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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: A setback in the search for missing WV miners; Massey Mine Explosion: Who is to blame? … PLUS: Record snow, record landslides, record rain, record heat & predictable silence from the Global Warming Denialist Industry … All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’: A Modest Proposal for hacking the planet; CO law to require uranium mining cleanup; Study says U.S. waterways are warming; Pipeline leaks oil into Louisiana wildlife refuge; Global Warming’s Big Winners: fire ants, poison ivy, ticks; Fox News Tries to Re-Ignite Attacks on Exonerated Climate Scientist; Melbourne smashes record for run of warm days; Race to introduce GM corn before Africa’s climate worsens … PLUS: Oil and Gas Industry Launches Ad Campaign to Target ‘Energy Industry Taxes’ …
Info/links on those stories and all the ones we talked about on today’s episode follow below…
- Setback in the Search for Missing Miners
- West Virginia Coal Mine Explosion: Crews Enter Mine, Meet Dangerous Levels Of Gases (Huffington Post Green)
- Massey Mines Record of Safety Violations:
- AP: Massey cited the day of explosion (WV Gazette)
- Deadly Record: Massey’s Mine In Montcoal Has Been Cited For Over 3,000 Violations, Over $2.2 Million In Fines (Think Progress)
- Citations issued day of mine explosion (WV Gazette)
- Massey Energy: West Virginia mine explosion site’s checkered past: The Upper Big Branch mine had about 500 violations issued against it last year.(Christian Science Monitor)
- Massey Energy, West Virginia Mine Owner, Draws Scorn on Wall Street:: BofA Cutting Off Financing for Mine Operator; UBS Remains Large Lender (ABC.com)
- WV Gov. Manchin vows ‘very, very stern action’ (WV Gazette)
- Mine Explosion Focuses Attention on Massey Energy’s Controversial CEO:
- W.Va. mine owner accused of putting safety second (AP):
The disaster at the Upper Big Branch mine has focused attention on the business and safety practices of the owner, Massey Energy, a powerful and politically connected company in Appalachia known for producing big profits, as well as big piles of safety and environmental violations and big damage awards for grieving widows.
“There are mines in this country who have operated safely for 20 years,” said J. Davitt McAteer, head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration in the Clinton administration.
“There are mines who take precautions ahead of time. There are mines who spend the money and manpower to do it.”
He added: “Those mines haven’t been blown up.“
- W. Va. Mine Explosion: Massey Energy C.E.O. Speaks Out: Massey’s CEO Don Blankenship Wants to Wait for Investigation Before Placing Blame: “Anything you do in life has risks.” (ABC.com)
- A Mine Boss Inspires Fear, but Pride, Too: Blankenship Revered and Reviled in WV (NY Times)
- Don Blankenship: Seventh scariest person in America: Massey Energy CEO is a really bad dude (Grist)
- The Cost of Coal, the Failure of Enforcement:
- “Enforcement” During Bush Administration: Don Blankenship’s Record Of Profits Over Safety: ‘Coal Pays The Bills’ (Wonk Room):
Sen. McConnell and Wife Stopped MSHA Investigation. U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, wife of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), oversaw the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Chao “put on the brakes†on the MSHA investigation into the spill by placing a McConnell staffer in charge. In 2002 a $5,600 fine was levied. That September Massey gave $100,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, chaired by McConnell. [Lexington Herald-Leader, 10/2/06, OpenSecrets]
$2.4 Billion Becomes $20 Million. In May 2007 the EPA filed suit for $2.4 billion against Massey for violating “Clean Water Act more than 4,500 times from the beginning of 2000 to the end of 2006″ in West Virginia and Kentucky, including the Martin County spill. In January 2008 Massey agreed to pay $20 million to settle the case. [Lexington Herald-Leader, 1/18/08]
- The Protracted Costs of Coal Mining:
The national cost of power plant emissions in 2005 is put at $62 billion, and the damage from automotive emissions—from light vehicles, as well as medium- and heavy-duty trucks—at $56 billion. Given the report’s valuation of a premature human death at $6 million, those estimates imply that about 10,000 people die each year from exposure to coal power plant emissions, and about 10,000 from vehicular emissions.
- EPA study confirms damage from strip mining: Mountaintop removal mining is destroying forests and polluting streams across the Appalachian coalfields, according to a new EPA report. (WV Gazette)
- Mines Fight Strict Laws by Filing More Appeals (NY Times)
- Over 350 Dead After Record Storms, Landslides in Brazil:
- Record Heat Wave After Record Rains, Snowstorms in Northeast:
- Heat wave follows Northeast floods: 90 or warmer in Boston, Providence and Hartford; fire warnings issued (MSNBC)
- Weather Channel asks, “July in April?â€: Record smashing heat-wave hits nation (Climate Progress)
‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’: More green news not covered in today’s audio report…
- Study Says U.S. Waterways Are Warming (Green Inc.)
- Melbourne’s hot 100 smashes record for run of warm days (West Australia Today)
- A Race to Introduce GM Corn Before Africa’s Climate Worsens (ClimateWire)
- Fire Ants, Poison Ivy, Deer Ticks: Global Warming’s Big Winners (Grist)
- Pipeline leaks oil into Louisiana wildlife refuge: An oil pipeline operated by Chevron Pipe Line Co leaked at least 18,000 gallons of crude oil into the Delta National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana(Reuters)
- Uranium cleanup bill passes Colo. House, goes to Senate [emphasis added]:
State lawmakers advanced legislation to require uranium-mill operators to clean up existing toxic waste before launching new projects — a bill that could kill a company’s planned refurbishment of a shuttered uranium mill in Colorado.
Because final cleanup of contaminated groundwater at Cotter Corp.’s Cañon City mill “could be 50 years from now,” the bill that House lawmakers passed to the Senate would prohibit Cotter’s project to bring in and process 500,000 tons a year of uranium from northern New Mexico, Cotter vice president John Hamrick said.
- A Modest Proposal for Hacking the Planet (Mother Jones)
- Fox News’ Ed Barnes Tries to Re-Ignite Attacks on Climate Scientist Exonerated by Penn State (DeSmog Blog)
- Oil and Gas Ads Target ‘Energy Industry Taxes’:
The oil and gas industry is funding an advertising campaign aimed at stopping new energy taxes, an effort that comes as it faces both a loss of tax benefits and possible new penalties as part of climate legislation.
…
The ads target President Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget proposal to eliminate tax breaks for petroleum companies, API said. The Department of Energy said the plan would generate $36.5 billion over the next 10 years. The industry says it would cost companies $80 billion over the same period.
