Senator Manar Faces Backlash for Press Conference with Coal Lobbyist

Illinois State Senator Andy Manar is getting pushback from constituents after introducing a bill to help the heavily subsidized state coal mining industry.

A coal industry lobbyist with Foresight Energy joined Manar and other legislators at a press conference for a bill to give Illinois coal an advantage over imports. Roughly 90% of coal burned in Illinois is imported from other states because power plant operators are too cheap to install better pollution controls.

Their press release claims Manar and Senator John Bradley introduced the bill to ensure coal is part of the discussion in negotiations over state energy policy. How sweet of them to look out for poor, overlooked Foresight Energy after it donated only $185,600 to Illinois politicians this year!

Coal is already king of corporate welfare in Illinois. Mining equipment is exempt from the state sales tax, it's heavily subsidized by the Coal Development Office, and it doesn't pay an excise tax levied in other coal producing states. Despite all the extra help, Foresight Energy is still worried their Illinois mines can't compete in a competitive market.

Montgomery county resident Mary Ellen DeClue sent me a copy of a letter she wrote to Senator Manar in response to his coal bill. It's so good I asked permission to share it online.

Dear Senator Manar:
Your interest and concerns about the citizens in central and southern Illinois are appreciated.  As you have acknowledged, our citizens deserve community development and an economic improvement plan.  Observing the aftermath of coal extraction across the world, the U S, West Virginia, and especially Saline County, Illinois, coal is not the progressive sustainable solution for Illinois counties.

The proposed legislation to jump start the Illinois coal industry is misguided and counterproductive. The coal industry in Illinois needs no promotion or development. The coal industry in Illinois is already entrenched in the political system.  This is not due to the positive connections to communities, citizens, and economic benefits, but rather to undue influence of corporate funding and favoritism of Illinois agencies.

The state of Illinois has lost revenue from coal mining. The benefits bestowed on the coal industry have increased profits and liberties to coal entrepreneurs. The quality of life in coal communities is compromised by polluted air and water, damaged farmland, lower property values, higher taxes, unhealthy exposure to coal dust, and inundation and leakage from high hazard coal slurry impoundments.

Coal mining adversely affects communities by extracting more than just coal from them.  The citizens realize they have no more control over their daily lives.  When a government’s public policy establishes corporate profits over the rights of citizens, the spirit of a community is lost. Communities deserve better.

There are presently 8000 coal jobs and 130,000 jobs in renewable energy in Illinois.  If coal miners had a choice of jobs that were not hazardous and did not expose them to black lung disease, don’t you think they would prefer not risking their lives in order to earn a living?  Why aren’t there more efforts to increase job choices in central and southern Illinois?

The negative aspects of coal mining have been enhanced by the tragic actions of the Illinois Office of Mines and Minerals. The mismanagement of Shay 1 indicates just how vulnerable citizens in a community really are. The current status of Shay 1 must be a disappointment to you. Off mine-site contamination has progressed over a decade while more coal waste disposal continues. There is no additional monitoring to document contamination from the unknown amounts of imported coal ash and underground injection of coal slurry. West Virginia has a moratorium on coal slurry injection in mine voids because of ground water contamination. Illinois has not only approved underground coal slurry injection at Shay 1, but subsidizes the process. DCEO awarded Foresight Reserves LP, associate of Foresight Energy, a grant of $1,022,602 to use for coal slurry injection, a conveyor train, and safety equipment at Shay 1 starting in 3/1/2014 and ending in 2/28/2016. The state is actually funding ongoing pollution and the regulatory agencies continue to legalize pollution by approving permits that compromise the safety of communities.

Deer Run Mine is a poster example of how a community is blighted by coal with full approval of IOMM and IEPA. The careless disregard for the health and safety of thousands of residents through government actions is very troubling. The community has no recourse to coal dust, contaminated water discharges, threatening inundation from 2 impoundments, permanently placed high hazard impoundments, subsided farmland, destroyed water resources, etc. IOMM never hesitated approving the location of the coal processing plant next to the hospital or the placement of the 318-acre impoundment where upon failure would destroy life and property of several communities. This second impoundment is 200 feet away from the first 80 foot high 140-acre impoundment and both remain forever in Hillsboro. There are no air monitors to document fugitive coal dust so residents do not know what they are breathing. The mine discharges are analyzed for pH, chloride, and sulfate only, so citizens have no idea of what chemicals or what quantities are contaminating their surface waters. The higher conductance of surface waters around the mine does speak to an increase in contaminants. It is unacceptable that the most harmful chemicals found in coal are not monitored, yet are allowed to permeate the community.

The state energy policies do indeed need to be addressed, but I fear the wrong direction for public policy will be endorsed.  The photo-op of legislators with Foresight Energy’s lead lobbyist sends a message that investment in Foresight Energy will earn favors in Illinois coal permits. The known contributions of Foresight Energy to Illinois lawmakers are published and part of the public record.“Pay to play” or the perception of such must be addressed by citizens and legislators so that Illinois can climb out of the lack of trust hole.

Most importantly, the citizens of central and southern Illinois need job availability other than the polluting, unhealthful effects of coal production as a new direction for livelihoods and community development.

Sincerely,
Mary Ellen DeClue

Historic Grassroots Victory Stops Central Illinois Coal Mine

An eight year battle against a central Illinois strip mine ends in victory for the community of Canton and Orion township. An arm of Springfield Coal Company asked the Department of Natural Resources to terminate their permit for their North Canton Mine before a court hearing challenging errors in permit approval.

"The naysayers told us we couldn't fight city hall and the mine. They have more money. But we stayed the course," said Brenda Dilts, Chair of Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues.

The permit challenge hinged on the mine's potential impact to streams and Canton Lake, which supplies water to roughly 20,000 people, but opposition rallied around many ways the community would be harmed, including noise, water well contamination, heavy truck traffic, and airborne pollutants. Only a road and fence would have separated the mine from residents in Orion township, Dilts said. "Now people are free to enjoy their country living and well water."

