from the EPA. It seems to me the Obama Administration is not truly interested in creating incentive for Americans to use less energy, but to find more sources of fossil-based fuel to “feed America’s energy needs.” That’s not change we can believe in, it’s just more of the same.
The recent news about the Administration’s new fuel economy standards is hailed by the mainstream press and several NGOs as the single greatest effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions and decrease our dependence on oil.
WRONG. As I’ve posted here many times, the greatest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in this country is NOT automobiles, it’s factory farms. There are numerous reports from the U.N., Pew, University of Chicago, and others relating the data that our farming methods are contributing more to global climate change and wasting enormous amounts of water and fuel to produce precious few calories of food protein. Until we change our farming methods, we’re just spitting into the wind.
Now, comes the news that the EPA has approved 42 of 48 pending mountaintop removal permits. I guess it’s necessary to blow up entire mountains and destroy the environment for every living thing in order to get to all that “clean coal” that Mr. Obama is always going on about. Does that sound like reducing our dependence on fossil fuels to you?
Here’s what the Daily Green wrote about this insane decision:
The new EPA administrator, who has rapidly restored “environmental protection” to the agency’s mission, made a bold move back in March by blocking a handful of pending mining permits and holding up nearly 200 others. When asked about her rationale, “Action” Jackson explained:
“EPA has a job to do when it comes to those permits, which is to review the permits specifically with an eye towards tracking down and identifying any significant impact on water and water quality. EPA will review permits. It will identify those permits that have the potential to significantly impact water quality. It will comment on those permits. It will do that in a very open and transparent manner. And in those cases where our comments aren’t heeded, we won’t hesitate to elevate or take whatever other actions are necessary. The statute actually allows us to elevate and then, if necessary, even object to permits being issued. It’s a scientifically based, permit-by-permit job. We were saying nothing more, and we continue to say nothing more, other than that we will do our job. It is a very important job.”
UPDATE: According to a letter (pdf) released today by West Virginia’s Rep. Nick Rahall, the EPA’s review has raised environmental concerns about 6 pending permits but the agency “does not intend to provide additional comments on the remaining 42 permits.” Thus, the Corps is free to issue these destructive MTR permits.
As someone who has witnessed mountaintop removal first-hand, I can’t help but wonder how any type of review would result in actually greenlighting the worst strip mining in the world. Just stop and consider this: Across Appalachia, companies are blowing entire mountaintops to smithereens to get at the thin coal seams below. The communities of the region are paying the cost in their health, their culture and their natural heritage. For too long big coal companies, in effect, have been allowed to blast our nations’ oldest mountains into molehills.
This is not hyperbole; this is fact. See for yourself in this video we shot recently in West Virginia.
What’re you going to do about this misguided decision? You can write to your President or to EPA Administrator Jackson and you can blog about it and tell all your friends and visit I Love Mountains and get involved in ending this madness.
s.
Filed under: conservation, environment, global climate change Tagged: | epa approves mountaintop removal, obama sells out mountains for coals, the clean coal myth
I get so frustrated with all this talk from the Obama administration about how they’re going to seriously reduce green house gases and blahblahblah, but they never EVER mention that meat eating is a huge contributor that every American could make a difference on. Why are we not asking Americans to reduce/eliminate their meat consumption? Why aren’t we talking about the effects of factory farming? Oh yeah, because the ag industry lobbies are basically in control. How silly of me to forget!
EXACTLY. Nothing is going to change in the areas where change is needed immediately and desperately. I am daily disappointed in this administration and starting to see how he can lose the next election – which will be worse.