Opinion: Pass the ACHE Act and Stop Destroying Appalachia

[theHandpuppet]

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/10/28/pass-ache-act-and-stop-destroying-appalachia
Common Dreams
Published on Tuesday, October 28, 2014
by The Hill
Pass the ACHE Act and Stop Destroying Appalachia
by Allan J. Lichtman

Imagine that explosions rattle the community in which you have lived all your life. Toxic emissions spew into the air and settle into the water supply. The streams in which you fish are obliterated by rock and rubble. You worry that your children will die prematurely from cancer or brain tumors. You pray that the nearby containment tank will not breach and spill into your water supply its billions of gallons of poisonous coal waste.

This scenario illustrates the living nightmare of mountaintop removal coal mining for the people of Appalachia. "When growing up, I thought that all Appalachian children could run through the woods wild and free like I did," said West Virginia native Cary Reed. "Now several communities feel like a war zone with daily blasting. All children should grow up playing outside and not worry about breathing the air or drinking the water."

Big coal is killing Appalachia, its land and its people, not just figuratively, but literally. Coal companies are blowing the tops off of the Appalachian Mountains to reach the thin seams of coal buried below. This mountaintop removal process is despoiling one of the America's most precious natural resources, polluting the air and water, and creating a gulag of hazardous waste dumps.

The best way to halt the destruction of Appalachia and its people is through federal passage of the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act, known as the ACHE Act. This legislation places a moratorium on new mountaintop removal permits and the expansion of existing permits until the Department of Health and Human Services completes a study to determine whether such mining operations pose a health threat to people living nearby.... MUCH MORE at the link provided above.

[greatlaurel]

1. Kicked and recommended

Last edited Tue Oct 28, 2014, 06:54 PM - Edit history (1)

It is odd how ignored the health problems of Appalachia are. Some of the ignorance is fostered by the powerful people who rake in billions thanks to coal. A lot of it is classism, looking down on the impoverished of Appalachia has been an accepted prejudice for a very long time.

The sad thing is all the east coasters who who look down on us ignorant and poor Appalachians and do nothing to help do not understand that they are breathing, eating and drinking the toxins emitted by all those coal burning power plants in Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. All those pollutants follow the prevailing wind patterns to the east coast of the US. Our children are being poisoned, and sadly so are theirs. Divide and conquer is still effective. Tragically people are buying into the propaganda that green energy costs too much, when in reality the full costs of coal never shown.

Divide and conquer is still effective.

[theHandpuppet]

2. Well said!

You are so very right.

[A Little Weird]

3. Excellent article

I don't know have high hopes the ACHE Act will pass but hopefully it will at least come up for discussion and raise awareness of the problem.