Dilts wrote a letter to the editor in 2006 after hearing a presentation by the company and the Department of Natural Resources at a city council meeting. "I came home from vacation to voicemails messages full of support for my letter. Only one message was negative. We decided to start having meetings. Twelve people came at first to write letters. Then we had 25 and soon we outgrew our meeting space at the library. We organized until we became a legitimate source of pain for the company."

Read the rest at EcoWatch.

Illinois Wasting Millions on Another Coal-to-Gas Pork Project

My new blog at Huffington Post is on the latest Illinois coal subsidy fail. 

The state of Illinois is throwing millions of taxpayer dollars at another coal-to-gas plant just two years after a similar project ended in failure.
The Coal Development Fund has so far given Homeland Fuels two grants totaling$4.25 million in taxpayer dollars. The first grant was awarded in 2013 to fund a study for the proposed "Coal to Diesel Pilot Project" next to their coal supplier, which will apparently be a nearby Chris Cline-owned mine in central Illinois. The company moved addresses from Hillsboro to Litchfield before receiving a second grant for $3,500,000. There's no indication of how the plant would limit their global warming emissions or other environmental impacts.

Read and share the rest.

An Environmental Justice Agenda from Illinois Coal & Fracking Fighters

My new HuffingtonPost piece features a new call to action on the Illinois fracking and coal extraction crisis. I wrote a bit about why we have to think about extraction in rural Illinois as an environmental justice issue.

There's an old political tradition in Illinois of politicians pandering to environmentalists in Chicago and to the coal industry downstate. Convicted ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich mastered the game by heavily subsidizing coal while keeping environmental groups pacified with new air quality laws, efficiency standards, and support for renewable energy. Subsidies to promote fossil fuels as an economic development tool keep rural Illinois focused on short-term, destructive jobs while most green job creation happens in the northern half of the state.
The old game is changing as people in coal and fracking regions are demanding better protections of their health, land, and water. 

I wrote more at HuffPo, but here's the full letter signed by 21 grassroots groups working on the front lines of the Illinois extraction crisis.

Illinois Must Act to Stop Extraction Crisis
Illinois is facing an unprecedented environmental, social and economic crisis. The anticipated launch of industrialized fracking combined with resurgence in coal mining present a double threat to the people, land, water, and long term economic health of southern and central Illinois.

Illinois coal mining has increased 70% in Illinois since 2010 thanks to an increase in coal exports, widespread use of scrubbers to accommodate high sulfur coal, and the reduction of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia. At the same time, it has become increasingly clear that Illinois' weak fracking law will not adequately protect the public. Leading climate scientists have warned we must leave much of the world's remaining fossil fuel resources in the ground to avoid additional catastrophic consequences of climate change, such as record drought and flooding. The acceleration of fossil fuel extraction in Illinois exacerbates both a local and global crisis. State government must act:

Ban Fracking
Southern and central Illinois must not become a sacrifice zone to a dirty energy policy that will contribute significantly to climate change. Volume limits and other loop-holes will result in an unknown number of wells being exempt from regulation. Even if every provision of the current fracking law is enforced, people and the environment will not be adequately protected. Fracking must be banned.

Create a New Energy Economy in Coal Country
Coal country needs a bailout. Most clean energy jobs are being created in the northern half of Illinois, leaving the rest of the state behind. Downstate deserves more than dangerous, temporary fracking jobs, and empty promises about reviving the coal industry. Establish a coalfields regeneration fund to build a new energy economy targeted to areas left in poverty by boom and bust extraction cycles. We want a future with clean energy jobs like those being created in Iowa and California; not a future as an impoverished sacrifice zone like West Virginia or Wyoming coalfields.

Overhaul Regulatory Agencies
Years of lax enforcement, waived penalties, few inspectors, and recent staff scandals have undermined confidence that the Department of Natural Resources or Illinois EPA can effectively regulate mining and industrialized fracking. Additional funding to hire new staff will not change the institutional culture of agencies that have been unwilling to adequately protect public health. DNR and IEPA must be dramatically reformed or responsibility handed over to federal oversight.

End Fossil Fuel Subsidies and Coal Export Expansion
A report by Downstream Strategies found that the the coal industry costs the Illinois state budget roughly $20 million annually. Illinois must stop subsidizing a devastating industry that will never again provide the jobs it once did. Everyone loses when Illinois promotes coal exports to foreign nations with weak pollution laws. People in developing countries will suffer increased rates of lung disease, heart disease, birth defects, and other health impacts. Illinois suffers the consequences of poorly regulated coal mining. The global community will suffer the impact of climate change. Illinois must end its policy of subsidizing coal through state grants and expanding export infrastructure.

Signed: Buckminster Fuller Future Organization, Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues, Citizens Against Longwall Mining, Citizens Act to Protect Our Water (CAPOW!), Eco-Justice Collaborative, Friends of Bell Smith Springs, Gaia House Interfaith Center, Heartwood Forest Alliance, Indiana Forest Alliance, Justice for Rocky Branch, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Nuclear Energy Information Service, S.E.N.S.E. (SIUC Students), Regional Association of Concerned Environmentalists (RACE), Rising Tide Chicago, Shawnee Hills and Hollers, Southeast Environmental Task Force, Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing our Environment (SAFE), Students for Environmental Concerns (UIUC Students), Sustainable Springfield Inc, Tar Sands Free Midwest

Illinois Coal Campaign Cash Scandal Reveals Culture of Corruption

The Chris Cline coal campaign contribution scandal has grown bigger than I ever expected. CoalGate is getting wide press coverage and resulted in a second acting director of Mines & Minerals being removed for the same actions as Tony Mayville. Here's a rundown of the press coverage and expanding consequences since I first wrote about a former mine regulator taking campaign contributions from a coal industry billionaire.

