Strong Grassroots Activism Helps Defeat Mountaintop Removal Scheme in Virginia

Even in coal country, Big Coal is being met with grassroots resistance it hasn't experienced before.

Last week, the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME) upheld an earlier decision to deny a permit for a mountaintop-removal mine on Ison Rock Ridge in Wise County in southwest Virginia after an appeal by the A&G Coal Corporation. The opposition was led by activists from the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards (SAMS) and the Sierra Club, and residents fed up with the destruction and devastating health effects from mountaintop-removal mining.

"I'm so pleased to finally see the DMME stand up for the people they are supposed to represent," said Sam Broach, president of SAMS. "The people living in the areas affected by surface mining can sleep well tonight knowing that the mountains above them won’t be blown up, and the air they breathe will be a little bit cleaner. This courageous decision will save our waterways, too."

The permit would have threatened to decimate nearby Callahan Creek -- already considered legally impaired by pollution -- and affect the health of families in the area. Nearly two dozen peer-reviewed studies have confirmed high rates of cancer, birth defects, and heart and lung diseases in people who live near mountaintop-removal sites -- a fact ignored by Big Coal. 

Kazakhstan: From Coal to Clean Energy?

Why is Kazakhstan, one of the world’s major oil producing countries, with 3 percent of recoverable oil reserves within its borders and an energy sector dominated by coal, going green? Because it makes economic sense, it is good for growth, it will create jobs, and it will reduce carbon emissions.

In 2008, the United Nations Development Program found that coal-fired power made up the majority of Kazakhstan’s energy sector, but just five years later the country is prepared to make a seismic shift. Last week, President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced a program to devote 1 percent of the country’s GDP towards slashing coal's share of the energy portfolio from 80 percent to less than 50 percent by 2030, replacing it with wind, sun and hydropower. This effort will not only help preserve Kazakhstan’s environment and conserve its resources, but also use Kazakhstan’s geographic location between Europe and Asia to position the nation as an international environmental and trade leader. By leading the green revolution, Kazakhstan can grow its GDP by 3 percent annually through 2050 and add 600,000 new jobs.

NYC Releases Plan to Keep the Lights On In the Face of the Next Climate Disaster

As climate-related extreme weather becomes more violent, officials across the country, including in New York City, are preparing for climate change and the next Superstorm. NOAA is already predicting more severe superstorms this season: their Hurricane Season Outlook says there is a 70 percent likelihood of seven to 11, including three to six major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5; winds of 111 mph or higher). These ranges are well above the seasonal average of six hurricanes and three major hurricanes or superstorms.

Then yesterday the Bloomberg administration issued new warnings about New York City's vulnerability to climate change, offering updated data to encourage people to better prepare against hotter weather, fiercer storms, and increased rainfall.

Today the Bloomberg administration took their warnings a step further, by releasing a new plan that works to transform New York City into a lower-carbon, more resilient city. This plan, called "A Stronger, More Resilient New York," describes how the city can better prepare for major weather events, including superstorms. In a speech at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Mayor unveiled the plan, which was developed in coordination with an array of city agencies, technical experts, representatives of Sandy-impacted communities, and community-based and non-governmental organizations citywide. The Mayor's plan provides a clear path to protecting New York's infrastructure, buildings, and communities from the impacts of climate change.

U.S. Export-Import Bank's Shady Coal Scheme in Mongolia

Once again, U.S. Export-Import Bank (Exim) Chairman Fred Hochberg is using our taxpayer dollars to finance a dangerous fossil fuel project. This time it’s Rio Tinto’s Oyu Tolgoi gold and copper mine and the associated coal-fired power plant in Mongolia. What’s even more galling is that Hochberg and the Exim board of directors approved the project in April despite what amounted to a vote of no confidence in the very same project by the U.S. Treasury, which abstained from a decision on funding from World Bank Group’s International Financial Corporation (IFC).

When explaining their abstention, Treasury officials stated, "The ESIA does not provide a sufficiently detailed analysis of associated facilities and cumulative impacts, notably concerning a coal-fired power plant that will likely be needed to provide reliable power for the project." Clearly these were trivial matters for Mr. Hochberg and Exim that should not come between them and a new destructive coal plant.

Exxon Conceals Results of 2013 Pegasus Pipeline Inspection

The following is an open letter to Rex Tillerson, Exxon Mobil CEO.

Dear Mr. Tillerson:  

It's now been more than a month since the ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline ruptured and spewed more than 200,000 gallons of tar sands crude into the neighborhoods and waterways of Mayflower, Arkansas.  More than 20 families were evacuated and remain out of their homes.  Federal documents show that less than half of the crude has been recovered, and there are conflicting reports about whether the crude has made it into Lake Conway and beyond. Mayflower residents in the immediate spill area and beyond are intensely and justifiably concerned about both the short and long-term health effects of the spill on their families.  Their concerns are elevated even higher by yesterday's news of another Pegasus pipeline spill in our neighboring state of Missouri.

Today, a group of federal, state, and local officials gathered in Little Rock to discuss the risks of the Pegasus pipeline to Arkansas's capital city.  The aging Pegasus pipeline runs through 13.6 miles of the Lake Maumelle watershed, which is the drinking water source for 400,000 people in central Arkansas.  The discussion centered largely around options for either removing the Pegasus pipeline from the watershed or, failing that, how to dramatically improve the safety of the pipeline.  ExxonMobil was invited to the meeting but did not send a representative. Further, officials at the meeting repeatedly noted that ExxonMobil has yet to provide information and answers to questions that have been asked of the corporation.  

Arkansans deserve answers from ExxonMobil.  Families have been out of their homes for more than a month.  Mayflower's land and waterways are fouled, children and others have become sick from exposure, and hundreds of animals and birds have been killed or sickened after coming in contact with the spilled crude.  Our health, safety, and environment are at risk in Mayflower and beyond.  

