Every day 2.5 million pounds of explosives are detonated in Appalachia to blow up mountains to access cheap coal. Mountaintop removal has already destroyed more than 500 peaks in one of the oldest and most biologically diverse mountain ranges on Earth.
Mountaintop removal kills endangered species, permanently pollutes streams and has been linked to cancer and birth defects in people. More than 1.4 million acres of hardwood forests and 2,000 miles of streams have been lost. We need to stop blowing up Appalachia.
"The Last Mountain" - Official Trailer
The fight for the last great mountain in America's Appalachian heartland pits the mining giant that wants to explode it to extract the coal within, against the community fighting to preserve the mountain and build a wind farm on its ridges instead. THE LAST MOUNTAIN highlights a battle for the future of energy that affects us all.
You can help by demanding that Congress take action to end mountaintop-removal coal mining. The Clean Water Protection Act, a bill now in the House of Representatives, will sharply curtail mountaintop removal.
We the People are losing our democracy, Corporations are gaining more control
Supreme Court of the United States or of Corporations? In a previous post, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on Big Coal, Corporations, Democracy (Video) *USA democracy has been subverted*, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said of the current Supreme Court and ruling bloc, "The coherent philosophy of Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Antonin Scalia, John G. Roberts, Jr., and Clarence Thomas is one thing, the corporations always win. If it's government against an individual, the government wins. If it's corporations against the individual, the corporation wins. If it's corporations against the government, the corporation wins. Show me one exception to that in any decision written by that Supreme Court." In 2010, this ruling bloc repealed a 100-year old law and made it legal for corporations to "flood our federal political campaigns with a tsunami of money. And that is the beginning of the end."
The Story of Citizens United vs. FEC The video below explains the 2010 Supreme Court ruling defining corporations as persons and therefore granting corporations free speech via the First Amendment to the Constitution. This free speech by corporations as persons then enabled corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money in political contributions. The video provides a history and context of corporations, warns of the tyrannical effect on American democracy of this Supreme Court ruling, and how citizens lose power to corporations as a result. This Supreme Court ruling allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns. Corporations can now spend millions to elect a candidate that will further their interests, which often are in direct conflict with your interests. The Supreme Court unleashed the power of corporations and is blessing this new corporatocracy in America. A corporatocracy is a political system that serves the interest of corporations. Media is controlled by corporations through advertising. Criticize or expose the advertiser and that media outlet loses revenues when the corporation withdraws advertising in retaliation. Remember, you vote and therefore contribute to the success or failure of a corporation by what you buy or do not buy from them! As a group, consumers and customers can fight against Corporate America destroying clean air, clean water, and the environment!
Humans versus Corporations versus Government Humans want good jobs, quality education, workers' rights, safe products, health care, responsible government, renewable energy, clean air, clean water, a pollution-free environment, a safe community. Corporations want profits to maximize shareholder wealth. What humans want cost money for corporations to comply with and reduces profitability in many instances. Big Oil, Big Coal, and chemical companies have weakened environmental laws, industry has weakened product safety laws and shipped jobs overseas via trade agreements, insurance companies fight against health care regulation that would threaten their profitability, and the banks, auto makers, et. al. receive bailouts, subsidies, and tax breaks. Yet extending unemployment benefits, raising taxes on corporations by eliminating tax loopholes, or raising taxes on the rich meets fierce political resistance in Congress. If you question the idea that corporations only care about profits, listen to a quarterly corporate earnings call of a publicly traded company. Google a major publicly traded corporation's "investor relations" website to see when earnings have or will be announced. Some corporations archive previous quarterly earnings conference calls. The Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer speak to and answer questions from the analysts of the major brokerages who follow that company and the stock. The ultimate and final issue is whether earnings per share 1) met expectations and 2) will increase in the future. That it's, that's the bottom line.
