Between the lines? The EPA must be actually making progress.
BECKLEY — Any doubts that industry and political leaders don’t see that the Obama administration is engaged in a war on coal were erased Thursday in Beckley in one scathing attack after another, summed up succinctly by Bill Raney’s portrait of the Environmental Protection Agency as “an army of occupation.” In a 90-minute event sponsored … Read more
Women shave their heads in protest of the effects of MTR
Peaceful protest started by women of Appalachia. Women unite by meeting at our state capitol wearing white and shaving our heads to represent the stripping of our heritage, our homes, our water and our land. Stand in solidarity with our mountains that have been stripped of their trees, plants and top soil and our people … Read more
Coal industry pays fake activists $50 to wear pro-coal shirts at public hearing
Apparently unable to find real activists, the coal industry paid astroturfers $50 to wear pro-coal T-shirts at an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearing yesterday. The EPA hearings, held in Chicago and Washington, D.C., were focused on the agency’s first-ever carbon standards for new power plants. The industry has adamantly opposed these standards, as well as standards … Read more
Activists Board Coal Barge and Blockade Kayford Strip Mine Haul Road
Mountain Justice and RAMPS activists blocked coal transport in two locations Thursday morning protesting mountaintop removal. Five boarded a barge on the Kanawha River near Chelyan, with a large banner that read “Coal leaves, cancer stays,” and locked their bodies to the barge. At the same time, dozens of concerned citizens obstructed access to the haul road … Read more
Appalachian Women Lead Memorial Day Protest Against Mountaintop Removal
After serving her country as a major in the U.S. Army for 22 years, tending to injured soldiers as a case manager in other parts of the country, registered nurse Marilyn Mullens is now leading a group of her fellow Appalachian women to the West Virginia state capitol on Memorial Day to protest the growing … Read more
Stages of Denial: ‘Peiser refuted Oreskes’–In a poor piece of work that has been retracted by its author
Objection: Sure, Oreskes found no one bucking the consensus, but her paper was refuted by Benny Peiser, who did the exact same survey and found very different results. Answer: True, Benny Peiser did attempt a similar study and submitted it as a letter to Science responding to the Oreskes study. But for very good reasons, … Read more
Stages of Denial: ‘The temperature record is unreliable’–But temperature trends are clear and widely corroborated
Objection: The surface temperature record is full of assumptions, corrections, differing equipment and station settings, changing technology, varying altitudes, and more. It is not possible to claim we know what the “global average temperature” is, much less determine any trend. The IPCC graphs only say what the scientists want them to say. Answer: There is … Read more
Stages of Denial: ‘There is no evidence’ — Yes, there is
Objection: Despite what the computer models tell us, there is actually no evidence of significant global warming. Answer: Global warming is not an output of computer models; it is a conclusion based on observations of a great many global indicators. By far the most straightforward evidence is the actual surface temperature record. While there are … Read more
Stages of Denial: Climate change mitigation would lead to disaster’–Not really, but this may be lesser of two evils
Objection: The kind of drastic actions required to mitigate global warming risk the destruction of the global economy and the deaths of potentially billions of people. Answer: Is this supposed to mean the theory of anthropogenic global warming must be wrong? You can not come to a rational decision about the reality of a danger … Read more
Stages of Denial: The U.S. is a net CO2 sink
Only if you ignore fossil fuel emissions Objection: The United States absorbs more CO2 into its land than it emits into the air. The world should be grateful. Answer: As often the case, at the heart of this talking point is a grain of truth. But it does not serve the purpose for which it’s been … Read more
