Climate Action » Massey Energy

Environmental Group Sues Wisconsin State Agency

Suzanne Bopp — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:43:56 +0000

Last week, the Wisconsin Sierra Club sued the state’s Department of Natural Resources, saying that agency has failed to provide requested records on several state-owned coal plants. The Sierra Club is trying to ensure that the plants are in compliance with the federal Clean Air Act.

The group requested the records in October.

The plants in question are at UW La Crosse, UW Eau Claire, UW Stevens Point and UW Stout. They have all undergone modifications which may require them to install additional pollution controls.

Wisconsin Governor Doyle decided to take one plant, at UW Madison, completely off coal – shifting to biomass and natural gas – after a federal judge decided that the plant was violating the Clean Air Act. “The governor gets credit for making the right decision, but it’s been a long haul,” says Jennifer Feyerherm, director of Sierra Club’s Wisconsin Clean Energy Campaign. “The governor talks a lot about how moving to biomass will help create jobs. He should make his legacy getting all the state-owned plants off of coal.”

The state currently contracts with two companies for its coal, one of which is Massey Energy, the largest practitioner of mountaintop removal coal mining in the country.

– Suzanne Bopp

Join the Rainforest Action Network’s Day of Action this Thursday

Suzanne Bopp — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:53:15 +0000

This Thursday, February 18, will be a social media day of action to stop mountaintop removal coal mining. Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is organizing the effort aimed at JP Morgan Chase, which finances the destructive practice.

JP Morgan Chase maintains a financial relationship with Massey Energy, which is responsible for most of the mountaintop removal mining in this country, as well as four more of the top 10 producers of mountaintop removal coal.

RAN says that, “Mountaintop removal is the highly destructive mining practice that literally explodes the tops off of mountains. It harms homes and habitats. It’s destroyed nearly 1.2 million acres of Appalachian forest and mountains. It has buried over 2000 miles of rivers and streams with debris and pollution.

Instead of bankrolling this brutal, toxic and irreversibly destructive practice of destroying mountains for climate-killing coal, Chase should put their money on the right side of history.

It’s time for Chase to stop making millions from destroying Appalachia’s mountains.”

RAN is asking supporters to blog, Tweet, Facebook and email their networks this Thursday to let them know about the destruction caused by mountaintop removal and JP Morgan Chase’s funding of it.

Get more information and sign up for the day of action at RAN’s Web site.

West Virginia Treesitters Still in Trees

Suzanne Bopp — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:01:30 +0000

Two protesters remain in the trees on Coal River Mountain, blocking Massey Energy from continuing to blow up the mountaintop. The company has been attempting to dislodge them by blasting air horns and shining floodlights on them at night. Earlier this week, a man attempting to bring supplies to the protesters was arrested.

Yesterday, West Virginia Governor Manchin met with several representatives from the Climate Ground Zero campaign. The governor had requested the meeting himself, and he asked the protesters to scale down their campaign and de-escalate the situation. Today the treesitters are still there.

For much more on the story, check out the post at It’s Getting Hot in Here.

16 States and New York City Back the EPA’s Endangerment Finding on CO2

Suzanne Bopp — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:37:18 +0000

When the EPA issued guidelines on regulating large stationary sources of CO2 late last year through the authority of the Clean Air Act, industry groups voiced their displeasure while environmentalists celebrated.

Some of those industry groups, including Massey Energy and three other coal companies, the Industrial Miners Association and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals. They hope to block the EPA’s endangerment finding, which said that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare.

Now 16 states and New York City are asking the court for permission to join the lawsuit on behalf of the government. The states, which are citing the threat of climate change, are Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Last Night’s Coal Debate

Suzanne Bopp — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:18:19 +0000

Robert Kennedy Jr. came out swinging in last night’s much-anticipated debate over coal, saying that coal companies were “liquidating the state for cash.”

Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship responded with the claim that his industry offers badly needed jobs, provides cheap electricity and supports the communities in which they operate.

There was little common ground for the two as they faced off in Charleston, WV, last night. Kennedy disputed Blankenship’s arguments, saying that in fact the coal companies were eliminating tens of thousands of jobs by using mountaintop removal techniques to get at coal seams with explosives, saying that actually eliminates jobs and destroys the environment, which together work to impoverish communities.

When Blankenship said his company’s mining operations “don’t have any meaningful pollution,” Kennedy pressed him.

“The Clean Water Act has not been changed since 1970,” Kennedy said. “And… your own records show that your record of Clean Water Act Compliance is not improving. It’s getting worse — 12,900 violations in a single year, according to your records. My question to you, and I know you’re an honest person, I want to ask you this question: Is it possible to do mountaintop removal mining without violating the law?”

Blankenship replied, “I doubt it’s possible without having a single violation at a single time.”

But Blankenship blames the EPA, not his operations, saying that he thinks the regulations are too strict.

When the subject of climate change came up, Blankenship, a longtime denier, brought up the so-called “Climategate” leaked emails as evidence that climate change is a manufactured phenomenon.

Kennedy suggested that one point he and Blankenship would probably agree on was that carbon sequestration is “a joke.” (Meanwhile, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that CCS could contribute between 10% and 55% of the cumulative worldwide carbon mitigation effort over the next 90 years.)

Protesters Halt Mountaintop Blasting In West Virginia

Suzanne Bopp — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:11:00 +0000

Armed with banners reading “Save Coal River Mountain” and EPA Stop the Blasting,” protestors halted blasting on Coal River Mountain today with a five-person tree-sit.

The protesters, associated with Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice, are on platforms approximately 60 feet up two tulip poplar trees and one oak tree next to where Massey Energy is blasting to build an access road.

The protesters are calling for the EPA to put an end to mountaintop removal mining; they also hope to urge land-holding companies to focus on clean energy options. They plan to remain in the trees until blasting on Coal River Mountain is stopped permanently. Climate Ground Zero’s action campaign, which began in February of last year, has kept up a sustained series of direct actions ever since.