Mountain Seer Conclusion A corporation's ultimate goal is to maximize shareholder wealth. This should be a disclaimer at the beginning of every advertisement on television, radio, the Internet, print, etc. Advertising and marketing campaigns are propaganda first and foremost. Corporations are only concerned ultimately about customers buying their product or service. This is enhanced by a positive public image sometimes. One way to enhance this public image is through charitable contributions, but only to the extent earnings per share are not materially affected negatively. Corporations want a financial, political, tax, and economic system that maximizes their profitability and therefore shareholder wealth. This is enhanced by political contributions. The Supreme Court of the United States has given corporations carte blanche to manipulate the tax and political system through bribes, sometimes called political contributions, to politicians in the United Corporations of America, formerly known as the United States of America and the Land of the Free. Maintaining or restoring clean air, clean water, and a functioning ecosystem costs money, reduces profits, and ultimately decreases earnings per share for the shareholders. Therefore it is cheaper for corporations to evade these expenses through a variety of legal maneuvers and pass on the costs to the public and taxpayers.
The Story of Citizens United v. FEC The Story of Citizens United v. FEC, an exploration of the inordinate power that corporations exercise in our democracy.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: "Corporations do not want democracy, they want profits."
The Last Mountain Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was on Tavis Smiley upon the release of the documentary, The Last Mountain. The Last Mountain is the story of a community that fights back to protect Coal River Mountain and stop Massey Energy from destroying it with mountaintop removal. This documentary was reviewed in a previous post: The Last Mountain: A fight for our future (Video) *Mountain Top Removal: reducing mountains to rubble*. Kennedy states, "We are cutting down the Appalachian Mountains, literally. They are blowing the tops off the mountains to get at the coal seams beneath. They detonate 2,500 tons of explosives every day and the explosive power of a Hiroshima bomb once a week."
Corporations versus Democracy Kennedy says, "Appalachia, especially West Virginia, is the template for when corporations take over a democracy. It's a company town, what they are doing is illegal. They have flattened an area larger than the State of Delaware. They have blown up the 500 biggest mountains in the State of West Virginia in the last 10 years - and it's all illegal. They've buried 2,500 miles of rivers and streams. That's illegal, you can't do it! I debated on West Virginia TV, Don Blankenship who is the head of Massey Energy [now Alpha Natural Resources], the biggest mountaintop removal company. I said to him, By your own records you had 67,000 violations of the Clean Water Act. Over the past 5 years you've had tens of thousands of violations of labor laws, mining safety laws, all these other laws. Is it possible for you to make a profit without violating the law? He said, 'no'. He said, 'These are silly laws'. So he acknowledged his company is a criminal enterprise and their business plan is to break the law and to get away with it. In order to do that, you have to subvert democracy."
Democracy Essentially Doesn't Exist in West Virginia When corporations control the political process, democracy ceases to exist. Kennedy states, "If you go to West Virginia, democracy essentially doesn't exist. If you are a property owner in the state, you have no right to stop corporations from raining boulders down onto your property, poisoning your children, poisoning your wells, drying up your streams. You don't have the right to participate in local democracy, which is the fundamental zoning laws and planning laws. In West Virginia, you can't zone out these corporate activities. The transparency has disappeared in government, which is the hallmark of democracy. The agencies which are supposed to protect the West Virginia public from these companies have become the sock-puppets, the instrumentalities for the companies they're supposed to regulate. The judiciary and virtually every public-elected official in the state has been corrupted by Big Coal. Every poll, 2/3's of the West Virginia public wants to see mountaintop removal banned, but not a single politician dares to say that in the state." See a previous post, Massey Energy Falsified Safety Records (Video) "Single most destructive coal mining company in history".
Unleashed Corporate Power West Virginia is an example of unleashed corporate power. Kennedy says, "This is what happens when corporations take over government. Big government is a threat to democracy, but a bigger threat is unleashed corporate power. The domination of government by business is called communism. The domination of business by government is called fascism. That's what you are seeing, that form of government. Our job is to walk that narrow trail in between and hold big business at bay with our right hand and big government at bay with our left, and walk that narrow trail in between, which is free market capitalism and democracy. To do that, we need an independent press." He also stated, "When corporations take over a democracy, such as West Virginia, everything becomes a commodity."
We Need An Independent Press and Informed Public An independent press watches both big government and big business. Kennedy says, "We need an independent press that stands up and speaks truth to power and informs the public. We need an informed public that can recognize all the milestones of tyranny and we don't have either of those things left in this country", that is an independent press or informed public.
