If we are to remain leaders in the green economy, then we have to be relentless in our pursuit of clean energy. We have to constantly evaluate all aspects of our energy footprint. Find opportunities to collaborate and partner with other companies and organizations. And as one of Nike’s long-held business maxims so aptly declares, never stop evolving, especially when it involves doing the right thing. –Sarah Severn, director of stakeholder mobilization for Nike Inc., August 17, 2010

UPDATE 4:30PM EST, 2 SEPT: NIKE Agrees to Change Strip Mine Ad After Protests–Victory for Coalfield Residents. See the new NIKE ad at this end of this article.

So much for evolution, NIKE.

Still embroiled in infamous sweatshop practices, NIKE is now running an ad with a background of a massive strip-mine or mountaintop removal operation in one of the most bizarre panders to Big Coal — and one of the most disrespectful slights of coal miners.

As part of their Pro Combat football uniforms, Nike’s campaign is being run under the guise as a “tribute to the hardworking people of the Mountain State, as well as the fallen miners in the Upper Big Branch disaster in April.”

Instead of featuring underground miners, such as those who died at the Upper Big Branch disaster, Nike features an open strip mine with a dramatic voice over: “It’s just the way things are done in West Virginia.”

It gets even worse.

In an act of total disrespect, Nike claims the West Virginia University football players put their lives on the line every day, just like coal miners.

What? More than 104,000 coal miners have died in disasters and accidents in our mines; more than 10,000 coal miners still die each decade from black lung.

How many football players die?

And just how are coal miners benefiting from Nike’s ad? The sports company made more than $19 billion in revenue last year — how much is Nike donating to the Upper Big Branch family fund, or to the United Mine Workers or to black lung programs?

According to a recent report, West Virginia loses more than $97.5 million in expenses to support the coal industry.

Before buying into this sickening pander to Big Coal, WVU should read the studies of its own professors. Last year, a WVU study found that “coal mining costs Appalachians five times more in early deaths as the industry provides to the region in jobs, taxes and other economic benefits.”

Instead of honoring fallen coal miners, WVU is already accepting blood money from Big Coal barons Murray and Massey — the companies responsible for the Crandall Canyon disaster and the Upper Big Branch disaster.

Meanwhile, Nike’s blatant advertisement for devastating strip-mining and mountaintop removal operations, which have destroyed more than 500 mountains — what are the WVU “Mountaineers” going to be called if they lose their mountains? — poisoned 2,000 miles of streams, left communities in ruin and poverty, and led to the largest forced removal of American citizens in a century, is one of the most offensive images in years.

Nike needs to pull the ads. More importantly, the company owes the mountaineers and coal miners more respect — if not a contribution, as their company representative claimed last week, toward a clean energy future.

UPDATE: Questions for NIKE and their ad agency:

1) Where did they find their ad image from Photoshop — this appears to be an open pit strip mine in Australia or the western states?

2) Has NIKE donated to the Upper Big Branch family fund? And will they now?

UPDATE 3 SEPT: Here’s the new WVU ad that NIKE released last night:

Forget the dogs days of August.

Amid the ruins of the clean energy and climate change legislation, one statewide election has emerged as a bellwether for the green and climate justice movements: Ken Hechler’s campaign against Gov. Joe Manchin to fill the late US Sen. Robert Byrd’s pivotal seat in Congress.

From Alaska to Alabama, from California to North Carolina, anyone remotely interested in the fate of our nation’s energy and environmental policies should take notice… and take out your wallets and support Ken Hechler’s campaign.

On Aug. 28, the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, voters in West VIrginia will not only go to the Democratic primary polls to elect a new US senator — they will determine whether the US Congress will be chained to the devastating political machinations of Big Coal lobbyists for the next generation.

The stark differences between these two candidates could not be more symbolic of the current crisis in the Democratic Party and Congress–and in the nation.

Ken Hechler is a visionary dream candidate, who advocates a long-awaited and crucial transition from reckless coal mining (strip mining and mountaintop removal) to a clean energy and sustainable economic future.

As I wrote one year ago, Ken Hechler served as a military officer in World War II and interrogated Nazi war criminals; he assisted Franklin D. Roosevelt with his 13-volume public papers. As a US Representative from West Virginia, Hechler was the only member in Congress to march with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Selma, Alabama, in 1965.