Patrick Yeagle at Illinois Times was the first reporter to give the story the full journalism treatment. IT reported that Tony Mayville was placed on unpaid leave and an investigation is underway.

Jim Tenuto, spokesman for the Illinois State Board of Elections, says a state law on official misconduct may make the contributions a criminal act, though that’s up to a state’s attorney or the attorney general to decide. Under the state law, if Mayville solicited the contributions, it would be a class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.
Chris McCloud, spokesman for DNR, said the contributions to the committee controlled by Mayville came to light when Mayville sought permission from DNR director Marc Miller to run for elected office. 

The trouble is that Mayville was already taking contributions from the coal industry to his Washington County Democratic political fund when he was made acting director of the Office of Mines & Minerals in 2012. It was public information easily accessible by a simple web search. It was no secret that Mayville was chair of a county political party. Did no one bother checking at the time or did no one care? Or both.

WSIL TV news interviewed Mayville for their story. He tried to keep the focus on a contribution to his State Representative campaign fund instead of the additional contributions he was taking to his political party fund since 2008.


His defense says it all. He argues that the contributions are no big deal because the company representative is a good friend he used to work with anyway. Think about that for a minute. The guy who was in charge of mine safety for Illinois, and the entire Mines & Minerals Office for a time, is saying that campaign contributions from the industry he regulates can't influence him because he's already such good buddies with industry officials. He actually argued that!

That shows exactly the problem I set out to highlight. There's a cozy good ol' boy network among DNR regulatory staff and their friends and former co-workers in the industries they regulate. A top Illinois regulator just said so!

In case it wasn't obvious enough that this is part of a broader problem within the agency, the current acting director of Mines & Minerals was jut caught doing the exact same thing. I first read at Capitol Fax, and then the News-Gazette that Douglas County Democratic Party Chairman Michael Woods Sr. was removed from his position for accepting political contributions from Foresight Energy, a company owned by the Cline Group.

Within a few days of Foresight's $10,000 donation to the Douglas County Democrats, officials disbursed much of it to Democratic candidates and other party organizations outside of Douglas County.
The largest sum — $5,000 — went to Gov. Pat Quinn's re-election campaign. Another $1,200 went to the Illinois Democratic County Chairmen's Association. And $250 went to the campaign fund of state Sen. Mike Frerichs, D-Champaign.
The Douglas County Democrats also gave $1,000 to the campaign fund of Tony Mayville, a Democratic candidate for the Illinois House in the 115th District in southern Illinois. 

Douglas county Democrats had a sleepy little campaign fund until Wood got his promotion at IDNR. Then, what do you know, Foresight Energy gave them a $10,000 political contribution. It's a pattern.

Chris Cline is not an insignificant donor. He massively expanded his Illinois coal holdings in recent years to make him one of the top energy players in the state. His companies have had many issues pending before DNR and will have many more. He's making ginormous contributions through multiple subsidiaries to Illinois politicians. Billionaire Chris Cline is attempting to purchase control of the state's political and regulatory systems.

An excellent video about a recent hearing on a Cline mine near Hillsboro reveals the dysfunction of the current system.



Pat Quinn and Mike Frerichs donated the campaign funds they received from the Douglas County Democrats to charity. But, they're keeping hundreds of thousands they've taken directly from Chris Cline and his coal empire. It's a nice attempt to avoid controversy, but keeping their other Cline donations sends the message that they're still available for purchase.

It would be a disservice if Governor Quinn is allowed to deflect attention from this scandal after two personnel changes at IDNR. This is a systemic problem about the culture of a crucial regulatory agency full of political hires leftover from the Blagojevich administration. People deserve to know whether Chris Cline companies were regulated to the full extent of the law in both the permitting process and with mine safety. Fatal mine accidents and cancer-causing pollutants make this literally a life and death issue.

Illinois Mine Safety Head Took Thousands in Campaign Contributions from Coal Baron Chris Cline

My latest piece is at EcoNews. This is an outrageous scandal that I hope will be picked up by major news outlets. I was at public hearings on Illinois coal mines without knowing that the companies asking for permits had given political contributions to a top IDNR official. And this is the agency Governor Quinn trusts to making fracking safe?

Illinois Mine Safety Head Took Thousands in Campaign Contributions from Coal Baron Chris Cline

Washington County Democratic Party. He has also supervised the Mine Safety division and served as acting director of Mines and Minerals at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Over several years, including time while Mayville was responsible for regulating Illinois coal mines, he collected thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from companies owned by billionaire coal mine operator Chris Cline. In November 2013 a fatal accident occurred at a coal mine owned by Chris Cline and regulated by Tony Mayville. 

Mayville chairs the political fund of the Washington County Democratic Party Central Committee. Their campaign finance reports show the committee raising thousands of dollars from multiple companies owned by the Cline Group at least since 2008 through 2013.

The Two Faces of Pat Quinn's Environmental Policy Puts Downstate in Danger

Governor Pat Quinn recently spoke at the annual dinner of the Illinois Environmental Council held in Chicago, where he was applauded as a longtime ally. His record as Governor reflects his commitment to clean energy and the environment. At least when he's in Chicago.

When Quinn travels south, the tree-hugging Dr. Jekyll transforms into a dirty energy Mr. Hyde on issue after issue.

New Coal Plants

Environmentalists celebrated when Quinn vetoed a bill to provide rate increases for a coal-to-gas plant Leucadia Corp proposed in a heavily polluted area of southeastern Chicago.

But for southern Illinois, Quinn signed a bill to subsidize a similar coal-to-gas plant proposed near Mt. Vernon. When signing the bill Quinn claimed, “This important project will help revive the coal industry in southern Illinois." The project eventually failed after plunging natural gas prices made it difficult for the company to find investors.

After taking opposite positions for the northern and southern ends of the state, what happened when a company asked for a mandatory rate increase to subsidize yet another coal gasification plant proposed in the central Illinois town of Taylorville? Quinn stayed publicly neutral.

