On Sunday April 25, 2010, President Barack Obama attended the memorial service in West Virginia for the 29 miners who perished in the nation’s worst mining disaster in 25 years. During his speech to the families Obama praised the coal miners and “the fruits of their labor that so often we take for granted.”
“Five miles into a mountain. The only light, the lamp on their caps. Day after day they would burrow into the coal. The fruits of their labor that so often we take for granted. The electricity that lights up a convention center; that lights up our church or our home our school our office. The energy that powers our country. The energy that powers the world.“
President Obama praised the coal industry at the miner memorial service.
Today the Obama Administration, for the first time ever, blocked an already approved bid to build one of the largest mountaintop removal coal mines in Appalachian history.
The Politico reported:
The Obama administration Thursday reversed a Bush-era decision and blocked a bid to build one of the largest mountaintop removal coal mines in Appalachian history.
For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency is revoking a permit already issued, taking back its approval for Arch Coal’s Spruce No.1 mine in southern West Virginia. EPA said the mine would cause unacceptable damage to local waterways and public health.
EPA’s decision is a major victory for environmental groups, who have fought against the mine since it was proposed more than a decade and cements agency administrator Lisa Jackson’s status as their environmental hero. The George W. Bush administration had approved the Clean Water Act permit in 2007.
“In sharp contrast to the previous administration’s policies on mountaintop removal coal mining, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is showing a strong commitment to the law, the science and the principles of environmental justice,” Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune said today. “She deserves enormous credit for changing policies to protect Appalachia’s health, land and water.”
But EPA’s critics are vowing to battle the decision in the courts, Congress and the White House.
Remember: When democrats talk about serious solutions to this nation’s energy problems – They’re lying.
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