|
| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
Two Roads Diverged in a Wood, and I ... I Couldn't Believe I Was in a Roadless Area
Deal to shrink roadless areas in Idaho approved by Bush admin |
|
02 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:53 AM on 02 Sep 2008 An Idaho-specific plan meant to replace President Clinton's national roadless rule in the state was agreed to Friday by the Bush administration, timber interests, and a few environmental groups. If approved by the Secretary of Agriculture after a public-comment period, the revised rule would protect just 3.3 million ac ... |
|
| Topics: Idaho, logging, mining, national forests, news, politics, US Forest Service (all these topics) |
|
|
Waste Is a Terrible Thing to Mine ... Or Is It?
High oil prices in future could spur plastic mining from dump sites |
|
28 Aug 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 6:02 AM on 28 Aug 2008 Sustained high oil prices on into the future could prompt entrepreneurs and scavengers to seek oil and oil derivatives from plastic items long ago thrown away in landfills, according to waste experts. "By 2020 we might have 9 billion people on the planet ... and we could be in a really resource-hungry world with the oil price climbing and a su ... |
|
| Topics: energy, mining, news, waste (all these topics) |
|
|
On a wind and a prayer
West Virginian advocates push to build a wind farm on a proposed mountaintop removal site |
Kate Sheppard |
21 Aug 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Coal River Mountain is one of the last mountains in West Virginia's Coal River Valley that hasn't been destroyed by mountaintop removal coal mining. Massey Energy is planning to mine a 10-square-mile area of the mountain, but activists in the area are hoping to intercede with a plan to instead harvest the mountain's wind potential. Massey Energy has a number of mountaintop removal (MTR) operations in place in the area around Coal Mountain, but they plan to blast ... |
|
| Topics: coal, mining, Muckraker, news, politics, West Virginia (all these topics) |
|
|
Post-Carbon County
Clean energy comes to the coalfields |
Josh Dorner |
13 Aug 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The name says it all. Carbon County, Pennsylvania is a county of 58,000 located in the heart of the Keystone State's famed anthracite coalfields. The county was famous not just for its coal, but also the notorious Molly Maguires that exemplified the kind of organized violence between workers and bosses that marked 19th century American industrialism. Pennsylvania is also the state that launched the petroleum industry, with the sinking of the Drake Well in Titusville ( ... |
|
| Topics: business, coal, greenish companies, mining, renewable energy, video, wind power (all these topics) |
|
|
Notable quotable
Stopping MTR |
David Roberts |
12 Aug 2008 |
Gristmill |
| 'Now there is an increasingly powerful and vocal national movement to stop mountaintop removal [mining]. I'm saying we're going to have it stopped by the end of next year ... the end of 2009.' -- Matt Wasson, director of programs for Appalachian Voices |
|
| Topics: coal, mining, quotables (all these topics) |
|
|
Notable quotable
Appalachian Mountains: old and in the way |
David Roberts |
01 Aug 2008 |
Gristmill |
| 'A lot of people look at mountain top removal [mining] as a negative, but I see it as a positive. We need to stop apologizing for coal ... I want us to promote mountain top removal, because we need flat land. We can not have economic expansion without places to do things and part of mountain top removal is for places like hospitals, airports and different type of merchants.' -- Kentucky Lieutenant Governor Daniel Mongiardo |
|
| Topics: coal, economy, energy, insanity, mining, quotables (all these topics) |
|
|
Dig Yourself Out of That Hole
Feds lambasted for neglecting cleanup of abandoned mines |
|
28 Jul 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:00 PM on 28 Jul 2008 Thousands of abandoned mines across the U.S. West pose hazards to the public, according to a strongly worded audit from the Interior Department inspector general. The Bureau of Land Management's mine program "has been undermined, neglected, and marginalized," says the report, and many easily accessible mines have "dangerously dilapidated structures, serious envi ... |
|
| Topics: Arizona, Bureau of Land Management, California, Department of Interior, mining, Nevada, news, toxics (all these topics) |
|
|
My coal Kentucky home
Kentucky to build new coal-to-liquids plant |
Joseph Romm |
22 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The following post is by Earl Killian, guest blogger at Climate Progress. Kentucky has selected a site to build a $4 billion coal-to-liquids plant in Pike County that would produce 50,000 barrels of liquid coal a day. According to Kentucky's Lexington Herald-Leader: ... The county would use federal and state grant money to put the basic infrastructure in place, including water and sewer, and the company chosen to operate the facility would pay for the rest.Coun ... |
|
| Topics: coal, coal-to-liquid fuel, energy, Kentucky, mining (all these topics) |
|
|
A Hole-istic Approach
Wal-Mart, mining companies team up to trace path of jewelry supply chain |
|
16 Jul 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 7:31 AM on 16 Jul 2008 Retail giant Wal-Mart is joining with Conservation International as well as mining companies Rio Tinto and Newmont Mining to launch a pilot project that lets customers trace the path of their jewelry from mine to mega-store. Marketed as Wal-Mart's "Love, Earth" brand jewelry, the items stand out from others in that once they're purchased, customers can go to ... |
|
| Topics: business, green living, mining, news, shopping, Wal-Mart (all these topics) |
|
|
Grand can't, yon
House blocks uranium mining near Grand Canyon National Park |
Kate Sheppard |
25 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The House Natural Resources Committee pulled a rarely-used move today to block uranium mining in one million acres of public land near the Grand Canyon, using their authority to order the Bush administration to immediately halt mining claims. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), chair of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forest and Public Lands, suggested using the emergency move, which is apparently a provision that Congress hasn't utilized since 1983. They voted 20-2 ... |
|
| Topics: Arizona, Congress, mining, Muckraker, news, politics (all these topics) |
|
|
When Is a Lake Not a Lake?