Expanding Coal Exports

Leading climate change scientist James Hansen recently warned that burning all fossil fuels "would make most of the planet uninhabitable by humans." At an event in Springfield, not long after becoming Governor, Quinn encouragingly called climate change the great challenge of our time.

Yet, earlier this year, Quinn bragged about setting a record for coal exports that made Illinois the fifth highest coal producing state. The release from Quinn's office highlights efforts by his administration to build more coal export infrastructure and promote coal in foreign markets including, "supporting trade missions to the markets which represent the best prospects for Illinois coal, and potentially encouraging foreign investment in Illinois coal properties." That will often mean nations with weak or non-existent pollution standards.

The Governor signed several bills to boost coal mining, including one to allow a surface mining operation in a state park, and another to ease the permitting process for strip mines. No, that's not a joke. He actually leased 160 acres of a state park in southern Illinois for a strip mine.

As the expansion continues, residents in mining areas have to contend with a state Office of Mines and Minerals that's notoriously cozy with industry and an EPA that will apparently issue a permit to even the worst mine proposed by habitual repeat offenders. Quinn's failure to reform these agencies to better serve the public interest, rather than extraction special interests, is a disappointment to many residents in impacted communities.

People in poorer nations will experience higher cases of asthma, heart disease, birth defects, and learning disabilities among children as a result of burning Illinois' high sulfur coal. Most Illinoisans may easily ignore those distant consequences, but not all of coal's impacts can be exported. Destruction will continue in mining communities, and everyone will suffer the global consequences of climate change.

Clean Jobs for Northern Illinois - Dangerous Jobs for Southern

A recent report on green job growth included a graphic showing that all clean energy jobs created so far this year were in the northern half of the state. That didn't happen by accident. Illinois' economic development agency, DCEO, does good work promoting clean energy jobs in some areas. But, their agenda in southern Illinois is dominated by the Office of Coal Development (OCD).

The OCD oversees most of the millions in taxpayer subsidies Illinois gives the coal industry annually. The fund helps keep old, polluting coal plants running, and encourages officials in rural Illinois to stay focused on coal as an economic development strategy. Predictably, waiting for the mines to re-open has largely kept coal country in poverty compared to other parts of the state.

The same office oversees a state funded propaganda campaign that lies to children about coal. Quinn has ignored appeals to rework or end the educational program distributed in schools that tells children fairy tails of how safe and clean coal really is.

Coal is America's deadliest power source. Many of those deaths are caused by air emissions that contribute to respiratory problems and heart disease. The death toll also includes mining accidents, like the recent one at a Peapody mine in Saline county. Twenty people lost their lives in mine accidents last year. And despite preventative equipment, Black Lung still kills hundreds of miners every year.

By allowing coal to set the agenda, Quinn is promoting safe, clean energy jobs for some of Illinois, while telling people further south they should be satisfied to base their economy on some of the most dangerous and deadly jobs in America.

A Massive New Assault on the Environment

Quinn's most controversial action on energy is to enthusiastically launch the Illinois fracking industry, which will become one of the most expansive assaults on the environment in state history. Quinn brags that his fracking rules will create jobs while protecting the environment. But, even groups who supported the bill admit it's inadequate. Residents will now be subjected to a massive science experiment as we wait for more proof that fracking can't be safely regulated in a region prone to flooding and earthquakes.

Quinn had other options. As Governor, he could have supported a moratorium and pledged to veto anything else. He could have asked his staff to craft stronger regulations with or without support from industry. Instead, he asked industry lobbyists to write legislation and invited his allies in statehouse green groups to go along.

Some legislators and environmental groups who helped write the regulatory bill claim it had to be passed because fracking is already happening in Illinois. Supporting inadequate regulation was better than a fracking boom with no safeguards in place. They cited "breaking news" of a single fracking well already operating (in a county where vertical fracking has been going on for many years) as a pressure tactic to quickly pass the bill. But, if industry spokespersons are to be believed, there was no danger of widespread fracking happening without passage of a regulatory bill.

A lobbyist supporting the bill for the Illinois Manufactures Association said, "Industry is not going to move forward until there's a regulatory framework in place. Each well costs five to 25 million dollars so they're not going to make that type of investment unless they know the structure they're operating under."

An environmental attorney quoted by the Chicago Tribune explained, "If legislation doesn't pass at some point this year, from the state's perspective the risk is that the industry might invest elsewhere in other states that have more favorable conditions to invest in and develop these sorts of wells." In the same article, the executive director of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce Energy Council claimed that, "without regulations in place, a tacit moratorium already exists."

The head of the Illinois Oil and Gas Association said, “We agreed to the regulatory scheme because we felt like the alternative was a very real chance that we would end up with some type of moratorium."

According to multiple industry experts, the most likely outcome of not passing a fracking regulatory bill this year would have been a continued delay of fracking, not the massive expansion of unregulated fracking environmentalists were threatened with.

The hazard presented by a single propagandist fracking operation will now be multiplied by hundreds and thousands of times thanks to Quinn and his allies who launched the fracking assault. Quinn could have supported a moratorium or at least slowed the process down for a thorough public discussion. It was rushed through the legislature with little debate because Quinn made fracking a personal priority as a job creation plan, and his allies in a few big green groups chose to cooperate despite the objection of the environmental grassroots.

Shortly after the fracking bill passed the legislature, Quinn announced a federally-backed loan for a wastewater treatment facility in Decatur by saying, “A region’s economic and environmental strength is based on the availability of clean water." That's exactly what worries people in fracking regions.

No Environmental Justice for Rural Areas

Illinois recently formed an environmental justice commission with most of the members appointed by Governor Quinn. The Environmental Justice Act states, "the principle of environmental justice requires that no segment of the population, regardless of race, national origin, age, or income, should bear disproportionately high or adverse effects of environmental pollution." It also acknowledges that some communities suffer disproportionately from environmental hazards.

