Sherry Chandler » Enshrined?
Enshrined?
From the NYTimes:
WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 — The Bush administration is set to issue a regulation on Friday that would enshrine the coal mining practice of mountaintop removal. The technique involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the rubble into valleys and streams.
It has been used in Appalachian coal country for 20 years under a cloud of legal and regulatory confusion.
The new rule would allow the practice to continue and expand, providing only that mine operators minimize the debris and cause the least environmental harm, although those terms are not clearly defined and to some extent merely restate existing law.
The Office of Surface Mining in the Interior Department drafted the rule, which will be subject to a 60-day comment period and could be revised, although officials indicated that it was not likely to be changed substantially.
The regulation is the culmination of six and a half years of work by the administration to make it easier for mining companies to dig more coal to meet growing energy demands and reduce dependence on foreign oil.
I find this news too depressing to comment much.
Coal, like oil, would seem to have peaked, at least in the United States, so that methods to get at the last of it become more destructive and less productive.
We have to ask ourselves how much we’re willing to sacrifice to continue our old ways.
This week the Kentucky State Legislature is in special session, voting to give away the state in incentives to Peabody Coal for the promise to consider building a coal gassification plant here.
So looks like we’re willing to sacrifice a lot so we can continue a lifestyle that makes us fat, unhealthy, and miserable.
The rich will eat the poor. They always do.
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6 Comments
1. Sam L. Martin replies at 23rd August 2007, 12:23 pm :
The “reclaimed” land after mountaintop removal will be used for casinos. The scum cometh.
2. sherry replies at 23rd August 2007, 2:56 pm :
Sort of like the Gulf Coast, eh, Sam?
3. Sam L. Martin replies at 24th August 2007, 12:23 am :
After Cuba becomes a “democracy” and our friend, the fist businesses will be casinos. The godfathers and those who sing soprano will be pawned off as American heroes. The most obvious propaganda happens in the movie My Brother’s Keeper, especially at the end when the Sicilian godfather compares his crew to Eastern Kentucky men who are in law enforcement. Any American should be truly pissed at this twisting of history and the values that the Kentuckians show. (Oh, my goodness! We’re supposed to be impressed with organized crime’s “code” of behavior, the allegiance that these people have to one another. Their “code” is like a bunch of rapists who agree not to masturbate in the public square.)
4. sherry replies at 24th August 2007, 1:49 am :
Well, Sam, I’ve not seen “My Brother’s Keeper” so I can’t go there with you. I’m opposed to casino gambling, as I am opposed to a lottery, because I think both amount to a tax on the poor.
However, I don’t believe in legislating morality, and anti-casino scare tactics strike me as being like “dry” arguments: if you allow bars and liquor stores you’re going to have streets overrun with drunks accosting the children.
I was marked as a mere todger by my Daddy’s argument that the only thing that happens when you vote your county dry is that all the revenue goes across the county line.
Besides, I have family who like to go to casinos and they’re good people.
I am, however, very skeptical that extended gambling is going to solve Kentucky’s economic ills. So was the lottery supposed to, all those years ago, and it seems to me that mostly the lottery has benefited those who run the lottery.
Gambling also looks like a bubble to me and a poor investment.
And all the offshore boats on the Gulf Coast were not that environmentally friendly.
5. mw replies at 24th August 2007, 3:52 pm :
I have a feeling that there are those who would be more than happy to let the whole country go to hell so long as they could keep living the way they are. Moutains? Alaskan wilderness? What does that matter when we have to keep worshipping at the altar of the car, and so long as we don’t have to make any sacrifices or think of anyone but ourselves. You’re right, it is too depressing for words, but it’s infuriating as well. This is my state, and my country, too, and I don’t want to see either one get trashed just so the rich can get richer.
6. Darlene replies at 24th August 2007, 5:27 pm :
Amen, Molly! Amen!
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