Bush Reponse to Utah Mine Disaster: Increase STRIP MINING (not increase mine safety)

[McCamy Taylor]

I saw this coming, but I still prayed that it would not happen. Some part of me would like to think that our fossil fuel dominated administration is not totally submissive to the wants and needs of the oil, gas and petroleum industries.

However, when my son asked me about the Utah mine disaster a few days ago, I told him (not entirely tongue in cheek) "They will start strip mining more."

And today, when I logged onto the New York Times, guess what I saw. No, it was not an article about how the Bush administration was going to increase safety in our nation's coal mines. It was this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/23/us/23coal.html?hp

The Bush administration is set to issue a regulation on Friday that would enshrine the coal mining practice of mountaintop removal. The technique involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the rubble into valleys and streams.

Up until now there has been a 100 foot buffer zone between these strip mines and river and streams to keep the nation's waterways from being destroyed by mine wastes. The Bush administrations plan would eliminate that buffer--at the request of the coal industry.

A spokesman for the National Mining Association, Luke Popovich, said that unless mine owners were allowed to dump mine waste in streams and valleys it would be impossible to operate in mountainous regions like West Virginia that hold some of the richest low-sulfur coal seams.

Although the administration has been working on this present for its buddies in the coal industry for years, it has chosen to unveil it for the public now, because of the Utah mine disaster.

Roughly half the coal in West Virginia is from mountaintop mining, which is generally cheaper, safer and more efficient than extraction from underground mines like the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah, which may have claimed the lives of nine miners and rescuers, and the Sago Mine in West Virginia, where 12 miners were killed last year.

You read that right. The Bush administration is using the deaths of 9 miners this year and 12 miners last year as an excuse to ravage the environment.

The timing of this announcement sucks. The logic behind it sucks. The greed behind it really sucks. The administration ought to be working on ways to make mining safe and environmentally friendly. It ought to be making coal fired plants clean, and it should be investing in alternative energy sources.

Of course, that would mean that Bush/Cheney would have to have hearts that were not made out of hydrocarbons and souls that were not already sold to Saudi Arabia and Exxon Co.

[Mythsaje]

1. So, instead of risking a few miners

we're going to risk WHOLE populations and decimate our landscape. There's a Bush strategy for you.

[malaise]

2. Bush and Cheney are heartless

men. They don't give a flying fuck. The backlash is coming.

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. The latest evildoer: dirt

Twas dirt that killed those miners.

Next up on Fox News: The war on Terra. Thats Terra. With an "A". You know...

Oh, nevermind.

[Quantess]

4. Unbelievable!

No, I take that back. Coming from Bush-Cheney, I believe it.

[Ezlivin]

5. Exactly as expected - expect more desperate actions as Peak Oil continues

We lived in magical time in which we had more energy every year. Sure, we used more, but the next year there was always more than we needed.

Welcome to Peak Oil. As the amount of oil required to run our civilization runs against physical limits, we will have to change our lifestyle.

But rather than acknowledge that our energy supplies are finite and require husbanding, the response of our leadership is ever more desperate grabs at the remaining energy. All of the coal that was easiest to mine has been removed; all that remains requires escalating amounts of effort and energy to extract. The environmental impact does not matter.

[sam sarrha]

7. it is a myth.. peak oil is a scam

[Ezlivin]

9. No, sadly it is not

We all wish that Peak Oil is a scam. Unfortunately the science does not lie.

Oil is a finite resource.

When you have used half of a resource, half remains.

When you have used the half of a resource that is easiest to get, what remains will be harder to get.

When the supplies are constrained prices rise. (See: Katrina, refinery breakdowns, oil embargoes)

We are at or are very close to Peak Oil. Prices will vacillate, but will trend upward for the remainder of our lives. Eventually this will radically change our economy, as it rests upon ample supplies of cheap energy.

Read "Twilight in the Desert", "The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies", "The Long Emergency" and "Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak" and get back to me.

[sam sarrha]

10. sorry, i have oil people in the family that have been doing nothing but drilling and capping for

over 30 years. and said his crew own one of very many that never pumped a drop of oil, just squirreled it away. all over the country.. my cousin drilled 7 wells in Silverdale when i was in washington state in the 80's.. he said there is oil everywhere and we are using theirs till it is scarce and will use that as an excuse to raise the prices till we all bleed.

i also used to work for shell research development corp. i heard a lot about how corrupt the business is

[TheMadMonk]

11. You mean the "other" Strategic Reserve?

The oil under US soil that is only marginally profitable even at today's prices.

The oil I suspect the US plans on using against an energy starved world when the time comes. And very little of which will be available for domestic use.

And I believe one reason why it's been drill and cap, is that US wells tend to be small and have relatively low flow/extraction rates. You will need all those small wells just to keep up with demand.

[sam sarrha]

6. he is talking about Mountain toping ... LINK>...

get ready for the tears to flow.... now one knows this is happening... spread the word

http://bruce_web.mydd.com/story/2006/10/1/11390/8793

http://www.wesjones.com/death.htm

[Divernan]

8. GOP never saw a disaster they couldn't turn into a profit.

That is their immediate response to any disaster - who can we give no-bid contracts to and what can we expect in return? How can we twist/spin this disaster to allow us to gut regulations on the industry in question, and what will the industry give us in return?