The commission includes representatives of organizations working in neighborhoods of the greater Chicago area that have been subjected to a greater share of deadly pollutants, in part because local residents typically don't have the same resources to protect their neighborhood as wealthy communities. The commission currently includes no representative of organizations working in rural downstate communities impacted by mining and fracking.

Low-income rural areas face increased pollution impacts for many of the same reasons as urban communities of color. Small towns often support any project that promises jobs, no matter how dangerous and deadly, because they see no better alternative.

When signing the Environmental Justice Act, Quinn remarked, “We want to make sure that all Illinois families live in healthy communities. This commission will help us strengthen environmental laws so that every Illinois resident has clean air and clean water.” He signed a bill launching the fracking industry two months earlier.

Perhaps Quinn didn't appoint anyone from rural downstate because it might force him to recognize that his policies make him one of the greatest perpetrators of environmental injustice in Illinois.

An Illinois Tradition

Despite its waning national influence, coal is still powerful in southern Illinois, so it's not surprising that Quinn panders to the industry as he moves south. Quinn isn't the first Illinois politician to solicit support from both environmentalists and the coal industry. Rod Blagojevich, for example, sent massive subsidies to coal mines and power plants while also passing a renewable energy portfolio standard to increase wind power generation. This Illinois dynamic influenced Barack Obama's "all of the above" energy strategy that provided billions in coal subsidies as part of the federal stimulus bill.

But, Quinn might be the first Governor to so shamelessly present himself as a courageous hero of the environmental movement when in Chicago while boasting with equal passion in southern Illinois about his commitment to expand destructive coal mining and fracking.

It's more difficult to understand why some statewide environmental groups allow him to continue his Jekyll and Hyde routine without raising their voice in objection. The Illinois Environmental Council tweeted a comment after he spoke at their dinner that Quinn "always stands up for clean energy." That's only true if you turn a blind eye to his actions in the southern half of the state, which is apparently what many are doing.

The greatest American documentary of all time now on Showtime

I was at a friend's place looking at the "On Demand" programs listed under Showtime and saw that they're currently offering Harlan County, USA. If I've ever seen a better documentary film, I can't think of what it is. I haven't watched it in a few years and it's impact didn't lessen on another viewing.

It's about a coal mine strike in the 70's but, as usual, the core issues remain the same. Coal companies are still trying to bust unions, refusing to take responsibility for accidents, and trying to avoid paying for health care and retirement.  And rural mining regions are still poor, as every region that bases their economy on coal mining always has been and always will be.

The Peabody family were building their first mansion on the outskirts of Chicago while Peabody Company miners were living in tents and shacks downstate. Unions made important gains over the years, but most of them are busted, and the exploitative nature of extracting industries hasn't changed. A coal based economy is a recipe for rural poverty, not an escape from it.

Anyway, the soundtrack makes brilliant use of traditional Appalachian music and miner songs. I gathered all the Nimrod Workman music I could find after the first time I watched Harlan. It includes this song, 42 Years




Like any great film, I took away new impressions after watching again. This time I thought more about the amazing, strong women Barbara Kopple caught in action. A couple of the more ornery citizens remind me of my grandmother and great-grandmother. I'm only a few generations removed from the coal mine, and one from the farm, so I guess it makes sense that I relate to the people in the film. Then again, maybe they're just relateable people, no matter what your background is.

You'll notice that the most stubbornly determined and outspoken people in the film are women. The same is true with the Illinois rural coal fights I've been involved in recently. The centers of the intellectual feminist movement may be in the urban northeast, but you'll get a real lesson about female empowerment if you ever organize in rural areas. I won't name any names in this post, but the women I'm thinking of know who they are.

If you haven't seen it yet, don't miss the chance. The Criterion Collection release has excellent unused footage and special features that are worth seeing, if you can find a copy.

Universities of Iowa and Illinois students tour central Illinois coalfields

Over 50 students from the University of Iowa, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and several other campuses toured sites in central Illinois to learn about the impacts of coal mining. It was covered by The Daily Iowan and The Daily Illini.

The Illini article quoted several tour participants and organizers.

“We’re busting at the seams with interest,” Cross said. “We’ll be able to see firsthand what’s happening.”

The students had the opportunity to talk to affected individuals of coal mines. They will be visiting coal mines that are disposing coal waste above ground, discharging coal ash into the water supply and storing it in pounds next to a local lake, Cross added.

“Coal is not a viable energy source,” she said. “We need to be moving beyond coal."

(Iowa Hawkeyes give thumbs down to impacts of coal mining)

The Daily Iowan article wrote about the tour and a campaign to shut down their campus coal plant.

The University of Iowa consumes almost 500 tons of coal each day.

And UI junior Zach Carter wants to change that.

After attending the alternative-energy event Power Shift 2011 in Washington, D.C., last spring, Carter started the UI Sierra Student Coalition this fall, in hopes of pushing for the university to shift its energy production away from coal and other fossil fuels to biomass.

I spoke on the tour so I'll post pictures and details soon.

My White House petition: Create clean energy jobs in coal mining communities

The Obama administration created a new petition tool at the White House website. I don't know whether it will have much impact but it looks interesting enough that I'll give it a try. It encourages people to pester their friends about signing a petition. Most of my friends should be used to that by now anyway.

If 5,000 people sign the petition in 30 days then it will be reviewed and receive a response from White House officials. It will surprise no one that I created a petition about clean energy and coal.

Create clean energy jobs in coal mining communities

Every region that bases its economy on coal mining is poor. Many clean energy jobs are being created nationally, but most of them are not in coal mining regions. Instead, coal communities are sold on unproven "clean coal" pipe dreams backed by federal subsidies and Department of Energy loan guarantees. How can real clean energy jobs be directed to coalfield communities so that unemployed miners will have an economic future beyond coal?

If you like it then click the link to sign and we'll see how this petition thing works.

