Mountain Holler
DEP to accept fine payment in Rocks
"I'm really surprised the big deal everybody's making about the rocks," said DEP Secretary Randy Huffman, who said the agency routinely includes non-cash items in settlements. "The main thing is, it sends a strong message.
It's a real brainbuster, why would the tax payers of West Virginia be upset that we will be picking up the eventual tab on the cleanup of West Virginia when the companies polluting our streams are paying their fines with rocks. Rocks which are actually the industry's waste.
The settlement also calls for a reverse osmosis demonstration project for one drainage, however, Magnum wants to use brillo pad stuffed barrels as another treatment method for the rest of the drainages. This is a method that has never been tried on the scale it will be tried here, and even those small scale trials weren't that successful. But if you're fined in rocks, I suppose violating the law isn't the biggest of your concerns.
Do not fear the wind!
I have a message for my fellow West Virginians, and all of America for that matter:
Do not fear the wind!
Wind has been used as a tool of change, possibility and progress since the inception of the sail by the Egyptians around 3,500 B.C. It led Hero of Alexandria to invent a wind wheel during the first century A.D. Today, we know this invention as a windmill. Windmills have helped mankind in many ways. They have been used for irrigation, grinding corn, generating electricity, and more.
Using wind has played a pivotal role in the progress of every nation, especially America! Christopher Columbus would have never been able to make the long voyages that made Europe aware of the Western world without wind in the sails of the Niņa, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. Everyone might still believe that the world is flat. The Mayflower Pilgrims would have never landed at Plymouth Rock. There would be no Thanksgiving.
The story of America would have never been written if mankind did not embrace the idea of using the wind! Its contributions reach as far as the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, every star and bar on the American flag, and beyond.
I, truly, cannot envision our world or my country without it.
It is of note that harnessing wind is directly responsible for the discovery and progress of electricity. Benjamin Franklin would have never performed his stormy kite and key experiment if he had not used the wind as a means.
From flying a kite to flying a plane, none of it would be possible without harnessing wind. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that using wind is going to play a crucial role in energy concerns all across our nation, even here in West Virginia.
Currently, community members and local organizations are proposing a wind farm on Coal River Mountain in Raleigh County. This idea of using wind for power is just as great now as it was then. It would help to diversify our economy, make our energy costs cheaper and preserve our homeland for many future uses. It would provide safe, good-paying, local jobs for the people in surrounding communities. It would also be an infinite resource of energy.
Coal has been the bread and butter of West Virginia for many generations. Unfortunately, we all know that coal is not going to last forever, but the wind will be blowing long after we're gone. A wind farm would allow for continued mining through traditional, underground methods during the transition into a future of renewable energy sources.
I hope that you, as I, will support and help make the Coal River Wind Farm a reality. We need to start thinking about our future, the future of our children, the future of our homeland, the future of our state, and the future of our country.
This is our chance to do our part to create a cleaner, smarter, safer tomorrow for everyone.
Jeff Biggers on Coal River Wind
Biggers went all the way back to a Chicago Tribune article published in 1892 to demonstrate our need to move beyond coal:
"Doubtless the end of the coal, at least as an article of a mighty commerce, will arrive within a period brief in comparison with the ages of human existence. In the history of humanity, from first to last, the few centuries through which we are now passing will stand out prominently as the coal-burning period."
More destruction is no solution
Editor:
We're definitely in an energy and climate crisis.
Only fools would think that we could drill or blast our way out of this crisis. If we continue to do the same destructive things and use the same dirty fuels that we have over the past 100 years.
Continued use of depleting fossil fuels will increase energy prices so much only the privileged will be able to afford energy. The continued use of fossil fuels will worsen climate crisis so that we humans will be the endangered species. Our children will suffer.
We are smart enough to advance technology to use the sun and the wind. The truth is the oil and coal companies don't want us to have "real" energy independence. These corporations control our lives and our politicians because we allow it.
Water shortages will be the ultimate disaster. Civilizations have survived for thousands of years without gas or electricity. Name one that has survived without clean water. We can have it all if we change our wasteful ways and switch to renewable energy and conserve now.
Julia Bonds
Rock Creek