Canadian lakes set to be reclassified as mining-waste dumps |
|
17 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:07 AM on 17 Jun 2008 Sixteen lakes across Canada are set to be quietly reclassified as allowable areas for mines to dump toxic waste. While Canadian law technically disallows chucking harmful substances into fish habitat, lakes can be reclassified as "tailings impoundment areas" under a little-known subsection of mining effluent regulations. With a lake at their disposal (literally), min ... |
|
| Topics: Canada, mining, news, toxics, waste (all these topics) |
|
|
Removing mountaintop removal
North Carolina bill would ban burning of coal from mountaintop-removal mining |
Kate Sheppard |
29 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| On Tuesday, North Carolina State Rep. Pricey Harrison introduced legislation in the state House that would ban the burning of coal obtained through mountaintop-removal mining. If it passes, North Carolina would become the first state in the nation with such a law. The mining method isn't practiced in North Carolina, but 61 percent of the state's power comes from coal; North Carolina is second only to Georgia in the amount of MTR-mined coal it burns. According to ... |
|
| Topics: coal, energy, legislation, mining, Muckraker, news, North Carolina, politics, state politics (all these topics) |
|
|
Time for tar sands
The mag exalts Canada's potential to become the Saudi Arabia of the north |
Joseph Romm |
28 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Bill Becker, executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. ----- I consider Time to be one of the more forward-looking periodicals when it comes to the environment. But the editors messed up in this week's edition. The June 2 Time carries a breathless feature about the potential petroleum bonanza in Canada's tar sands. The article's authors are so giddy with the testosterone rush of big-ass earth-moving ... |
|
| Topics: Alberta, deforestation, energy, magazines, mining, oil, oil sands (all these topics) |
|
|
Voters' Voices: West Virginia
Talking with voters in the Mountain State |
Melinda Henneberger |
13 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| This is the first in a series of dispatches from Melinda Henneberger, who's talking to voters around the U.S. about their views on the environment and the election. Photo: Wignut Huntington, W.Va. -- Door-knocking for Barack Obama in a state where he expects to get stomped today has been kind of thankless for Pam Wonnell, a nurse and old friend of mine who moved here from Illinois last year for her husband's job in coal mining: 'I am not feeling t ... |
|
| Topics: coal, elections, energy, mining, politics, presidential race 08, Voters Voices, West Virginia (all these topics) |
|
|
Where the Lead Comes Sweepin' Down the Plain
Tornado ravages town already ravaged by pollution |
|
12 May 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:41 AM on 12 May 2008 Six people were killed in Picher, Okla., this weekend as a giant tornado swept through. The not-so-bright bright side: It's likely that some fatalities were avoided, since many residents of Picher have already left. Picher is so polluted with mining waste that it's listed as a Superfund site; the town's booming lead and zinc mines closed decades ago, and its population ... |
|
| Topics: air pollution, health, mining, news, Oklahoma, placemaking, severe weather, toxics, waste (all these topics) |
|
|
Coal is the enemy of the human race: Criminal negligence edition
|
David Roberts |
09 May 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Mining accidents and deaths cause a flurry of press coverage and then fade into our collective memory. But for a moment, let's think back to those horrific weeks last year as we waited to find out the fate of the trapped miners in Crandall Canyon ... only to be bitterly disappointed. Now look: The general manager and possibly other senior staff at the Crandall Canyon Mine near Huntington, Utah, where 9 miners died in August 2007, hid information from federal mini ... |
|
| Topics: coal, energy, mining, Utah (all these topics) |
|
|
It's Like a Glow-in-the-Dark Gold Rush
Projected nuke-power renaissance spurs U.S. uranium-mining bonanza |
|
05 May 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 8:15 AM on 05 May 2008 Due to the escalating price of uranium, a flurry of uranium-mining claims has been staked in the United States recently, with one of the greatest concentrations around the Grand Canyon in Arizona. On public lands within five miles of Grand Canyon National Park, there are now 1,100 uranium-mining claims, compared with just 10 in January 2003. One proposed ura ... |
|
| Topics: mining, news, nuclear power, toxics, United States (all these topics) |
|
|
Notable quotable
|
David Roberts |