Illinois solar jobs could outnumber coal mining

A few days ago I wrote about the old news that the wind industry already employs more people nationally than coal mining. Grist pointed me toward One Block Off the Grid, which claims they've made a conservative estimate of how many solar industry jobs could be created in each state.

They believe that solar could support nearly 6,000 jobs in Illinois. Less than 4,000 people are employed in mining Illinois coal.



With the lack of federal action, some of the most important progress is happening at the state level. Their analysis grades state solar policies and gives Illinois an A. I assume that's because solar was added to that Illinois' renewable energy portfolio standard that environmental groups advocated. Because the solar portion of the standard won't kick in for several more years, the industry is only beginning to rise in Illinois.

If you're wondering what's going to happen to Illinois' fleet of obsolete coal plants, check out this Washington Post article, which provides a good summary of the likely road ahead. It covers a Congressional Research Office study that offers a more reliable analysis than the hysteria we predictably hear from the coal industry about every proposed regulation. New EPA regulation of coal, plus incentives for renewable energy, are the current Plan-B for dealing with climate change since the Senate refused to vote on cap-and-trade.

We'll hear more shouting about jobs from the coal industry as they fight the transition to new energy sources. It's important to remember that the alternatives to coal will likely provide more jobs than we get from the world's deadliest power source.

CNN's pro-coal bias strikes again

CNN has an ongoing problem covering coal issues. Author Jeff Biggers wrote about their new special on mountaintop removal coal mining and Blair Mountain West Virginia.

Dear Soledad: Appalachians Respond to CNN’s Blair Mountain Special on Mountaintop Removal

In a move that has bewildered many affected residents in central Appalachia, O’Brien and her producers decided to tell the story of Blair Mountain and mountaintop removal, an admittedly criminal mining practice that provides less than 5 percent of our national coal production, stripped jobs and gutted the miners’ unions, and left the central Appalachian communities in entrenched poverty and illness, through the eyes and experiences of seemingly embattled strip miners who are afraid of losing their jobs.

Many Appalachian viewers have asked: What about the already displaced coal mining communities afraid of losing their lives?

The article goes on to quote reactions from people in West Virginia communities impacted by mountaintop removal.

Using the Blair Mountain march as metaphor, CNN has done a grave disservice to the actual crisis, the real and ongoing human rights disaster that exists in Appalachia. The choice in Appalachia is NOT, as CNN suggests, between “jobs” and “environmentalists,” but between Life, itself and the grim death that is the handmaiden of the eternal profit-seekers who destroy our homes, our communities, our heritage and our very lives. I’m no “environmentalist.” I’m a human rights advocate who opposes the mountaintop removal industry’s callous disregard for the value of my family’s, friends, neighbors’ and colleagues’ very lives. I’m a student of history who understands that the people of this state have a constitutional right to the quiet enjoyment of their property that is actually greater than a mountaintop removal company’s right to make a profit.

There are many more excellent quotes in Biggers' article. Most of those quoted bring up coal industry advertising on CNN and the network's history of biased reporting on coal.

The story posted at CNN is headlined: "Steady job or healthy environment: What would you choose?"

This is deceptive in several ways. First, mountaintop removal employs fewer miners than less destructive mining methods. Mine companies do it because they can cut costs by hiring fewer people. Also the wind industry already employes more people than coal. Blowing up mountains destroys the potential for other economic activity like building wind turbines or creating a tourism industry.

In this case, protecting the environment would create MORE jobs, not less. The "jobs v environment" framing by CNN is outdated propaganda that's usually pushed by polluting industries. And anyone familiar with the coal mining industry knows that calling it a "steady" job is a bit of a stretch.

This is part of a pattern at CNN. Nothing makes media bias more obvious than knowing the reality behind their reporting on the coal industry. It's as true at CNN as it is for several coal friendly newspapers in downstate Illinois.

The Last Mountain at Bonnaroo

I went to Bonnaroo this year for the third time and made my first trip to the cinema tent for a screening of The Last Mountain. It was a thrill to have Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on hand to introduce the film and do a short Q&A after.





I've shown several movies on mountaintop removal mining at Liberty Brew & View so The Last Mountain covers familiar territory. It reviews a few of the same battles and scenes essential to the story that I've seen before. Two big factors set this documentary apart. One is high production value, especially the spectacular footage of mountaintop mining operations.

The second is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. himself. His charisma and enthusiasm give the movie unique energy. Rather than attempting to evenly show both sides, Mountain makes a clear argument and does so powerfully. The funnest scene is Kennedy having a lively conversation in a small cafe with the head of the West Virginia Coal Association.

The most interesting surprise was the film's argument in defense of outsiders getting involved. Other movies and activists focus on local West Virginians, which is understandable. The Last Mountain not only defended why outsiders like Kennedy have an obligation to intervene, but also highlights the courageous acts of civil disobedience by "outside agitators" with Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice. It was refreshing to see the filmmakers tackle an issue that many avoid.





A young crowd of over 600 watched at Bonnaroo on June 9 and the response was wildly enthusiastic. There were plenty of laughs and shouts at the screen during the showing and a standing ovation at the end.

Only two questions were asked after the movie but they both lead to Kennedy's characteristic rants. He spoke about the important role documentary films have come to play as sources of news and information ignored by the corporate press. Documentaries like this one are absolutely essential when a compromised press chooses to push celebrity gossip rather than report relevant news that doesn't fit the agenda of their advertisers and owners. I couldn't agree more. Nothing makes media bias more obvious than following how coal issues are covered.

Be sure to see The Last Mountain if there's a screening in your town.

RFK Jr: The coal indsutry brings poverty and destroys jobs

It's as true in southern Illinois as it is in the Appalachian mountains.

If you missed it, watch Robert Kennedy Jr's interview with Stephen Colbert about a new movie, The Last Mountain.

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Heartland Coalfield Alliance

This is a good thing to check out.

