And tomorrow Obama’s EPA will be releasing a list to be placed into a final review so that some amount of these permits can go forward, be rubber stamped by the Army Corp. of Engineers and go onto destroy mountains and devastate communities.
I’m not a total anarchist cynic though. It’s possible that the EPA could be a serious hamper on these 86 permits, preventing 70, 80, 90 or 100% from going forward. Just last week, they let us know that they are reconsidering a 2007 permit issued to Arch coal for the largest strip mine in West Virginia. This could be a harbinger of good news.
Things are already stirred up around mountaintop removal in the grassroots. In West Virginia today, an octogenerian named Roland Micklem joined a septugarian named Fred Williamson and two others from Climate Ground Zero in a multi-generation blockade at Massey’s West Virginia HQ (they are currently being held on $5k bail each.)
In New York, the New York Action Network continues doing creative direct action at the biggest funder of mountaintop removal on Wall Street-JP Morgan Chase. (They even know how to play the accordion!)
Things are starting to happen in Philadelphia and Atlanta as well (home to EPA regional offices that actually review the permits.
Yesterday, a small group of anti-mountaintop removal activists went to the EPA’s regional office in Philadelphia (one of two offices where decisions are made on MTR permits) and took creative action. They flyered Philly’s city center in front of the EPA office and brought out a white board that said “We Need 86 Mountains Because….” and then allowed passer-bys to fill in the blanks.
Whether some or all of the permits are stopped by the EPA tomorrow, we need to remember that we can’t stop until mountaintop removal is abolished. It’s not a question of compromising on some or all of these 86 permits, it’s a question of banning it’s very existence. There is no kinder gentler form of mountaintop removal
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