I would like to talk about the present strip-mining that is happening in West Virginia and other states cursed with having coal deposits underneath them. One of the major problems with the mining of coal is that it causes severe environmental damage unless it is severely regulated to reduce the damage.
When I was a lad in the 1950s, my family would make an annual drive from Michigan to visit our relatives in West Virginia for a summer holiday. One could always tell when we were getting close to our first stop in Morgantown, W.Va. because one could smell the sulphur, a byproduct of mining, in the air. One could see that the streams were not crystal clear but, the color of gold, and it was obvious, nothing could possibly live in those streams. This was the reality of mining until environmental protections were put in place. Slowly, the streams came back to being clear again and the air didn't have the sulphuric smell.
Enter a new and cost effective way of mining coal: Now the Appalachian Mountain range is being literally, flattened by strip mining. The tops of the mountains are blown apart by using dynamite and the coal is removed in this way. What is left over falls down into any streams polluting them again with the byproducts of mining. Iron Oxide deposits are left in place of rich earth. People who have drunk water from their wells all their lives noticed that they had become polluted of course, with the denial from the mining company telling them they couldn't prove the water had been poisoned.
In addition, the eight years of the Bush tenure, allowed the rules and regulations of the environmental act be stripped and weakened to the point it was ineffective allowing mining companies, and oil companies to go back to their unregulated days of carrying on business-as-usual. Hence, we are back with polluted streams, not unlike those of the 1950s and we are losing the topography of our oldest mountain chain, the Appalachians.
Obviously, the regulations need to be put back into place and they need to be stronger this time around. Will it happen in the present dysfunctional climate chamber known as the Senate? I doubt it. Even though the democrats are in the majority, they refuse to fight allowing the other side to continue the status-quo on many issues. The House has been busy doing their jobs but all the bills that make it to the Senate side of Congress, languish in the Senate going no where. I wonder if it is time to retire the Senate or would this ridiculous "super-majority" ruling where it has to be at least 60 votes to pass, be retired? In my opinion, if you have 50 or 51 votes, you have a majority, ergo, the law passes. We seem to make it harder to pass any legislation if it always has to be a "super-majority" to pass it, especially, when the other side of the isle is hell bent on objecting to each and every bill brought up for a vote by democrats.
I haven't been very impressed with the "hope and change" we were all assured whilst they all were campaigning, especially, President Obama. I think we got the old "bait 'n switch" once he was elected. I don't expect much to be accomplished in making mining regulations strong. The mining lobby is much too strong and our representatives, senators and president are much too weak to make any significant difference. ( Third party, anyone? ) ;-)
