Wisconsin Students Protest Mountaintop Removal

Photo courtesy of WKBT Newschannel 8

On February 18, students at the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse held a mountaintop removal mining (MTR) demonstration with a snow mountain they constructed—and then despoiled and demolished—for the occasion.

Two television stations covered the event (click on the photographs above and below to watch), as did the local paper, the LaCrosse Tribune.

Photo courtesy of WXOW Newschannel 19

The demonstration took place right after trucks delivered a load of coal to the university's heating plant. Below, UW-L graduate student Jeremy Gragert "blows up" top of the mountain and pours a fake coal slurry mixture onto a model village on the mountain's flank. 

Photos courtesy of WKBT Newschannel 8

"The UW-L heating plant burns coal that destroys communities, mountains, and water systems—a lot of people are affected," Gragert, below, told the Tribune. "We need to end these contracts as soon as we possibly can."

Photo courtesy of WKBT Newschannel 8

Locals Help Turn Back Waste Coal Plant Near Pittsburgh

The Sierra Club, the Environmental Integrity Project, and the local groups Action for Change Today and Residents Against the Power Plant celebrated in late January when the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) invalidated an air quality permit allowing a "waste coal" power plant to be built less than 10 miles upwind of downtown Pittsburgh.

Above, local residents gather last June at a community meeting opposing the 272-megawatt Beech Hollow Power Plant in Robinson Township.

The plant was originally approved by DEP in 2005, just days before more stringent federal guidelines for the burning of waste coal were to take effect. But thanks in large part to a concerted grassroots campaign, the permit was rescinded and Robinson Power Company dropped its plans to build the plant.

"A lot of people worked very hard to make sure citizens' voices were heard," says Sierra Club organizer Randy Francisco. "They held meetings, went door-to-door, sent letters and emails—it was very impressive. They've been working toward this moment for years."

Below, Francisco talks with reporters and staff of state and federal legislators on a Dirty Coal tour the Sierra Club organized near the site of the proposed Beech Hollow plant last November.

Permit Yanked for Coal Mine Expansion on Tribal Lands

Photo by Doc Searles, courtesy of Creative Commons

The Sierra Club, tribal partners, and a coalition of environmental groups won a major victory in January when an Administrative Law Judge for the Department of Interior (DOI) withdrew Peabody Coal Company's permit to re-open and expand its controversial coal mining complex on Black Mesa, above, which overlaps Navajo and Hopi tribal lands.

"This is a huge victory for the communities of Black Mesa impacted by coal mining, and proof that Peabody can't have its way on Black Mesa anymore," says Hertha Woody, a Sierra Club activist and a member of the Navajo Nation.

Sierra Club organizer Andy Bessler says "big thanks goes to the more than 50 Hopi appellants, led by Kendall Nutumya, who got a successful ruling from the DOI, supported by similar appeals by tribal partners and environmental groups."

 

The permit was originally granted in December 2008 by the Bush administration DOI in spite of protests by Navajo and Hopi tribal members and environmental groups. Above and below, tribal activists rally in Denver, just before the permit was issued.

Photo by Wahleah Johns

The "Life of Mine" permit, which authorized and expanded Peabody's operations at Black Mesa beyond the year 2026 to allow for the extraction of an estimated 670 million tons of coal, was one of several fossil-fuel-friendly permits issued in the waning days of the Bush administration.

But Administrative Law Judge Robert Holt ruled this January that the permit violated the National Environmental Policy Act because DOI's Office of Surface Mining (OSM) failed to prepare an adequate environmental impact statement after Peabody proposed to enlarge its mining operations by nearly 19,000 acres.

Coal-Free UNC Campaign Gathers Steam

Climate scientist James Hansen joined student activists, local residents, and faculty at the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill the first week of February in urging the university to eliminate coal power on campus. UNC-Chapel Hill now operates its own coal-fired cogeneration (heat & power) plant.

Hansen, above center, was on campus at the invitation of Coal-Free UNC, part of the Sierra Club's Campuses Beyond Coal campaign. That's UNC freshman and Coal-Free UNC coordinator Stewart Boss at right, above.

"As a proud Tar Heel, I want to see my university maintain its status as an environmental leader by moving beyond coal and making UNC a greener, more sustainable campus," Boss told an assembed crowd of activists who gathered despite the inclement weather.

One of Coal-Free UNC's top priorities has been pushing the university to create an Energy Task Force to address energy use on campus, and Boss praised UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp's recent decision to do so. "This is a great first step in the right direction," Boss said, "and the best way for the task force to address energy use is to get UNC off coal as quickly as possible."

Since forming last September, Coal-Free UNC has collected more than 1,900 petition signatures calling on the university to end its coal use by 2015.

Recap from the TX and VA EPA Smog Hearings

The many people who attended yesterday's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearings on its proposed ozone/smog rule are calling them a success. The proposed National Ambient Air Quality Standard follows the recommendation of EPA scientists and numerous health groups, setting the limit between 60 and 70 parts per billion - and we strongly support this move.

We had great numbers of concerned citizens, scientists, doctors and more turn out at the hearings in Houston, Texas, and Arlington, Virginia, to talk about the need for stronger standards on ozone - which is also known as smog.

In Houston, our Lone Star chapter teamed up with the American Lung Association, Environmental Defense Fund, and the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention to state the facts on the risks of smog. The coalition got some good media coverage before and after the event, including their live-blog on DailyKos - and they even made this fantastic video of it all.



Almost twenty leaders of national and local health and environmental organizations testified - as well a teen with asthma. "I've been hospitalized many times with asthma attacks. It's scary when you can't catch your breath. When I was young, going to the hospital with asthma was a monthly thing," said 14-year old asthma patient Aaron Smith, who attended the EPA hearing with his mother Rosa Smith. The Smith family lives near the Houston refineries.

"Now I'm on an adult dose of asthma medicine and the only other way to manage the asthma is to limit my outdoor activities. That's hard to do at 14. My doctor's even talking to me about moving away from Houston's pollution when I go to college."