As I noted last year, when Hechler was willing to put his life on the line, the 95-year-old Hechler’s Senate campaign is the culmination of his life’s work and a visionary campaign he launched 40 years ago:

A hero to coal miners in Appalachia and around the nation, Hechler’s understanding of the complexities of the coalfield economy is unmatched in the country. Hechler’s congressional leadership led to the passing of The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, which was the first legislation to deal with black lung disease from coal dust.In 1971, Hechler took the lead in dealing with another coal mining issue: strip-mining and mountaintop removal. He held the first hearings on mountaintop removal in 1971. Hechler introduced the first federal bill to abolish strip-mining in the spring of 1971.

As Hechler testified in a House committee in 1971: “Representing the largest coal-producing state in the nation, I can testify that strip-mining has ripped the guts out of our mountains, polluted our streams with acid and silt, uprooted trees and forests, devastated the land, seriously destroyed wildlife habitat, left miles of ugly highwalls, ruined the water supply in many areas, and left a trail of utter despair for many honest and hard-working people.”

Forty years later, with more than 500 mountains, 1.2 million acres of hardwood forests and untold historic communities destroyed, over 2,000 miles of headwater streams jammed with toxic coal waste, and his beloved coalfield region mired in hopeless poverty, Hechler is running to end mountaintop removal.

Gov. Joe Manchin is a youthful sycophantic frontman for Big Coal interests, whose embarrassing and incompetent administration has turned West Virginia into a toxic wasteland and national sacrifice zone of egregious human rights and environmental violations.

Vaguely reminiscent of disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, Manchin has operated West Virginia as a self-described “extraction state” and allowed outside Big Coal corporations to plunder its people and resources.

In a blatant move to reserve the Senate seat for his own taking, Gov. Joe Manchin appointed his former chief counsel Carte Goodwin to temporarily hold Byrd’s seat. Within days, Goodwin quickly betrayed Byrd’s most recent views on climate and coal issues, and sided with outside Big Coal lobbyists, blasting any hopes for a climate and clean energy bill. Check out this clip from “On Coal River,” a recent film documentary on the national scandal of mountaintop removal and a threatened elementary school, featuring a clueless Goodwin and the shameless Manchin:

If you live in West Virginia, you have an opportunity of a lifetime to vote for Ken Hechler on Aug. 28.

If you live elsewhere, you have an opportunity to support one of the most important American heroes and his nearly half-century campaign for civil rights and environmental justice today.

Jeff Biggers: National Bellwether for Clean Energy and Climate Change: Why Ken Hechler’s Senate Campaign Matters.

The circular patch of trees near the center-right of the photo is the Berry Branch Cemetery off Mud River Road in Lincoln County, WV.

WV Environmental Group Challenges US Senate Seat Contenders to Over Flight of Mountaintop Removal Sites

HUNTINGTON, W.VA. – The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) is challenging all candidates vying for the U.S. Senate seat vacated at Senator Byrd’s death to take a fly-over of mountaintop removal in West Virginia before the August 28 primary.

“We want to offer this bird’s eye view to all candidates as they mull over their stance on mountaintop removal strip mining.  It is difficult for anyone to have clarity regarding the impacts that this brutal mining technique has on the land and the people unless one sees the massive scale and scope from above,” said Janet Keating, OVEC’s executive director.  “Mountaintop removal is a national disgrace.  Anyone who aspires to replace Senator Robert C. Byrd owes at least this much to the citizens who suffer on a day-to-day basis,” Keating said.

U.S. Senate candidates interested in taking a free fly-over to see mountaintop removal impacts in West Virginia should contact OVEC, based in Huntington, W. Va. at 304-245-8481 or 304-522-0246 on or before August 16.

SouthWings, based in North Carolina, will provide flyovers for the candidates. Maria Gunnoe, OVEC’s community outreach organizer and winner of the 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize, serves on the board of directors of SouthWings (www.southwings.org), a conservation and public benefit aviation non-profit that provides skilled pilots and aerial education to enhance conservation.

Keating noted that for Senator Byrd understood the spiritual significance of mountains.  In early March 2010, his weekly commentary extolled “the kind and generous nature of the people” of West Virginia as well as “the beauty and serenity of our mountains.”