28 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| 'So I hope that this film will help others to connect the dots the way it helped Tipper and me to connect the dots on the relationship between mountaintop removal -- which is a crime and ought to be treated as a crime -- and the results of burning it without regard to the future, which also ought to be treated as just an unacceptable practice.' -- Al Gore, presenting the 'Reel Current Award' to director Michael O' Connell for his latest film, Mountain Top Removal |
|
| Topics: Al Gore, energy, mining, movies, quotables (all these topics) |
|
|
Friday music blogging: Kathy Mattea
Songs about the enemy of the human race |
David Roberts |
25 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| It is rare that my idiosyncratic and widely ignored Friday music blogging overlaps with the subject matter that occupies the rest of my time. But today we have a happy confluence. Kathy Mattea is a Grammy-winning country artist, born in West Virginia. She had a string of hits in the '80s and '90s, but her turn to the social activism that fuel ... |
|
| Topics: coal, energy, mining, music (all these topics) |
|
|
Haul From Grace
W.R. Grace will finally pay Montana asbestos victims |
|
08 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:01 PM on 08 Apr 2008 W.R. Grace & Co. has agreed to pay some $3 billion in cash and equity to settle lawsuits filed on behalf of people injured or killed by asbestos in the company's products. Grace operated a vermiculite mine near Libby, Mont., from 1963 to 1990, infamously coating the town with asbestos fibers. The company went bankrupt in 2001 after more than 100,000 asbestos-related claims were filed agains ... |
|
| Topics: business, litigation, mining, Montana, news, toxics (all these topics) |
|
|
Deep Impact
Uranium mine near Grand Canyon blocked |
|
07 Apr 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:17 PM on 07 Apr 2008 A judge has blocked a British mining company's plan to build an exploratory uranium mine near the Grand Canyon. U.S. District Judge Mary Murguia agreed with litigious environmental groups that considering the location of the proposed mine and the risks associated with uranium mining, VANE Minerals Group should be required to conduct further environmental reviews before moving forward. sources: Associated Press, ... |
|
| Topics: Arizona, energy, mining, news, public lands (all these topics) |
|
|
Blankenship to reporter: 'You're liable to get shot'
Massey wins W. Va. Supreme Court case; not doing so well in public relations |
David Roberts |
05 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| A while back, a case against mountaintop-removal giant Massey Energy reached the West Virginia Supreme Court, which overturned a previous judgment fining the company. But then pictures turned up of Massey CEO Don Blankenship canoodling around the French Riviera with one of the court judges and two female 'companions.' Oops. The court decided to re-hear the case, minus the offending judge. Then another judge, who had said that 'the pernicious effects of Mr. Blankens ... |
|
| Topics: business, coal, energy, mining, politics, shenanigans, West Virginia (all these topics) |
|
|
File under: Sherlock, No sh*t
|
David Roberts |
03 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I give you clean coal: The study, 'Relations between Health Indicators and Residential Proximity to Coal Mining in West Virginia,' found that in the 14 counties where the biggest coal mining operations are located residents reported higher rates of cardiopulmonary disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, diabetes, and lung and kidney disease. In each of those counties, mining topped 4 million tons of coal a year. |
|
| Topics: coal, energy, health, mining, West Virginia (all these topics) |
|
|
Stuff kills
Chinese miners and our appetite for cheap crap |
Tom Philpott |
01 Apr 2008 |
Gristmill |
| As the United States has outsourced its industrial base to China over the last two decades, millions of manufacturing jobs have disappeared. But the trend has also allowed us to shed a lot of unpleasantness: industrial waste, air pollution, etc. The move also eased the burden on our electrical grid. The energy needed to produce clothes, electrical gadgets, industrial equipment, etc. no longer comes from our power generators. But greenhouse gases are a fungible sub ... |
|
| Topics: China, climate, consumerism, economy, energy, green living, greenhouse-gas emissions, health, mining (all these topics) |
|
|
Citizens and the Nation
Navajo Nation will develop wind-power project |
|
28 Mar 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:22 PM on 28 Mar 2008 Today we present the good, the bad, and the ugly of energy sources on Navajo land. The good: The Navajo Nation has formed a joint venture with Boston-based Citizens Energy Corp for a wind-power project on its vast Western reservation. The bad: The tribe continues to try to push through a controversial coal plant as well, and recently sued the U.S. EPA for not yet issuing an air permit. The ugl ... |
|
| Topics: coal, energy, mining, news, wind power (all these topics) |
|
|
|
©2008. Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Gloom and doom with a sense of humor®.