Coal Mining P.S.

We've had internet issues the last few days - our hotel did not have it and we couldn't get Edge for our Sierra Air Card. I wasn't able to get this website to load until this evening here in Knoxville.

Here is one more article with a photo about the mountain top mining in West Virginia.

Warning: It is not a pretty picture!

From The Star, Coal mining ravages Appalachia.

Mountain Top Mining Revisited

Back in June, I posted a blog about West Virginia mining issues. I still read Julie Zickefoose's blog. As well as her usual birding and Chet Baker features, she brings up the current situation with mountain top mining in West Virginia.


She points to this New York Times article which discusses the measures being put in place by elected officials before their terms are up to keep this type of mining activity going.

We just passed through West Virginia. We saw large signs, "Friend of Coal." Now while I DON"T favor cutting off the tops of mountains and filling stream beds to get needed energy resources, I also wonder what the local population really thinks about these issues. We tend to think of mining corporations raping the land for corporate profits that then line already rich people's pockets. What we don't also remember - mines require laborers. Coal workers are a vital part of West Virginia's economy. Coal mining in underground mines has its dangers to mine workers as well as environmental issues that I certainly am not well educated about. But in an economy that is losing jobs right and left, I can understand a coal miner trying to feed his or her family that is worried about whether his job will survive.

Upon researching Friends of Coal, it appears to be a coal industry group. While I found some interesting and positive information about new things related to the ways that coal can help our energy problems, I also found some other websites with information as well.

Apparently today's realities - due to modern mechanism, it takes fewer workers to mine the much larger amounts of coal today. Of course, mountain top mining takes even less workers than more traditional underground mines.

I would like to live in an ideal world - where mining companies, the workers, and the environmentalists could all be working toward the same goals.

Some of the sites I looked at in addition to Friends of Coal are:

Treehugger

Appalachian Greens Be sure to read down to J Pratt's comment. It represents "the other side" to this issue.

The stream up at the top is a tributary to New River in West Virginia. It is part of the protected New River National Scenic River. West Virginia is a beautiful state. I know that we will need coal as a natural resource, but surely we can find ways to extract coal without ruining the beauty and ecology of a beautiful part of our country.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Over the last five years, I've been visiting a lot of wildlife refuges. I have discovered that each one is unique and special. While there are animals that live in each one year round, they are often places of refuge for migratory species.

Almost 20 years ago we visited Alaska and covered a lot of territory. We went before the road to Prudhoe Bay was opened for all traffic. But I was amazed and impressed at how truly Alaska is one of our last truly wilderness areas. We had almost two full weeks in Alaska and we covered a lot of ground.

I received an email recently that seemed to me to be a very simplified explanation of why it would not hurt anything for us to drill at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We've got some relatives up there and I've heard via the grapevine that the drilling along the North Slope is not a problem for the caribou - they come in droves to feed right next to the drilling rigs. I've seen the Alaska pipeline - and while they were building it I'm sure it disrupted some wildlife - it is quiet and has served its purpose to transport oil with a minimal amount of long term disruption to the flora and fauna. But maintaining water quality and wilderness areas are also parts of this equation.

Each of the wildlife refuges we visit has been set aside usually for one or more species - many times they are endangered or were when the refuge was established.

Before we get too caught up in the "Drill, baby, drill" hype, I hope that this blog will encourage my readers to explore the website for
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." Browse through the pages, see what is there, see what is being preserved, see the results of the studies from the seismic testing done in the 1980's. Just the passage of the seismic testing vehicles (not even a road) has left a lasting path in many places. Most of us will not ever get to visit Alaska. I don't know if I'll ever get to go back. But I think those of us in the lower 48 ought to at least understand what we're disturbing and the risks we're taking when we start developing oil rigs in this sensitive habitat.

Perhaps we must drill . . . but I for one hate to lose another roadless, pristine wilderness area when I think we need to be exploring how we're going to meet our energy needs when the world's oil is finally depleted.

Mining Issues

I suspect you could call me a voracious internet reader, but I suspect that there are others who really spend more time than I do. I generally only read blogs from people that I have met or with whom I am friends. I met Julie Zickefoose at the Festival of the Cranes at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. I was fascinated with her stories of caring for hummingbird chicks and swift chicks. I have enjoyed the beautiful artwork and the stories in her book Letters from Eden. So I added her to my list of blogs that I regularly read. Her last two posts are important to share: Mountaintop Removal Mining and How it all works.

