Senate

EPA Nixes Mountaintop Mine, Stokes Political Fire

By Adam Sorensen | @adamsorensen | January 13, 2011 | +

Our colleague Bryan Walsh reports the Environmental Protection Agency today vetoed the largest mountaintop mining removal permit in West Virginia’s history. The move, which red-lights the 2,300-acre Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County, comes the morning after acting Democratic Governor Earl Ray Tomblin vowed to “aggressively pursue” legal action against the EPA in his state of the state address and accused the Obama administration of “bringing a crushing halt” to West Virginia’s cherished coal industry.

West Virginia’s two Democratic Senators, Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin, vented their own frustrations today in D.C.; Rockefeller fired off a letter expressing “outrage” to President Obama and Manchin pledged in a statement “to do everything in my power to fight this decision.”

The confrontation comes at a delicate time politically. In Washington, a new GOP-led House is hoping to hog tie the EPA’s carbon regulatory powers and fence-straddling Democratic Senators bracing for tough re-election fights in 2012 may be persuadable to join with Republicans and coal country Democrats on legislation that would do exactly that. That Manchin is up next cycle and Tomblin, acting Governor in wake of Manchin’s move to the Senate, may face a gubernatorial race sooner rather than later makes it more likely that they will aggressively engage the Obama administration on environmental issues.

Read Bryan’s full post here.

Related Topics: epa, west virginia, 2012 Election, Barack Obama, Congress, Democratic Party, Republican Party, Senate

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  • hippooath

    Thanks for blowing the lid off this subject.

  • newfreedomblog

    Rocky Rockefella probably wouldn’t move too far to the right unless it is for saving the coal industry in WVA. But, Manchin the gun-toting new Senator from WVA I am confident can be turned.

  • freeinpa

    First they stop off-shore drilling now they will close the mines. But the Obama administration is not deliberately destroying the US economy, it’s just a bonus as a result of his ineptitude.

  • ricardo4max

    And meanwhile the oBama regime preaches “civility” which is another term for STFU while we are busy destroying America and her economy.

  • ricardo4max

    I hope your post is tongue in cheek sarcasm. Because this evil regime is DELIBERATELY destroying the economy and our country (see Cloward-Piven). And we are fed up to here and we simply aren’t going to take it anymore.

  • http://grapemusing.blogspot.com/ grape_crush

    …while we are busy destroying America and her economy.
    .
    If the removal of a mountaintop in West Virginia doesn’t qualify as figuratively and literally ‘destroying America’, nothing does.

  • shepherdwong

    Yes, if you want “civility,” stop telling slanderous lies about The President of the Untied States.

  • marvyt

    I was born and raised in Logan county about 20 miles from Blair. My ancestors moved there in 1804. My father was a coal miner as well as both of my grandfathers, one of whom was killed in a mining accident. I can understand why my relatives and old friends want to cling to the few “good” jobs left in the area. The truth is that mountain top removal and other technology is reducing the number of miners needed for coal operations. The rest of the world as well as the rest of the USA are going to move toward cleaner and renewable energy. Coal will be mined for another generation no matter what policies we adopt. However, fewer people will be needed to mine that coal as the need is reduced. West Virginia needs to move into new industries as quickly as possible during this transition. The writing is on the wall. There is no clean coal and no clean way to mine it.

  • shepherdwong

    “West Virginia needs to move into new industries as quickly as possible during this transition. The writing is on the wall. There is no clean coal and no clean way to mine it.”
    .
    The rational, fact-based view from the left.
    .
    The irrational, uncivil (lying) view from the right: Obama and the Democrats are DESTROYING AMERICA by taking away our whale oil and buggy whips!

  • jsfox

    You do realize the deep water drilling has resumed.

  • Ivy_B

    Former Swamper Pour Me Coffee tweeted -

    China is spending 1/6th as much as the US on its military and investing twice as much on clean energy technology

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/12/military-climate-spending-us-china

    I grew up in PA anthracite coal country. The industry began to go away when I was in high school, but some of the slag heaps are still there today in addition to silt meadows. In those days, coal dust was everywhere. As marvyt said, there is no clean coal – in spite of the advertising campaign.

    We need to focus on clean energy jobs.

  • shepherdwong

    Combined global land and ocean annual surface temperatures for 2010 tied with 2005 as the warmest such period on record at 1.12 F (0.62 C) above the 20th century average. The range of confidence (to the 95 percent level) associated with the combined surface temperature is +/- 0.13 F (+/- 0.07 C).*
    .
    The global land surface temperatures for 2010 were tied for the second warmest on record at 1.73 F (0.96 C) above the 20th century average. The range of confidence associated with the land surface temperature is +/- 0.20 F (+/- 0.11 C).
    .
    Global ocean surface temperatures for 2010 tied with 2005 as the third warmest on record, at 0.88 F (0.49 C) above the 20th century average. The range of confidence associated with the ocean surface temperature is +/- 0.11 F (+/- 0.06 C).

