Going through old emails

Last week was non-stop studying math, so there is an enormous backlog of interesting (and otherwise) emails in my in-box. Several of them are about coal, so I thought I'd list the links I find among the emails that pertain to mountaintop removal and other coal issues.

Most recently is an editorial in today's New York Times: Appalachia’s Agony, which remarks:

The longstanding disgrace of mountaintop mining is now squarely in President Obama’s hands.

A recent court decision has given the green light to as many as 90 mountaintop mining projects in Appalachia’s coal-rich hills, which in turn could destroy more than 200 miles of valleys and streams on top of the 1,200 miles that have already been obliterated. The right course for the administration is clear: stop the projects until the underlying regulations are revised so as to end the practice altogether.

Then there was a petition from The We Campaign to promote the carboncap

Limiting carbon pollution is the next step in the plan to Repower America.

Acting on our scientists' advice to cap carbon dioxide emissions will usher in a new economic era -- creating jobs, launching new businesses, and bringing struggling communities back on their feet -- all while addressing the climate crisis.

Today, we are seeing opponents spin mis-truths in order to scare the public. They deny the need for change. They say we should keep polluting our air.

They're wrong. Clean energy works for America, and it's working.

It's working in Newton, Iowa, which could have been devastated in 2007 when Maytag closed down a major manufacturing plant that had anchored the town for a hundred years. Today, Newton boasts two wind energy farms and opened a new turbine manufacturing plant last year, even amidst grim news from other areas of our economy. That's new jobs for the people of Iowa.

It's working in Greenville, Michigan, where United Solar brought new green jobs in 2006, after Greenville's Electrolux plant announced their move to Mexico. United Solar has expanded in Greenville and will be building another manufacturing facility in Battle Creek.

Friends of the Earth were elated when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called for the U.S. Capitol power plant to stop burning coal.

Friends of the Earth has been working to green the U.S. Capitol complex for years, and last year, we defended Speaker Pelosi's "Greening the Capitol" initiative from attacks by Republican Representative Vernon Ehlers.

And the Sierra Club reported a NYT article Leaked EPA document shows greenhouse gas endangerment finding on fast track with the good news that the EPA is

"fast-tracking its response to the Supreme Court's 2007 climate decision with plans to issue a mid-April finding that global warming threatens both public health and welfare."

Climate Ark has an Action Alert: Coal Kills -- Time for People Power to Protect the Climate about the successful Capitol Climate Action, saying "Today is the beginning of the end to coal."

That really cleaned out my InBox. I hope you'll find some of it interesting, too!