The commentary made reference to numerous scriptures that referred to the significance of mountains in Christian teachings.  Byrd said, “Contemplating the use of mountains and hillsides as symbols in Holy Scripture underscores what a special gift our mountains are for the people of West Virginia.  Majestic, inspiring, and, at times, intimidating, our mountains remind us of the glory of the view after the challenge of the climb.  Perhaps that is why West Virginians retain a stalwart and independent character, always inspired by possibilities and undaunted by difficulties.” (http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2010/03/05/sen-robert-c-byrd-majestic-mountains-are-gods-gift-to-west-virginia/)

In December 2009, Senator Byrd issued a statement reminding the coal industry that change has been a part of its history and that it needed to prepare for change again.  He said, “The increased use of mountaintop removal mining means that fewer miners are needed to meet company production goals. Meanwhile the Central Appalachian coal seams that remain to be mined are becoming thinner and more costly to mine. Mountaintop removal mining, a declining national demand for energy, rising mining costs and erratic spot market prices all add up to fewer jobs in the coal fields.  These are real problems. They affect real people. And West Virginia’s elected officials are rightly concerned about jobs and the economic impact on local communities.  I share those concerns.  But the time has come to have an open and honest dialogue about coal’s future in West Virginia.” (http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2009/12/03/sen-byrd-coal-must-embrace-the-future/)

“We think a flyover will help the candidates understand the scope of mountaintop removal and will foster that honest dialogue Senator Byrd was calling for,” Keating said.

Mountaintop removal mining entails removing all the trees and vegetation, blasting from 800 to 1,000 feet off the tops of mountains with explosives and disposing of millions of tons of rock and debris into adjacent headwater streams.  At least 500 mountains and more than 2,000 miles of streams have been destroyed or impacted by mountaintop removal strip mining.  To learn more:  www.ohvec.org

via WV Environmental Group Challenges US Senate Seat Contenders.

by Ken Ward Jr.

via Hearing set on Marsh Fork coal dust case « Coal Tattoo.

Summer time, and the livin’ is easy in the coalfields–except from dust to dawn, when untold millions of pounds of explosives are detonated across 24 states in the nation, raining down silica and coal dust, contaminating wells and watersheds, sending boulders the size of bowling balls into the homes of American citizens.

Dear Media: It’s Day 12,065 of the mountaintop removal mining disaster.

Dear readers in the 48 states that burn stripmined coal: American residents on the frontlines of the coal wars need your help and financial support NOW.

August 3rd–it was on this day in 1977, a liberal Democrat President who campaigned to end the strip-mining wars signed the admittedly “watered down” Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act as an act of political compromise.

We all love President Jimmy Carter and his diplomatic efforts now, don’t we? Back then, stunned coalfield residents who had waged a ten-year campaign to abolish strip-mining, listened to a well-meaning President complain that the SMCRA bill still “allows the mining companies to cut off the tops of Appalachian mountains to reach entire seams of coal.”

The crime of mountaintop removal–as Al Gore once said–was federally sanctioned.

Dear Jimmy Carter, they’re still cutting off the tops of Appalachian mountains to generate George Power Co. electricity for your farm in Plains, Georgia.

As Rob Perks of NRDC asks: “When, if ever, will the Obama administration realize that it’s not enough to regulate an atrocity — mountaintop removal coal mining must be abolished.”

Says Teri Blanton, of the wonderful Kentuckians for the Commonwealth:

“In some ways we really need to consider SMCRA a failure. The federal government, and the states that administer the program, seem to lack the spine to regulate as well as they could. It’s been more than 30 years and we are losing our mountains faster and in bigger chucks. That sure sounds like failure to me. The federal government turned the program over to the states and walked away. The states have never shown either the will or the competence to administer or enforce the law. The message seems to be if you do your job too effectively you will be fired. Kentucky proved that about a year ago.”

Actually, it’s more like Day 14,600 of the mountaintop removal crisis, if we count all the way back to the first mountaintop removal operation in Cannelton Hollow in Raleigh County, West Virginia in 1970. Bullpush Mountain was the first American mountain to die for our coal-fired sins, America. Over 500 Appalachian mountains have joined the carnage.

But who’s counting anymore? Big Coal has been strip-mining our hills and farms and poisoning our watersheds in Illinois since the 1850s, when the first commercial strip-mining operations got their groove in Vermillion County. The war continues. Local farmers are now fighting plans for a new mine in that same community.

If we can end the war in Iraq, why can’t we end the 150-year strip-mining wars and transition to renewable energy sources for our electricity?

But then again, weren’t we supposed to win the War on Poverty in Appalachia, too?

The levels of impoverishment and economic ruin in stripmined coalfields areas rival those prior to the War on Poverty. In a line: Mountaintop removal and strip-mining have stripped jobs, stripped economies, and stripped the people.