    Why do Earl Tomblin, Jay Rockefeller, Joe Manchin and all “conservatives” hate all our children?
    .
    http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2011/20110112_globalstats.html

  • jillib

    Good. Have you ever seen what fracking does to the land and environment? It isn’t worth the cost. Do your research.

  • http://jcapan.wordpress.com jcapan

    The NYT and Mr. Unit have been bemoaning this juxtaposition for some time. But how can a red menace be green?

  • apr2563

    Miles and Paul drive through Harlan County, Kentucky — the front line for some of the nastiest labor battles in the history of American coal. The county was where many miners spent decades trying to win concessions from owners and help build coal mining into a middle class job. But when Miles asks about it, Paul can’t seem to remember why the area is important to Kentucky:

    Something about Harlan has lodged itself in my brain the way a shard of barbecue gets stuck in one’s teeth, and I’ve asked Paul for help. “I don’t know,” he says in an elusive accent that’s not quite southern and not quite not-southern. The town of Hazard is nearby, he notes: “It’s famous for, like, The Dukes of Hazzard.”

    Paul believes mountaintop removal just needs a little rebranding. “I think they should name it something better,” he says. “The top ends up flatter, but we’re not talking about Mount Everest. We’re talking about these little knobby hills that are everywhere out here. And I’ve seen the reclaimed lands. One of them is 800 acres, with a sports complex on it, elk roaming, covered in grass.” Most people, he continues, “would say the land is of enhanced value, because now you can build on it.”
    .
    http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/rand-paul-mountain-top-removal-mining-enhances-the-land.php

  • http://grapemusing.blogspot.com/ grape_crush

    But how can a red menace be green?
    .
    They weren’t, and they have to be now. The difference is that they don’t have a collective action problem* like we do.

    (*damn, that’s such a good phrase)

  • http://erieangel.wordpress.com erieangel

    I would say Rand is an idiot, but I’ve promised myself I’d be nice when talking politics and politicians.
    .
    Ah, the heck with it. Rand Paul is nothing like his father, a man I can actually agree with at times. Rand has proven himself as clueless as Palin.
    .
    When are the “conservatives” going to stop destroying our land, rivers, oceans, forests and lakes in the name of the all mighty dollar???

  • kbanginmotown

    Haven’t seen you around before, marvyt. Welcome to Swampland!
    .
    Your insights at Appalachian ground level are appreciated – they remind me of the bruhaha about the Northern Spotted Owl a few years back:
    .
    What is the price of permanent damage to God’s earth, versus 10-20 years of jobs for a small (and shrinking) number of people?

  • freeinpa

    Yes. And it adds the cost, risk and regulation. There have been no new permits in the US portion of the Gulf and only those that were in operation before the BP incident have resumed. So in effect no new drilling

  • http://jcapan.wordpress.com jcapan

    Well aware of both Grape–my undergrad major was a then less sexy Mandarin. It is a nice turn of phrase. The idea that democracy can be a hindrance to bold action, however, is not new. Even one not suffering under the reign of a centrist cabal ;-)

  • freeinpa

    “When are the “conservatives” going to stop destroying our land, rivers, oceans, forests and lakes in the name of the all mighty dollar???”
    .
    When are the “liberals” going to stop destroying our economy with taxes, regulations and loss of freedoms all in the name of some higher good and purpose

  • ricardo4max

    No Coal !!
    No Oil !!!
    No Nuclear !!!
    No Energy !!!!
    No Business !!!!!
    No Jobs !!!!!!
    No Country and No More Freedom and Liberty!!!!!!!!
    Democrats the party of NO!

  • hippooath

    It is amazing how function the economy was under Clinton with higher taxes. BJs for everyone.

  • np042

    BJs for everyone

    Now that is a political slogan that ~50% of the population (or more?) can get behind!

  • lcky9

    I hope they MOVE forward with their plans for the coal mine and sue.. it’s time for people to remember that the EPA NOT a legal department..

  • http://tisias.wordpress.com tisias

    Clean energy will only be promoted among the right when it is financially preferable to do so.
    The real question in Congress will be over the EPA’s authority. You think the fights are bad now, wait til someone does a repeat of the 1856 beating on the Senate floor.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Brooks

    Oh and in reference to Rand Paul, my cigarettes have more political sense than him.

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