Tag Archives: mountaintop removal

My Connection to Mountaintop Removal

Posted on November 2, 2008 | Leave a comment

Today I visited the I Love Mountains website.  The site has a feature where you can enter your zip code to find your connection to endangered mountains.  There was no surprise when my connection came up as follows:

You are connected to mountaintop removal. Your electricity provider, PacifiCorp, buys coal from companies engaged in mountaintop removal

The story of Black Mountain, Virginia, is one of many that are connected to the power plants on your grid, which are marked on the map below.

The mountaintop removal mines shown in red are connected to the nearest coal power plant on your grid: KUCC, operated by Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation.

Explain my Connection

WHO PROVIDES MY ELECTRICITY?

The PacifiCorp service area is part of a larger interconnected electric grid operated by PacifiCorp-East. There are a total of 5 coal-fired power plants on this grid that are connected to mountaintop removal. Following are details on how each is connected to mountaintop removal.

 

THERE are 5 plants INDIRECTLY CONNECTED TO MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL ON YOUR GRID

 


Plants on the PacifiCorp-East grid that do not use mountaintop removal coal directly, but purchase coal from companies that operate mountaintop removal mines in Central Appalachia include:

 

As part of this feature on the I love Mountains website, you can also view Google Earth for your area to see the effects of mountaintop removal.

I urge readers to go to this website and look around.  There is lots of useful information, including how you can become involved in the project to advocate for stopping the practice of mountaintop removal

See my post with the video on mountaintop removal
 


 

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Mountaintop Removal – more reasons to get Jesse Johnson elected Governor of West Virginia

Posted on October 26, 2008 | Leave a comment

Mountaintop removal is a seroius and significant issue in our country that few people hear about. But no more. Thanks to Wes over at California Greening, I came across this:

This video brought tears to my eyes. Mountains are one of my loves. I grew up around the Blue Ridge Mountains. My children and grandchildren live around those mountains. Seeing how this affects people and all other life is heart wrenching. I live around some of the most beautiful mountains in the country and see how mountaintop removal for gold affects the area where I live. It’s a crime and a travesty to our planet.

Wes posts:
Last night, Bill Moyers asked his viewers to get involved in this issue. The following is from Bill Moyers Journal.

“There’s nothing make-believe about this. Remember these scenes of mountain top mining in West Virginia? Companies blow those mountains sky-high to expose the coal, then haul away tons of rock and debris and dump the waste into valley areas. To protect the quality of the water, they’re not supposed to pile the stuff within 100 feet of rivers and creeks.

But while we’ve all been obsessing over Sarah Palin’s posh makeover and Joe Biden’s latest gaffe, the coal companies have been lobbying the Bush administration to gut the rules even further, to allow them greater freedom to dump massive waste piles anywhere they want – including directly into the water.

Now, the Interior Department is one of those government agencies that’s practically been turned over to the industries it’s supposed to regulate. So as a parting gift, the President’s appointees at Interior have now officially proposed granting the coal companies their wish – to dump at will.

There’s a 30-day period for public comment and review before the proposal takes effect, so you can find out how to register your opinion – pro or con – at our site on PBS.org.”

So, if Moyers is asking for some action, then maybe the best action that we can take is to help Jesse get elected in any way that we can.

* You can donate to Jesse on his web site.
* You can help out with phone banking, even from here. (I need to get you the contact).
* You can do what I am doing, plant the seed of an upset on every blog where you can post. I even posted a call for his support on DailyKos without getting accused of being a troll.

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