A day or two ago I was lamenting the fact that a ban on mountaintop removal coal mining had died in Tennessee's state Senate Energy, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Committee hearing because none of the good Republicans would make a motion to move the bill. Reps from the mining companies were on hand to high-five their successful lobbying efforts.
Now I've found out that some of the most conservative, coal-loving people in Tennessee are pissed about ONE aspect of mountaintop removal mining, and have even started an ad campaign to derail one company's efforts to destroy our mountain heritage. Why are these die-hard scorched-Earth Republican conservatives upset about a practice they were in love with a few days ago? Well, the answer's almost too good to be true...
Here's a snippet from Mother Jones:
On Tuesday, the Tennessee Conservative Union, which bills itself as the state's "largest and oldest conservative group," started running anti-mountaintop removal coal mining ads on television throughout the state. Their complaint? The Chinese company Guizhou Guochuang Energy Holding Group announced last year that it is acquiring Triple H Coal Mining, which does mountaintop removal. The Tennessee Conservative Union ad warns that they will become "the first state in our great nation to permit the red Chinese to destroy our mountains and take our coal."
"We're proud that Tennessee is a red state," the ad concludes. "But just how red are we willing to go?"
"The Tennessee Conservative Union is 100% pro-Coal, but our organization does not support destroying our mountain heritage," TCU Chairman Lloyd Daugherty said in a statement Tuesday. "Mountaintop removal mining kills jobs because it takes fewer workers to blow up a mountain."
JW Randolph, Tennessee director of Appalachian Voices, a group that has been working to pass the anti-mountaintop removal law, welcomed the ad. "We don't care if you're from Bristol or Beijing, blowing up the oldest mountains in America for a few tons of coal is a bad idea," he said.
If it takes Chinese ownership of a mining company to wake people up to the lunacy of mountaintop removal mining, so be it. Whatever it takes to stop the ruination of our mountains is fine with me, even if it's nationalistic xenophobia.
I wonder if any of the good folks who are upset about this Chinese company's mining plans for Tennessee are also worried that the Keystone Pipeline will put American aquifers at risk to refine oil destined for China, or that the majority of our national debt is owned by China?
Sort of doubt it.
9 comments:
This is kinda funny, but somehow I don't feel much like laughing.
Don't look now but the Chinese just bought the two biggest fracking companies. Chesapeake Energy out of Oklahoma City and rife with corruption and money troubles and the largest fracker in the nation sold controlling shares within the last month, the other sold about 6 months ago.
Cynthianne, ya gotta be able to laugh when it's this crazy. Somehow I wish I could get this story to Jon Stewart's Daily Show or The Colbert Report just to see the spin they'd put on it.
Just reading those quotes again can make me chuckle, even as I shake my head.
Fringe, think that'll make some conservatives oppose fracking?
Wouldn't it be ironic if concerned liberals couldn't stop fracking or mountaintop removal mining, but conservatives and miners worried about losing fossil fuel extraction jobs DID???
You can't make up this shit, no one would believe it.
Same thing is happening in Wisconsin.
http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/2013/03/sen-hansen-goes-mining-for-answers.html
My Navy son has been to Africa and Afghanistan in the last several years. He says you can't walk without tripping over Chinese business men looking for resources, especially rare earth minerals for electronics. On the plus side they can get you bootleg movies before their theatrical release.
I know you have to use captcha to block spam, but Jeez, I'm an old half-blind fkr. It sometimes takes me 3 tries to post.
Randy, I apologize for the hoop-jumping required to comment here, and thanks for playing along.
Got spammed to death!
This makes me feel almost physically ill, to think our beautiful mountains will be blasted to never never land--all for greed. Someone stop the craziness!!!
Karen
Sarge, unless you're talking about the stuff in between logs on a log cabin, I'd appreciate it you didn't use that particular word to describe Asians on my blog.
heavy sigh... (what year is this?)
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