In our name. On our nickel.
If you follow the trail of destruction from the headquarters of Duke Energy to the electric meter in your own home, you may very well pass through one of the most obscene sights on earth: the grotesque slashing of Appalachian mountains in the reckless pursuit of coal.
And how can you know if your electric use is part of the problem? Simply click here.
Mountaintop removal is a radical form of coal mining where entire mountains are literally blown up -- devastating communities throughout Appalachia, polluting drinking water and destroying rivers. And the worst part is, you're paying for it. If your home or business is on the electric grid, chances are you are connected to mountaintop removal in the Appalachian Mountains. Find out how -- and then find out what you can do about it.
And in the future, another stop on the trail could be the proposed Cliffside coal plan, the gluttonous consumer of coal that Duke Energy wants to build right here in North Carolina. This from Facing South.
Duke is the nation's third-largest consumer of coal mined via that method, in which explosives are used to blast off mountaintops, with the resulting debris dumped into adjacent river valleys. The practice has already destroyed more than 470 mountain peaks, buried or polluted more than 1,200 miles of headwater streams, and wiped out some 800 square miles of diverse ecosystems in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee.
"Giving them a permit for a new coal plant is almost guaranteed to mean devastating impacts in terms of global warming pollution and mountaintop removal mining," says Appalachian Voices Executive Director Mary Anne Hitt.
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My heart breaks a little whenever I see those pictures
Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.
The video features
Christians for the Mountains. I'm really glad to see that. And to see this, too.
Really Tough Choices
I wish it were a bit more acceptable to discuss nuclear power among people of our political persuasion.
-- ge
Besta é tu se você não viver nesse mundo
http://george.entenman.name
It is acceptable, George.
There have been a couple of threads recently on the subject, with some pretty heated opinions in opposition. I'm personally more than willing to consider it, especially if we can elect political leadership that would tackle the waste issue honestly and directly.
A long time ago I wrote that I'd like to see massive funding and incentives for developing solar and wind, and that in exchange I'd be willing to fast track nuclear construction that would take coal and gas plants off line as soon as the federal government and the states settled on a workable waste management plan.
We know the environmental, social, climate and economic costs of our current approach are, but in this case I don't subscribe to going with "the devil we know."
I admit to not having an answer to the waste problem, but it seems infinitely more solvable than the climate change, acid rain, mercury poisoning problem.