Four things Barack Obama can do to end Mountaintop Removal:

Reverse the Bush Mine Waste Giveaway: On his first day in office, Obama should reverse the lame-duck Bush administration rules that have allowed Big Coal to dump toxic mine waste into streams and rivers.

Enforce Existing Laws: For eight years, the Bush administration has refused to enforce the Clean Water Act and other environmental rules, allowing Big Coal to ignore our nation's laws with few if any consequences. Obama should demand that these and other rules be enforced, and hold the EPA, Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement, and the Army Corps of Engineers responsible.

Prioritize Appalachia in America's Clean Energy Future: The mountaintops of Appalachia provide a valuable wind energy resource - a resource that is severely impacted or destroyed by mountaintop removal coal mining. Obama should mandate Environmental Impact Assessments and economic analyses as part of his New Energy for America Plan. With finite declining coal reserves and jobs, Obama needs to ensure Appalachia receives attention and support in the Administration's new energy plan - which includes a $150 billion dollar investment in green, union jobs.

Tell Congress to Pass the Clean Water Protection Act: The Clean Water Protection Act would prevent future administrations from gutting the Clean Water Act through executive action, and it would permanently protect clean drinking water for many of our nation's cities. Obama should tell Congress to pass the Clean Water Protection Act and deliver it to his desk for his signature within the first 100 days.

The Federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) is poised to finalize a rule that would allow thousands of natural streams and valleys in Appalachia to be buried by waste from mountaintop removal coal mining. OSM's plan directly conflicts with the decades-old Stream Buffer Zone Rule, which prohibits surface coal mining activities from disturbing areas within 100 feet of permanent and seasonal streams.

Please take action by telling the EPA that the destruction of Appalachia's valleys and streams is unacceptable. Tell EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to protect these valuable resources by keeping the Stream Buffer Zone Rule in place!

A debate over the future of our country's energy supply is underway, and with rising fuel costs, climate change, and high unemployment, none of us can afford to sit on the sidelines.

Candidates and our elected representatives have proposed a wide variety of energy plans. Some want to continue the status quo of subsidizing the fossil fuel industry and expanding risky options like nuclear power and off-shore drilling.

Clean energy champions have introduced bills that will extend tax credits for renewable energy, make our buildings more efficient, and provide incentives for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. These are essential components of a successful energy policy, which, when deployed together, create an impact much greater than the sum of their parts. Each one is an achievable, affordable step that will reduce our dependence on foreign fuels, improve our economy, and create green jobs that can't be outsourced.

Now is the time to contact your legislators and speak to the candidates who want to lead our country. Let's tell them what a comprehensive clean, green, and just climate policy will look like.

Click on the link and TAKE ACTION NOW!

Take Action

The majority of Americans are woefully ignorant about the true cost of coal production on the economy and environment of Appalachia. This post on an unrelated blog caught my attention:

Also, with electric cars running on electricity from coal-fired plants, any pollutants from the latter in the form of carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen and sulphur can be kept away from urban areas as much as possible. Imagine Los Angeles without smog.

Gee, fella, I'm awfully glad you might someday be able to live smog-free in LA. Nevermind the devastating effects of mountaintop removal to the environment and economy of Appalachia. Or the health problems related to living downwind from a coal-fired plant. It's our pleasure, really.

1. Spread the word on Mountaintop Removal. Of the major environmental organizations working in the U.S. - Greenpeace, The Sierra Club, NRDC, the Rainforest Action Network, etc. -none have paid more than cursory attention to the issue of mountaintop removal. Email them and ask them why they are ignoring this disaster in our own back yard.

2. Learn more about mountaintop removal. This is a great place to start.

3. Join the Blogger's Challenge and start posting information about Mountaintop Removal.

4. Write your Representative and ask him or her to co-sponsor the Clean Water Protection Act (H.R. 2169), or if they are already a sponsor of the act, thank them for their support.

5. Click on one of the links on the left of the page to support some of the organizations that are fighting the destruction of the Appalachian Mountains.

Meet Damon Morgan. Mr. Morgan is an 84-year old retiree who returned to his family land after a career on the railways. His plans for a quiet retirement were scuttled when mining companies began surveying his land for mountain top removal to get at the coal below.

"We planted vegetables, and we had apple orchards, and there was a lot of wild huckleberry back up on that mountain ... we picked them. And I've hunted in there, I've dug herbs. And now, that is all gone. It's completely moved away.

"The coal industry is an outlaw industry that does not consider the rights of its neighbours or the rights of the land and environment. The industry is out to make a profit and has no regard for the damages done to the citizens of this country."

"The Mountain That Lost It's Top"

Mr. Morgan has received an education by fire in political activism, and has since traveled to Central America to share what he has learned with indigenous people fighting to save their land.



(The audio isn't great; you might want to turn up the volume.)