I've been a regular visitor to Colorado since I was a young girl. I have enjoyed the rustic old mining ghost towns with their dilapidated houses and sluices. It represents a time in history when we thought everything was unlimited. We were not as aware of what the process of digging out ore did to the streams. There are a number of streams that still run red and orange from mining in the past. To our credit, there are a few areas that have really been cleaned up and revegetated. There is even one stream that used to be red that is now clear. But the residue remains on the stream bed.

In my local area in Texas, Alcoa runs a big mining operation near Rockdale. I know that one of the leaders in Girl Scouts used to set up tours. Historically this area has produced lignite, oil, and aluminum. It claims: "Today not only does the mine produce more than six million tons of lignite annually, it manages an extensive, award-winning reclamation program in the effort to restore the land to a condition that is equal to or better than it was before mining."

Texas rolling blackland prairie is going to be much easier to reclaim and revegetate than West Virginia mountain tops.

I foolishly thought we had more protections in place to protect our environment. I don't see any of our presidential candidates taking stands and talking about what they would do to protect our environment.

I realize that this is still "heresy" but part of me wishes that we had done more with nuclear energy. There has only been one major accident (Chernobyl) and a minor incident at Three Mile Island. I know that we have not figured out what to do with the waste, but so much of the research ended as well. The other issue is certainly what developing countries would do with nuclear power plants and waste with their much more limited budgets. There is a part of me that wonders whether global warming would be as much of an issue if our power plants were nuclear rather than coal and if we had developed a way to run our cars with clean electrical batteries or hydrogen fuels.

There are so many jokes about technologies that "big business" has buried to protect their own interests. I so want to believe that we as humans are smarter than that.

Wind power is clean with at least 30 years of research. We still have to be careful to protect view corridors and migrating birds, but I am hearing good things about the possibilities ahead of us with wind energy. It seems to me to be a lot better than tearing down mountains and fouling streams.

The joys of Yellowstone

I find myself thinking about this time last year when we were in Yellowstone experiencing all the joy of nature there - the bears and their cubs, the coyote pups, the owl chicks, the wolves, and the natural beauty there. Each day was always a new adventure as we drove the roads looking for wildlife. After discovering the Yellowstone Newspaper and the Yellowstone Net Discussion Forums I continued to enjoy Yellowstone activities and events vicariously.

I still dream of going to Yellowstone in the winter months and driving the north road hoping to see the wolves bounding along near the road in the snow.

I sometimes wonder if people who have never been to Yellowstone or who have never spent time with the wolf watchers understand how much these wild wolves have come to mean to the people that spend so much time watching, studying, and enjoying these wild creatures.

We've been there several times since the wolves were reintroduced. The first time they were still heavily monitoring the pack movements with the radio collars. You could count on the presence of the people with the monitoring antenaes in the upper end of Lamar Valley. Not only could you listen to them talk to themselves about where the wolves were, they knew each one individually.

Through the years, you can still find the wolf watchers, although their location varies. There is a lingo (I don't know it) about the different watching sites in Lamar Valley - names like trashcan (for a long removed trash can landmark). My personal favorite watching spots involve a hike up a steep hill to get a better look at one of the older denning sites. I have very special memories of watching a morning reunion of the pack there.

I went to those sites last year. One morning there was a group of people and I got a good look at the wolves through my binoculars. The next morning I found myself up in position by myself. I was rewarded by a short wolf siting as they entered the older den area.

From the Yellowstone Newspaper today, I found Kathie Lynch's blog that echoes this inexplicable wonder from one of the wolf enthusiasts at Yellowstone. She uses words so eloquently to describe wolf activities she just witnessed. It will inspire you to make the trek to see these wonders yourself.

Most people who go to Yellowstone are on a tight time deadline. They have a few days to see a huge park. A large number of people go through on a bus that will show them the highlights, but will probably not give them very much time to wait and hope to see one of the elusive wolves. And even when you know where you are likely to spot an individual wolf or the pack, you wont' get a sighting every time.

And perhaps this unpredictable reinforcer of sometimes getting to see the wolves and sometimes not makes each sighting that much more special. I can truthfully say that there is something extremely joyful about spotting that elusive wolf (or bear) going about its natural activities. For me, watching the animals in Yellowstone feeds something within my spirit.

It is unlikely that I will get to return this summer, but I treasure the extended time I had in Yellowstone this time last year.

