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Friday, January 22, 2010

Enviro A Little Taste of the Ongoing Debate over Mountaintop-Removal Mining in West Viriginia

Posted by Brendan Kiley on Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 3:20 PM

Last night, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Don Blankenship of Massey Energy—a company so bad it brought businesses Wal-Mart, PepsiCo, Intel Corporation, and Lockheed Martin together with do-gooders Common Cause and Public Citizen to fight it in one legal battle—had a little debate about the future of the West Virginia coal industry.

It was about as depressing as you'd expect.

The debate before an invite-only audience of 950 was organized by University of Charleston President Ed Welch whose aim was to start a discussion in his school's auditorium that would go beyond talking points and reach toward compromise.

His hopes were dashed quickly. Kennedy, the top attorney for the environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance, brushed off his first question to declare mountaintop-removal mining a "sin" that damages Appalachia's environment and people to enrich a wealthy few in a speech peppered with statistics and references to Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Environmental regulations were not responsible for lost mining jobs, Kennedy declared, but mountaintop removal has busted unions and eliminated tens of thousands of workers.

Blankenship responded in kind, hailing his industry the life-blood of West Virginia and painting Kennedy as an outsider with an extreme environmentalist agenda that assaults "people who are teaching your Sunday schools and coaching your Little League."

Why must the dicks of the world be such dicks?

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I love Ongonig debates.

That plus mercury from leeches gets me all warm and fuzzy.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on January 22, 2010 at 3:28 PM

What's really aggravating is that he's using such obviously manipulative tactics -- appealing to distrust of outsiders and making feel-good references to Sunday school and Little League -- and yet people let him get away with it. He's insulting the intelligence of everybody he's talking to, and apparently it works!

Posted by sketerpot on January 22, 2010 at 3:50 PM

Mountaintop removal mining supports a bunch of Hatfields and McCoys so they can buy big trucks to fill up with schlitz beer and go muddin.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gjc7Jg_gM…

Posted by nickster on January 22, 2010 at 3:53 PM

This post is crazy to me. How is it even possible to have a debate about mountaintop removal mining? What could possibly be the "pro" side to this debate other than "um, companies make more money doing it that way."

The jobs thing... I mean, obviously, if the choice were between mountaintop mining and nothing, then mountaintop mining wins in terms of jobs. But... wouldn't any alternative approach to mountaintop mining entail even more labor and thus more jobs? How is "jobs" an argument, when regular underground mining would be more labor intensive?

I can't believe this issue is even still being debated.

Posted by Julie in Eugene on January 22, 2010 at 4:05 PM

Grave digging is a job too. This is like arguing that doctors whose treatments prolong people's lives are putting hard-working grave diggers out of work.

Upstanding, church-going grave diggers who coach pee-wee football on the weekends and volunteer at soup kitchens.

Posted by Proteus on January 22, 2010 at 4:54 PM

Look, it's no surprise why the GOP wins over and over. They speak in direct and plain terms of threats to what folks hold near and dear.

The liberal, what does he talk about -- fucking Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Wow, How Intellectual.

Why can't he talk about threats to what folks hold near and dear like their land, their county, their mountain, their jobs, their Way of Life Being Destroyed By Folks in Suits?

oh wow, we can't just talk like that, trying to "win" by "appealing to emotions" is sooooo Republican, we can't do that, we're intellllllectuals, woo hoo! We're rational! Let's rationally continue to use the words and messages that say in effect, "Hi, Rural Benighted Folk! I'm a multimillionaire Kennedy and I'm LOrding it Over you talking about Waldo --no, not that Waldo, some Walso you've never heard of -- anyway I don't give a crap about actually winning this debate, that is beneath me. Now let me jet back to New York State, thank you little people."

Fuck. Emerson, yeah that rouses the grass roots populist ire every time.

Posted by Losing Battle for Poor People Makes Rich Elites Noble... on January 22, 2010 at 9:48 PM

This seems like a great chance for nuclear power. West Virginia, you hate environmentalists? Great, build some reactors and then the left will get some bees in its bonnet. Any environmental issues from that are in reality dwarfed by coal (which has probably killed more people in the last year than nuclear accidents ever have), your citizens' property values are already ruined and they're unlikely to put up a big NIMBY fight, West Virginia replaces some of the coal economy with something less polluting, and we can start building the next generation of reactors. Win win win!

Posted by gember on January 23, 2010 at 4:59 PM