DK GreenRoots

Welcome to a review of King Coal in the news during the week of May 17 - May 23, 2010. Come on in and sit a spell. Take a look at the Good, Bad, and Ugly when it comes to the dirtiest of dirty energy. Stop by the Activist Corner for how to lend your voice to the demise of King Coal.

The blame game related to Upper Big Branch Mine disaster dominated the news, with the most memorable quote coming from Assistant Secretary of Labor Joe Main in reference to Massey Energy during testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Welcome to a review of King Coal in the news during the week of May 17 - May 23, 2010. Come on in and sit a spell. Take a look at the Good, Bad, and Ugly when it comes to the dirtiest of dirty energy. Stop by the Activist Corner for how to lend your voice to the demise of King Coal.

The blame game related to Upper Big Branch Mine disaster dominated the news, with the most memorable quote coming from Assistant Secretary of Labor Joe Main in reference to Massey Energy during testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Chalk up another one for stupid human tricks. The Atlantic bluefin tuna has just been fast-tracked for extinction. During the recently concluded meeting of the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Doha, the United States was among a bloc of nations supporting a commercial trade ban on the bluefin. The vote for the ban was not even close - 20 in favor of the ban, 68 opposed.

Even if we prevent coal companies from leveling, deforesting, and polluting much of Appalachia by stopping mountaintop removal mining, coal will still not be clean. Even if we stop the release of greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants, coal will still not be clean. Coal-fired power plants produce mountains of combustion waste which have the potential to contaminate ground and surface water with toxic heavy metals like arsenic.

The New York Times had a nice description of the problem:

One week after the publication of a report in Science documenting the negative environmental impacts of mountaintop removal mining, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report in response to inquiries from two Senate committees. The GAO report examined oversight for Appalachian mountaintop removal sites, including 2343 sites permitted for valley fills from 2000 to 2008.