There's a lot of work already being done on air emissions from coal power plants. Heartland Coalfield Alliance is a group forming to be a resource for those combating all the impacts of coal, including mining and coal ash waste sites.

They're focused on the Illinois coal basin. As mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia is banned, several companies are looking to expand mining in Illinois. Residents should be prepared to defend themselves against the worst impacts of coal operations by those companies who don't respect the communities they operate in.

You can check out their website and the brand new facebook page.

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Letter censored by the Canton Daily Register

Have you ever heard of a letter to the editor being removed from a newspaper's website for being too controversial? Apparently, that's what happened at the Canton Daily Ledger, a paper owned by Gatehouse Media.

Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues (CACEI) blogs that a letter by their President was published on May 4. They write: "In a meeting with the Ledger editor on May 12th, 2011, she explained that the Canton Daily Ledger pulled letter because it was too controversial, and furthermore that the paper would not publish anything on the North Canton Mine until something “official” came from IDNR or the mine."

Really? WTF!

CACEI is working to stop a surface coal mine near Canton Lake. I'm used to Illinois newspapers kowtowing to the coal industry but this level of subservience surprises me. Citizens needs to know the truth about what's being proposed in their area.

The controversial letter is preserved on the CACEI blog. I'll do my part to keep it from being thrown down the memory hole by re-posting it here as well. I can understand why the letter's factual arguments make coal industry boosters uncomfortable.

Many times when I am around town people ask how the mine issue is going. Our attorney and members have been busy working on the issue to challenge the North Canton Mine permit for the past four years. Now we have some news!

Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues, Canton Lake and Its Watershed’s legal challenge to North Canton Mine’s Permit #385 is moving forward. We have received word that the Illinois Department of Natural Resources administrative review hearing we requested is now scheduled for October 11-14th at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Building in Springfield. This step is a huge financial undertaking for our group but we are unwavering in our desire to protect the Canton Lake and its watershed, the environment and the health and safety of the residents in Canton, Orion and Canton Township.

The mine application was submitted by Capital Resources Development to IDNR in 2006 with a public hearing in October 2006. The proposed mine site is approximately 1 ½ miles from State Rt North 78 going east on Brereton Road or about 2 miles from North 78 going east on Cypress Road. Canton Lake is 1 ¼ miles from the mine site. The site covers 1084.5 acres of farm land, forests and Copperas Creek and Middle Copperas Creek flows through the acreage. These creeks, streams and aquifers are part of the Copperas Creek watershed which feeds into Canton Lake.

Although most residents of Canton are not familiar with the area, it is home to many residents in Orion and Canton Townships. Many farm homesteads and lake homes are in the area along with many newly-built homes and small horse farms. Documented historic areas are located within the proposed mine site which includes Mitchell-White Farm site, Cooper-Motsinger Cemetery, and the underground railroad (Indian Trail Rd).

Development to this section of the county has occurred since the mine was proposed in early 2006. Along with new subdivisions and busy established companies, there are several new businesses along N. Highway 78 including Bank of Farmington, State Farm Insurance Office, and Herbst Landing. Fulton County Supervisor of Assessments Rick Regnier was quoted in an article published April 9, 2011 that Canton Township property would be assessed first “because it’s the biggest and fastest growing” in the county. One has noticed this growth as it seems to have caused an increase of traffic on N. Main St. and SR 78 North.

With hundreds of heavy loaded coal trucks (approximate total weight 80,000 lbs) using State Highway 78 and Rt. 9/24 traveling through the downtown of Canton in almost convoy fashion, the Main St. corridor will become a safety issue for other vehicle traffic and a health issue(diesel fumes, coal dust) for students, pedestrians and residents. It is one thing to have commercial traffic flow through town but to have heavy industrial traffic is altogether different.

Jobs are important to the community. There is an economic downside to having coal mining within an urbanized area. This proposed mining operation encompasses a water resource, a recreational area, and agricultural industries. Consideration has to be given to the loss of tax dollars, space for growth of residential and business development, loss of tourist dollars, the loss of farm dollars spent in the community and the real possibility of pollution and destruction of creeks, streams, aquifers that feed Canton Lake, and then one has to add in the human cost of due to health problems associated with unclean air. Also, there is the loss of natural beauty and tranquility to the whole area surrounding the proposed site.

During the month of May, CACEI members will be contacting residents to answer questions or provide information concerning our challenge to North Canton Permit #385. CACEI has registered with the City Attorney and City Clerk.

Thanks to the generosity of area residents and the tireless, brave work of members, Canton Area Citizens for Environmental Issues, Canton Lake and Its Watershed has been able to proceed with their rightful legal challenge to the granting of this permit.

- Brenda Dilts, CACEI President

John Shimkus attacks mine safety regulation

My Republican Congressman, John Shimkus, usually sounds more reasonable in his district than he does in Washington. Despite toning down the ideological rhetoric, his underlying message still came through in a recent constituent newsletter.

His latest newsletter claims that the Mine Safety and Health Administration can "make it difficult to operate a mine."



Well, yes, I'm sure they make it more difficult to cut corners on safety and operate a dangerous mine. That's why the agency exists. George W. Bush tried the anti-government approach to mine safety and that resulted in more coal mine accidents.

I'm used to Shimkus attacking environmental regulation on behalf of the coal industry. This sort of rhetoric suggests he will represent industry lobbyists on questions of mine safety as well.

It's an important question since new coal mines are opening in Shimkus' district. Will he do his best to protect his constituents who work underground? Or will he represent his industry campaign donors who want to make it less "difficult" to operate a mine?

What happens when coal miners attend a Sierra Club meeting in coal country?

The crowded November meeting of the Sangamon Valley Group with Jeff Biggers was one of the best Sierra Club events I've attended and it's getting plenty of attention. It's featured today on Sierra Club's national scrapbook blog, which focuses on how miners and environmentalists found common ground.

