Environmental Group Sues Wisconsin State Agency

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 [...]

Mountaintop Removal Mining Kills Fish

A biologist from Wake Forest University was scheduled to brief U.S. Senators today on yet another environmental problem caused by the practice of mountaintop removal coal mining: poisoned fish.
Dead and deformed fish in surrounding streams are a consequence of selenium pollution from mountaintop coal mining, which is causing permanent damage to the environment and [...]

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

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 [...]

Last Night’s Coal Debate

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 [...]

Protesters Halt Mountaintop Blasting In West Virginia

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 [...]

Debate Over Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Set for Tonight

In a much-anticipated televised event, this Thursday Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will debate Don Blankenship about the future of coal and the practice of mountaintop removal mining. Kennedy is the chief litigator for the Waterkeeper’s Alliance, an environmental group; Blankenship is CEO of Massey Energy, a coal producer recently threatened with a lawsuit for EPA [...]

Stop Mountaintop Removal Mining, Scientists Say

A group of 12 eminent scientists have called for a halt to mountaintop mining. At a press conference, the hydrologists, ecologists and engineers (some of them National Academy of Sciences members) said they’d discovered extensive evidence of permanent damage to the environment and dangers to human health from the practice of blowing off [...]

Hundreds Protest Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

Yesterday about 300 environmental activists gathered outside the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection headquarters, calling for an end to blasting on Coal River Mountain.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. addressed the rally, which was organized by Coal River Mountain Watch, and said that mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia is a crime, and that if the [...]

CD Brings Together Musicians Against Mountaintop Removal

Coal Country, the documentary about mountaintop removal in Appalachia, now has a companion CD called Coal Country Music. Sales of the CD, which features songs by Willie Nelson, John Prine and Natalie Merchant, will benefit the Alliance for Appalachia, an organization working to end mountaintop removal.