Big Coal Profits Off Taxpayers While Pushing Exports that No One Wants

Big Coal has a dirty little secret: For coal mined in the Powder River Basin (PRB) of Montana and Wyoming, transported to the coast, and shipped to East Asia, the industry only pays government royalties at the time it’s mined and not when it is actually sold overseas, when the price can "increase more than fivefold," reports Associated Press, "saving them millions of dollars in the process."

The Interior Department is investigating and considering a new royalty payment system after two U.S. senators raised the point that taxpayers are the ultimate losers in this scheme. Meanwhile, Big Coal is enabled by a complacent Bureau of Land Management, which is leasing out PRB coal at rock bottom prices to boost industry profits. No wonder why coal companies are rushing a number of proposals to expand their exporting operations up and down the Pacific Northwest.

PRB leasing should cease until we learn more from the investigation and the federal government considers the massive climate impacts from such mining. Coal from PRB accounts for 13 percent of U.S. climate changing emissions. The federal government has leased more than 2.1 billion tons of PRB coal between 2011 and 2012, directly causing the release of more than 3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. Without a moratorium, the potential for another 3.5 billion tons of new coal mining could happen.

Applying fair market practices to how Big Coal does business will reveal that the industry has been relying on special favoritism for far too long. Thousands upon thousands of families in communities across Washington and Oregon have made it loud and clear that they don't want miles-long coal trains snaking through their neighborhoods and polluting their cities and crops. They know that a clean-energy future will do more for local jobs, public health, and the climate crisis.

--Bill Corcoran, Western Regional Campaign Director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign

Huge Win Over Big Coal Preserves Historic Kentucky Landmark

Big Coal's overreach turned into a huge win for healthy air and clean water supporters in Kentucky when a proposed permit for a coal ash pit recently went up in smoke.

Louisville Gas & Electric (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities Energy had targeted a Trimble County natural cave to dispose of about one million tons of coal ash waste each year. The state Division of Solid Waste Management denied the permit, siding with grassroots organizers and volunteers who worked two years to defeat it. The decision followed a unanimous state House of Representatives resolution that urged LG&E to consider an alternative.

"This is tremendous news for Trimble County families," said Sonia McElroy (pictured), a farmer who lives near the proposed site and led local residents in opposing the plan.

U.S. Treasury Insists That Coal Impacts Be Accounted For

The U.S. Government took an important step to protect local communities from deadly coal pollution by abstaining from a vote on a $900 million funding package for Rio Tinto's Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia. The U.S. Government decision amounts to a vote of no confidence in the International Financial Corporation (IFC) financed project. More importantly it sets an important precedent for coal projects seeking support from the United States -- a welcome sign given its continued support for the Kosovo coal project.

While the U.S. government's support for Kosovo continues to be controversial, Treasury's decision on the Mongolian project was the right one to make, and the Sierra Club commends them for it. Included in the project is a 450-750 MW coal fired-power station that is in clear violation of the Bank's own coal guidance, but which the IFC failed to consider by labeling it an associated facility. When explaining the decision, Treasury officials stated, "The ESIA does not provide a sufficiently detailed analysis of associated facilities and cumulative impacts, notably concerning a coal-fired power plant that will likely be needed to provide reliable power for the project."

The Oyu Tolgoi project has been a boondoggle from the start with, not one, but two open investigations by the IFC Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO) into impacts on local herders who rely on the region's scarce water resources to survive. While the U.S. vote was not enough to sway the full IFC Board of Directors, which approved the project on February 28, the concerns raised in the U.S. position paper send a strong signal that it is time for the World Bank and IFC to live up to the promise of the Bank's "Turn Down the Heat" report and stop rubberstamping funding for dangerous coal projects.

Today the Sierra Club applauds the U.S. Treasury and hopes that other agencies, including the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Exim), will follow Treasury's leadership and reject financing for Oyu Tolgoi and other dangerous fossil fuel projects.

-- Nicole Ghio, Sierra Club Campaign Liaison

The Costs of Sequestration

When Congress passed the Budget Control Act of 2011 in the midst of the debt-ceiling crisis and crushing gridlock, it was a small compromise, delaying economic catastrophe by kicking the can down the road and stopping the bleeding. The legislation effectively moved major decisions off months into the future by establishing a deadline for Congress to take more significant action. The bill set up a series of dramatically harsh spending cuts in the far-off year of 2013 with the idea that the pain those cuts would inflict on our economy and our families would be too great for Congress to fail to act.

Sadly, it seems Members of Congress underestimated the extent to which gridlock has crippled their own institution.

Congress again stalled, letting these massive spending cuts go into effect on March 1. While the real effect is not expected to be fully felt for several months, the costs on our air, our water, and the health of our planet and our families are already mounting. Just take a look at what sequestration is already doing or will do in the months ahead:

Western New York Families Mobilize Against Polluters

In Tonawanda, kids are getting sick, the community is deteriorating, and all signs point to polluters that have been getting away with it for a long time.

Tonawanda is home to one of New York's last remaining coal-fired power plants, NRG Huntley, and to 53 industrial facilities. Within its borders are two petroleum distribution terminals, multiple chemical bulk storage terminals, a tire manufacturing plant, and two interstate highways.

That's why more than 150 people gathered to discuss the community's ongoing health problems caused by toxic pollution that has gone unchecked for decades. The event was the culmination of a year-long organizing effort by a Sierra Club partner organization, the Clean Air Coalition of WNY. A $100,000 Community Action Grant from the Environmental Protection Agency made CAC's impressive work possible.

"This was the result of a years of hard work by our membership," said Rebecca Newberry, CAC community organizer.