In truth, the same bureaucratic regulatory policies behind the War on Poverty belie the bureaucratic regulatory policies steering our nation’s reckless coal mining policies: Despite their well-meaning rhetoric, the feds have institutionalized the crime of mountaintop removal mining as a way of life.

Says Vietnam war veteran Bo Webb, who lives under a mountaintop removal site in the Coal River Valley of West Virginia:

“We’ve had 1 1/2 years of Obama and still no abolition of mountaintop removal (MTR). We have met with CEQ, EPA, OSMRE, local, state, and fed representatives, still no end to MTR. I believe that is a reflection on our efforts as a movement. Not that our efforts have been lacking, but obviously they have been somewhat ineffective. I think that some people may now be comfortable with continuing a dialogue with enforcement agencies and congressional members thinking that we’re getting somewhere, we’re close, let’s keep talking. But what I’m observing is that we are reaching out to them, they are not reaching out to us. If we shut up and go away, case closed, bomb Appalachia.”

But here’s the good news: Appalachians are rising (again).

Back in the 1960s, an old labor organizer and Appalachian writer chastised the bureaucratic mindset that allowed the War on Poverty to ignore the root causes of poverty–mainly, the grip of absentee Big Coal. In his Tom Paine-inspired pamphlet, Poverty Pays If You Ain’t Poor, Don West declared:

“If we native mountaineers can now determine to organize and save ourselves, save our mountains from the spoilers who tear them down, pollute our streams, and leave grotesque areas of ugliness, there is hope…It is time to realize nobody from the outside is ever going to save us from bad conditions unless we make our own stand.”

There are a lot of unknown and fearless Appalachians making a stand–the Alliance for Appalachia is the coalition of the nonprofit groups. But a lot of amazing activists are working outside the mainstream organizations.

And for the readers in the 48 states that burn stripmined coal, you need to pull out your wallets and support their efforts on the frontlines of the coal wars:

Bo Webb and Appalachia Rising

Appalachia Rising is a planned march on Washington, DC, Sept. 25-27. Says Webb:

“Now is the most critical and urgent time we have faced as organizations and individuals in this struggle. We have been united, but scattered. We have been focused, but diluted. Appalachia Rising provides a platform for grass roots organizations, individuals and big greens to come together in solidarity to set in motion the challenge we face as a united people to protect our God given right to demand clean water for us and all future mankind. Appalachia Rising will demand that we establish this much needed mandate by calling for the total abolition of mountaintop removal.”

Judy Bonds and the Coal River Mountain Watch

Judy Bonds is the heroic godmother of the anti-strip-mining movement today, and an inspiration to a generation of clean energy activists across the country. And Coal River Mountain Watch is not only on the frontlines of the mountaintop removal war, but a leader in launching endeavors for sustainable and renewable energy.

Bob Kincaid and Head-On Radio

Broadcasting from West Virginia to the world for more than seven years, Kincaid was among the first radio commentators to begin drawing sustained, national attention to mountaintop removal and what it does to communities. All told, Bob has probably devoted more broadcast time to mountaintop removal than all other broadcast outlets taken together. He does it not only because West Virginia is his home, and has been home to his family for upward of nine generations, but because the disaster of mountaintop removal has effects far downstream and downwind of the Appalachian mountains. It takes money to run a radio–Bob deserves as much support as possible.

Climate Ground Zero

The merry nonviolent tricksters in the trenches of the West Virginia coalfields, Climate Ground Zero is the inspiring collective of direct action advocates, who have put their bodies on the line to defy Big Coal, stop the daily machinations of strip-mining, and go to jail.

Kentuckians for the Commonwealth

More than half of the mountaintop removal destruction takes place in Eastern Kentucky, and KFTC has been on the frontlines with their numerous campaigns. Carl Shoupe, a retired coal miner in Harlan County, has been one of their great spokespersons:

Ken Hechler for US Senate

Ken Hechler, the 95-year-old former US Congressman and the first legislator to introduce a bill to end strip-mining in 1970, is running for US Sen. Robert Byrd’s empty seat. Ken Hechler deserves a Medal of Honor for his lifetime work on behalf of coal miners and coalfield communities.

Marie Gunnoe and the Twilight Campaign

Marie Gunnoe, the Goldman Award winner, is helping the campaign to save the community of Twilight, West Virginia from being disappeared by Big Coal.