The audience included a row of miners in uniform, plus a few white-collar representatives of the coal companies. Farmers being impacted by longwall mining in central Illinois came too.

This definitely wasn't just a crowd of stereotypical tree-huggers. I can't say that everyone agreed about everything by the end of the meeting, but people came a lot closer to understanding each other.

One of the little-known secrets of the environmental movement is that it often has common ground with coal miners. Safe mines with unionized workers have better environmental practices. The most environmentally destructive mining methods, like mountaintop removal and modern longwall, also employ fewer miners.





Those areas of common ground, including the need to create green jobs in coal country, were the themes Jeff Biggers focused on.

I have become more convinced than ever that we can bridge the fabricated divide between coal miners and coal mining communities and environmental organizations like the Sierra Club by laying out a roadmap for a just transition to a sustainable and clean energy future.

The coalfields should be ground zero for any clean energy revolution. We need to aggressively push for a GI Bill for coal miners for retraining and placement in a clean energy economy, dedicate massive investment funds and assistance to clean energy manufacturing and energy efficiency initiatives in the coalfields, and launch a reforestation program in the forests and prairies.

If that's going to happen, we need to reject the empty promise that we can develop the downstate economy by subsidizing a single industry. It will only leave us as empty handed and disappoitned as Mattoon.

In case you missed it, also check out the Illinois Times article that quotes one of the miners.

Rand Paul thinks Appalachian hills are better off being blown up

You know those Appalachian hills that have inspired countless songs about their beauty and history? Rand Paul, the tea party Republican running for US Senator from Kentucky, thinks they get better after you blow them up for a little coal. I'm not kidding.

"The top ends up flatter, but we're not talking about Mount Everest. We're talking about these little knobby hills that are everywhere out here. And I've seen the reclaimed lands. One of them is 800 acres, with a sports complex on it, elk roaming, covered in grass." Most people, he continues, "would say the land is of enhanced value, because now you can build on it."

"Let's let you decide what to do with your land," he says. "Really, it's a private-property issue." This is a gentler, more academic variation on a line he used the evening before, during his speech at the Harlan Center: "If you don't live here, it's none of your business."

Wow. I'll at least give him credit for publicly saying out loud the real position of the coal industry and their hired politicians.

Here's a guy who thinks a piece of land only has value if you can build something on it. Who cares that they're the oldest mountains in America? Who cares if they'll never regain the rich diversity of plant and animal life they once had? So what if there won't be any drinkable water for miles around? Who cares if they inspired an incredible part of our nation's musical and cultural heritage?

All Rand Paul can see is whether they're flat enough to build a strip mall and golf resort.

There's one thing Rand Paul and I kind of agree on. All the outside property owners and coal industry executives who never lived in Kentucky should mind their own business instead of blowing up mountains. Let's not pretend that it's the people of Kentucky who get rich off the coal mining industry.

Just for fun, here's a clip of Kentucky bluegrass that I found on Appalshop's Youtube page.

Illinois imports 94% of coal burned in state

Anyone who lives in central or southern Illinois is used to hearing the coal industry and their subservient politicians boast about the jobs and economic development coal mining brings to the region. One of the dirty little secrets they rarely talk about is that most coal burned in Illinois is imported from out of state.

A new report by the Union of Concerned Scientists shows that 94% of the coal Illinois burned in 2008 wasn't from Illinois mines. Illinois spent $1.49 billion on imported coal in a single year, mostly from Wyoming.

It's no coincidence that the top coal importer, Midwest Generation, also operates several of the state's dirtiest power plants. Why is that?

Wyoming coal is lower in some pollutants than Illinois coal. That leaves plant operators with two options. Option one is to install new pollution control equipment that would allow them to use Illinois coal and reduce the amount of toxins they release into the air. It's one of those times when doing what's best for the environment is also better for our local economy.

Springfield's publicly-owned CWLP is one of the few operators to take this option. They installed equipment on their existing plants, and the new Dallman 4 unit, that allows them to burn Illinois coal while still producing less air pollution than other coal plants in the state. They're supplied by a central Illinois mine.

Apart from that rare exception, most Illinois coal plant operators choose the second option: importing coal from other states. A coalition of organizations are pushing Midwest Generation to reduce pollutants from their aging plants in Chicago. The Illinois Attorney General, EPA and others have taken legal action in repeated efforts to make them clean up their plants.

But, Midwest Generation would rather not spend too much money on new pollution control equipment. They want to invest as little as possible in aging plants until they're shut down. That means importing coal instead of reducing air pollution and creating jobs in Illinois mines.

A different revelation in UCS's report bothered me most. "Dynegy’s Baldwin Energy Complex, in Randolph County, is the most import-dependent power facility in Illinois, having spent $209 million in 2008."



The people of Southern Illinois are told endless fairy tells by politicians promising that one day coal will revive the regional economy. They pretend that the good old days of a coal dependent economy is their only hope for new jobs. And yet, a plant in the middle of a region desperate for jobs is importing massive amounts of coal from Wyoming and companies engaged in mountaintop removal mining.

The EPA and others were forced to sue Dynegy to enforce clean air laws at its Baldwin plant. Nearly half of their recent modifications to reduce emissions were subsidized by taxpayers through a Department of Energy clean coal program, but they're still burning imported coal. More recently, the plant was named on EPA's list of the country's 40 worst producers of coal ash waste. Two other Illinois plants operated by the company were rated as "high hazard" coal ash sites that present a risk to human safety.

So what does this all mean? Coal companies don't care about creating jobs in Southern Illinois. They care about cutting costs and maximizing profits, no matter how much it harms the economy and health of the communities they operate in.

If Illinois is going to develop a new energy economy then we need state leaders to stop peddling false hope on behalf of the coal industry and start creating real clean energy jobs. That's option three outlined in the report.

Investments in energy efficiency and homegrown renewable energy can help stimulate the economy by redirecting funds into local economic development—funds that would otherwise leave the state.