Obama’s climate plan an important step, MD activists say

Gazette.Net

By Daniel Leaderman

Maryland environmental activists are praising President Barack Obama’s new plan to mitigate the impact of climate change, calling it good news for the Chesapeake Bay region.

Obama’s plan, announced Tuesday, calls for limiting carbon pollution from power plants — for which there are currently no federal standards in place — doubling renewable energy generation by 2020, and setting a variety of new standards for fuel efficiency in vehicles and energy efficiency in homes and businesses.

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Washington Post Nails Coal Mine Death Crisis: Big Coal Runs "Clean Coal" Ad on Same Page?

This is written by Jeff Biggers and crossposted from The Huffington Post.

In one of the most bizarre Big Coal public relations ads yet, online readers of the Washington Post today were forced to view a fatuous “clean coal” ad prior to viewing an extraordinary photo galley on “Death at American coal mines.”

In an excellent and in-depth look into regulatory failure, Post reporters David A. Fahrenthold and Kimberly Kindy examine nine deaths in various mines since the Upper Big Branch disaster in April. The Post reporters conclude: “For safety experts and miners’ families, these recent disasters tell a familiar story: Enforcement efforts have been hampered by a backlogged appeals system and the lack of penalty for repeat offenders. The new federal crackdown still couldn’t ensure safe conditions underground.”

Even more notable: An estimated 450-500 coal miners have died from black lung disease in the last six months, according to figures from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. In one of the most scandalous crises in workplace safety in the United States, over 10,000 coal miners have died needlessly from black lung disease (from the inhalation of coal dust) in the last decade.

Black lung disease was first diagnosed in 1831. Coal mining communities wait todayfor new rules and stricter enforcement procedures.

Why are coal miners still dying today?

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The war goes on

The announcement today by President Obama that his administration canceled the lease sale for offshore drilling spots off Virginia’s coast is a big step in the right direction but it’s one battle in the larger war. Until this administration announces a permanent moratorium on offshore drilling we still need to fight. It doesn’t hurt to take a long weekend to celebrate this victory though ;-).

In case you haven’t seen it, check out our press release on the announcement too!

Against a torrent of oil, a trickle of responsibility

Of the many things lacking in the response to the BP spill, responsibility ranks pretty high on the list. From President Obama’s reluctance to reverse his decision to expand offshore drilling, to BP’s shameless attempts to play the innocent victim card, and the far right’s attempts to pin the blame on environmentalists, responsible words and actions have been in short supply. So it’s been refreshing to see at least some public figures attempting to reverse that trend.

In what could be the first inklings of a mounting wave of political push back against the reckless drill-baby-drill mentality, several political leaders from coastal states including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and six US Senators, have spoken out in defense of their states coastlines and common sense by calling on President Obama to reverse his offshore drilling decision.

Among the Senators were Maryland Senators Mikulski and Cardin, who as I noted in an earlier post, wrote a letter to Senators Kerry, Graham and Lieberman in March calling on the three to keep offshore drilling out of the climate bill they were working on.

That letter was unfortunately ignored, but now that the Senators have a more visible platform from which to trumpet their concerns it’s good to see that they are using it.

Even still, more is needed. Despite recognizing the unacceptable risks posed by a cavalier policy towards offshore drilling, the Senators stopped short of recognizing the unacceptable risks posed by our oil dependence as a whole. Instead they reiterated Obama’s claim “that domestic oil production is an important part of our overall strategy for energy security,” adding that “it must be done responsibly, for the safety of our workers and our environment.”

Responsibility, safety, and energy security are not terms that should be used in the same sentence as the phrase oil production, unless juxtaposed against it. Given the threats of climate change, peak oil, and the thousands of oil-related air pollution deaths that occur every year, it’s hard to see how any policy except a policy to aggressively shift us away from the use of oil, could possibly be considered responsible with respect to the safety of our workers, the general public, our environment or our energy security.

As Grist’s Jonathan Hiskes pointed out last week, there may never be a better opportunity for our political leaders to make this case to the public. We have to demand that they do so. It’s the only responsible thing to do.

Daily Scandal: Free Big Coal Window Ads in Inhofe and Senate Enviro Committee Office?

This is cross-posted from huffington post.

While the US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works is charged with protecting “the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the products we consume have a direct impact on the health of our families,” some of its staffers apparently feel it should also serve as a front for the devastating pollution of Big Coal.

As hundreds of citizens from ravaged coalfield areas in Appalachia and around the nation fill the corridors of Congress this week, calling on the House and Senate to pass the Clean Water Protection Act/Appalachian Restoration Act to stop the illegal dumping of toxic coal waste into our American waterways, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) and his staff on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee are reportedly providing free window space for Big Coal ads in our taxpayer financed federal buildings.

Check out this photo of the Senate minority leader’s office window at the E/PW Committee, sent by concerned coalfield residents from West Virginia, who have repeatedly asked the staffers to take down the offensive T-shirt on government property:

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While Sen. James Inhofe’s comments on climate change are legendary, his prairie land and plains state support for flattening Appalachia through devastating mountaintop removal mining is dangerously uniformed. Last spring, Inhofe sent a letter to EPA chief Lisa Jackson, charging her agency for delay in issuing Clean Water Act permits. Inhofe erroneously claimed:

“As you know, mountaintop mining is a vitally important economic activity. It provides a significant portion of the coal that contributes nearly 50 percent of the nation’s electricity. It also provides well-paying jobs and revenues for some of the neediest regions.”

Significant portion of coal?

Setting aside the reality that mountaintop removal’s irreversible destruction has eliminated over 500 mountains and nearly 1.2 million acres of hardwood forests in the carbon sink of America, led to the largest forced removal of American citizens since the 19th century, and jammed an estimated 2,000 miles of headwater streams and waterways with toxic coal waste, Inhofe’s distortion of the true cost of coal and his window dressing for Big Coal overlooks four main points:

1) As everyone else on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee does know–or should know– mountaintop removal mining provides less than 8 percent of all national coal production.

2) Mountaintop removal has bled the Appalachian economy and job market. As the recent study, “The Decline of Central Appalachian Coal and the Need for Economic Diversification,” makes clear:

Despite these economic benefits, coal-producing counties in Central Appalachia continue to have some of the highest poverty and unemployment rates in the region, and due to the dependence on coal for economic development, any changes in coal production will have significant impacts on local economies.

Specifically, a study last year by West Virginia University reseachers found:

The coal industry generates a little more than $8 billion a year in economic benefits for the Appalachian region. But, they put the value of premature deaths attributable to the mining industry across the Appalachian coalfields at — by a most conservative estimate — $42 billion.

And check out West Virginia blogger Clem Guttata’s analysis of the economics of mountaintop removal on the heels of Inhofe’s misinformed comments.

3) Even the most pro-coal legislators in Appalachia and on Capitol Hill recognize that Appalachian coalfields and across the country are facing a clock of peak coal, and need to shift toward a just transition for clean energy jobs and economic development.

4) Sorry Sen. Inhofe: Coal-fired plants provided only 45% of our electricity last year, and it’s declining.

You can let Sen. Inhofe and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, as well as all members of Congress, know what you think about public financing for Big Coal and misinformation here.