And please support the incredible ranks of filmmakers chroncling mountaintop removal, including these most recent efforts:

Chad Stevens and The Coal War

On Coal River

Deep Down

Coal Country

Black Diamonds

Mountaintop Removal

Franken told more than 2,000 bloggers and organizers attending the Netroots Nation conference in Las Vegas that our media system is at risk everywhere we turn — from our free speech online to the growing power of companies who own a massive number of media outlets.

“Tonight I want to tell you that I believe Net Neutrality is the First Amendment issue of our time,” Franken said during a closing keynote address to conference-goers. He went on to warn of the looming merger between cable giant Comcast and NBC-Universal, saying:

If no one stops them, how long do you think it will take before 4 or 5 mega-corporations effectively control the flow of information in America not only on television but online? If we don’t protect Net Neutrality now … how long do you think it will take before [they] start favoring its content over everyone else’s?

With the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision giving unprecedented rights to corporations over individuals, Franken said these merged, powerful media conglomerates will have untold influence over our democracy:

And if Citizens United is allowed to stand, how long do you think it will take for these monoliths to buy enough elections so that they effectively have veto power over anything Congress tries to do to regulate them?

Franken pointed to a grim, but realistic picture of the future, where media companies decide what we watch and read on every media platform, and control the information we’re able to create and disseminate.

If corporations takeover the Internet, the incredible Web-based political mobilization of the last 10 years would no longer exist. “And it’s not just about politics,” Franken added. “After all, the Internet is more than just a foundation of the community we progressives have built. It is an incredible source of innovation, a hot bed of creativity and unbelievable producer of jobs and wealth.”
This value comes from the fact that Net Neutrality has created an equal playing field on the Internet, where anyone can connect, create and innovate. Without Net Neutrality, Franken said, “It would become just a ‘series of tubes‘ through which money could flow into the pockets of private corporations.”

And if the Comcast-NBC merger is approved, it will be the first “domino” in a series of other moves that will wrestle further control of the media from the people’s hands. “If it falls, the rest will soon follow. It’s almost too late to stop this from happening but not quite,” he said.

The government now has a role to play. Congress can mitigate the influence of corporate money on our elections. The FCC can enact rules that would protect Net Neutrality and free speech online. And the FCC and Congress can block the NBC-Comcast merger, or in the very least, put strict conditions on the company to protect local and diverse journalism and information.

But Franken also said that the real action needs to come from the public.

“I can tell you first hand that the government, the White House and the FCC have been hearing plenty from corporations on the other side of these issues and not nearly enough from you,” Franken said in closing. “If you want to protect the free flow of information in this country and all that depends on it, you have to help me fight this!”

Glenn Beck holding Elizabeth Dilling’s The Red Network.

by Eric Hananoki

via Read the Article on the Original site – Matters for America.

The face of a homicidal maniac?

by Ken Ward Jr.

via Massey urges Congress to hold off safety reforms « Coal Tattoo.

JULIAN, W.Va., May 28, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –Massey Energy Company (NYSE: MEE) today announced that nine of its operations have been honored for their exemplary commitment to safety excellence based on their outstanding safety records during 2009.

The Joseph A. Holmes Safety Association presented awards to:

Alex Energy – No. 1 Mine, North Surface Mine

Aracoma Coal Company – Hernshaw Mine

Black Castle Surface Mine

Homer III (Inman) Processing Plant

The Holmes Safety Association, a non-profit organization founded in 1918, annually recognizes outstanding safety performance in the mining industry. The association’s members include representatives from state and federal government agencies, mining organizations and labor unions.

In addition to earning the Holmes Safety Association’s awards, five of its operations earned the prestigious MSHA District 4 Pacesetter Award for safety:

Elk Run Coal Company – Chess Processing

Elk Run Coal Company – Roundbottom Mine

Marfork Coal Company – Allen Powellton Mine

Road Fork Development – # 51 Mine, Guyandotte

Spartan Mining Company – Delbarton Plant

All of the awards were presented at the Joseph A. Holmes Safety Association’s annual meeting in Roanoke, West Virginia on May 21-22.

“We congratulate all the members at these Massey operations on being recognized for their commitment to working safely,” said Don Blankenship, Massey’s Chairman and CEO. “All of these awards are well deserved recognition of how our members are committed to working safely and that Massey’s safety culture is effective throughout the organization.”

Massey Energy Company, headquartered in Richmond, Va., with operations in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia, is the fourth largest coal company in the United States based on produced coal revenue and is included in the S&P 500 Index.

SOURCE Massey Energy Company

via News Release || Massey Energy.

via Dead miner’s father: MSHA let us down « Coal Tattoo.