Wolves in the News

428 Wolves, a New York Times article came across my "radar" this afternoon. As we have travelled across the United States, we generally find that we did not know very much about the local and regional news. As I follow the Yellowstone Newspaper links I generally see articles from local papers around Yellowstone and Grand Teton. But right now it really pleases me when I see either the wolf issues or the bison issues make the larger papers such as the New York Times. Yellowstone wolves and Yellowstone bison are national treasures. But for the average person, they are not only out of sight out of mind, many have never gotten to experience the thrill of seeing these amazing creatures in the wild. Bison have always been easy to find in Yellowstone and even with the greatly reduced numbers this year, I suspect most park visitors will get to see either one or a herd. But the Yellowstone wolves require more effort and some knowledge about where to go in the park, when to be there, and how to look for them. Yes, some people will be lucky enough to get a chance look when a wolf crosses the road, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

While I can understand the ranching interests (more so about wolves than the bison), I also believe that it is important to keep the greater Yellowstone ecosystem healthy.

We visited Yellowstone while they were in the planning stages for the wolf reintroduction. I remember how few wolves were in the lower 48 states. Only Minnesota and Michigan had wolf populations. From the reintroduction, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming (and perhaps Colorado) now have wolf populations. However, if the hunts progress as planned, the genetic diversity will be reduce, the wolves will only exist within the Yellowstone Park Boundaries.

I would love to see the protection for the bison and the wolves to be extended to include the federal lands that surround Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. And perhaps, we need to be sure that the ranchers whose livestock on private lands that have been killed by wolves are reimbursed. I'll be radical here . . . if ranchers want to lease public land around Yellowstone for cattle, then they need to accept wolf predation as a normal cost of doing business. I don't know the current status, but it used to be that the leases for federal lands were significantly less than leases on private land.

Yellowstone is a unique treasure. It draws tourists from all over the world. The local economy benefits from these visitors. This area was set aside to be preserved for future generations to marvel, to appreciate, to enjoy, and to learn about nature.

I hope more large newspapers pick up these stories, so that people all over the United States can be more aware of the issues involving our national parks.

The Border Wall

For reasons I don't fully understand, the US Government is planning to build a wall between Mexico and the United States. This is not news to most of us . . . But, have we really thought out what this means in reality in the State of Texas . . . Our border is a river - think floods, think a dam and a lake, think estuaries near the coast. Plus in the Valley Area of Texas, there has been a lot of habitat restoration along the river. BIrders know that the Valley of Texas is an important ecological area. I've been fortunate to spend time twice in the Valley exploring the bird watching opportunities. There are a large number of species that are only found in the United States in the Valley. I've been birding with people who have come from Europe to see the birds here. Birders provide a lot of income to the valley. There has been a lot of money spent over the last 20 years restoring natural habitat along the river. This will all be bulldozed. Many migratory birds stop and rest in the valley and the Texas coastal areas.

In addition, all of the environmental studies about the effect of this construction that would normally be required for this type of work are going to be by passed. So, wonderful things will be destroyed and damaged that will take years to replace once we decide that the wall did not work.

And a wall along a river will be expensive - what a way to waste taxpayer money when our national deficit is at an all time high!

The Wall will disrupt all of that, destroy some beautiful areas. And the people who are determined to cross the Texas border will still find a way to get across.

I found this posting at TexBirds. I hope it is OK to post this from TEXBIRDS, but this is a very important issue. So I want to get the word out. It is very important to send written testimonies to fight the building of this wall. Here is the information as to how and where to write. Send your letters this week, the deadline is May 16th.

From TexBirds:

Hi Everyone,

This past Monday, there was a US Congressional field hearing in Brownsville on the border wall. Written testimonies can now be submitted in association with this hearing and added to the Congressional record. This is one of the best opportunities yet we have had for our voices to be heard. Please pass the word on to others who might be interested, and let me know if you need more info.


Thanks, Betty


Here are the guidelines for written submissions to the U.S.Congressional field hearing record. They need to be in by Friday, May 16th.

1. Head your comments with the hearing name and date: Walls and Waivers: Expedited Construction of the Southern Border Wall and the Collateral Impacts on Communities and the Environment, April 29, 2008.

2. Do not exceed 10 pages.

3. No cover page is needed, although your name, title, and the organization that you represent (if you have one), should also be stated at the beginning of your testimony.

4. Please use typed single-space letter-size (8½ x 11) white paper.

5. Send via the postal service as they are not equipped to handle mass amounts of e-mail. The mailing address is:

Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans
Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

6. If you submit attachments or exhibits to your testimony please include them as separate items at the end of your testimony. If attachments are more than 10 pages (in addition to your original testimony) or on paper larger than 8½ x 11, they will not be accepted for printing in the Congressional record. Instead, you should paraphrase or quote as needed. If including charts, tables, maps, or photographs, they should be included on separate pages, not within the text of a page.

7. THINGS TO AVOID: Underlining, footnotes, capitalization of the whole document or solid blocks of text.


Wayne Bartholomew
Executive Director
Frontera Audubon Society
Weslaco, Texas