There Is Hope! Kennedy quotes Martin Luther King, Jr., "Martin Luther King said the tools of advocacy are agitation, legislation, litigation, and education. I would add to that innovation. We are seeing today a wave of innovation in this country", including the media and energy system. "This is going to democratize our energy system and take it away from Big Coal", not because of legislation but because of solar and wind power. These "disruptive technologies are cascading and at a tipping point". "That gives me a tremendous amount of hope".
Mountain Seer Conclusion A corporation's ultimate goal is to maximize shareholder wealth. This should be a disclaimer at the beginning of every advertisement on television, radio, the Internet, print, etc. Advertising and marketing campaigns are propaganda first and foremost. Corporations are only concerned ultimately about customers buying their product or service. This is enhanced by a positive public image sometimes. One way to enhance this public image is through charitable contributions, but only to the extent earnings per share are not materially affected negatively. Corporations want a financial, political, tax, and economic system that maximizes their profitability and therefore shareholder wealth. This is enhanced by political contributions. The Supreme Court of the United States has given corporations carte blanche to manipulate the tax and political system through bribes, sometimes called political contributions, to politicians in the United Corporations of America, formerly known as the United States of America and the Land of the Free. Maintaining or restoring clean air, clean water, and a functioning ecosystem costs money, reduces profits, and ultimately decreases earnings per share for the shareholders. Therefore it is cheaper for corporations to evade these expenses through a variety of legal maneuvers and pass on the costs to the public and taxpayers.
Tavis Smiley: Environmental Advocate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The environmentalist, who appears in the documentary The Last Mountain about the fight over coal, discusses the lack of government transparency and shares whether elective office is in his future.
West Virginia Environment and Economy Kennedy goes on to explain. Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy [now Alpha Natural Resources] admitted to 67,000 violations of the Clean Water Act over 5 years. The West Viriginia DEP, Department of Environmental Protection, which is responsible for enforcing that law, has never given him a penny in fines. Massey Energy has thousands of other violations that other agencies. Don Blankenship has been able to disable the agencies that are supposed to implement democracy in this country. So it can be illegal under the law, but he can get away with it. His business plan is to break the law, violate the law, and get away with it. He also stated, "When corporations take over a democracy, such as West Virginia, everything becomes a commodity." Big Coal says the coal industry brings prosperity to West Virginia. Kennedy responds, "It doesn't. It's emptying West Virginia of people. It's [Big Coal} whole business plan is to depopulate the countryside. Also, they've reduced the number of miners. My father said, 'West Virginia is the richest state in the country, in natural resources, but it is almost the poorest for the people, behind Mississippi. Why is that? It's because the corporations have stolen the resources from the people in the state'.
Supreme Court of the United States or of Corporations? Kennedy says of the current Supreme Court and ruling bloc, "The coherent philosophy of Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Antonin Scalia, John G. Roberts, Jr., and Clarence Thomas is one thing, the corporations always win. If it's government against an individual, the government wins. If it's corporations against the individual, the corporation wins. If it's corporations against the government, the corporation wins. Show me one exception to that in any decision written by that Supreme Court." In 2010, this ruling bloc repealed a 100-year old law and made it legal for corporations to "flood our federal political campaigns with a tsunami of money. And that is the beginning of the end."
Biased Media and the Uninformed Public Kennedy notes that while the Supreme Court unleashed corporate power, the media and public "spent the last year talking about Charlie Sheen and Britney Spears, instead of talking about what's really about to destroy our democracy, which is this huge flood of corporate money that is going to put corporations in the driver's seat." If journalists do tell the truth, "they are branded and marginalized as being liberal just for telling the truth."
Devolution of the American Press Kennedy says the the devolution of the American Press began in 1986 when President Ronald Reagan abolished the Fairness Doctrine as a political payback to the Christian right-wing. There was a law since 1928 that said, "the airwaves belong to the public, the broadcasters can be licensed to use them but only if they use them to promote the public interest, to inform the public, to advance democracy". The other rule was to "avoid corporate consolidation, a diversity of control". This second rule was strengthened after 1944 by Congress because, "they saw what Hitler had done", taking control of the media. Kennedy adds, "Now you have 5 giant corporations that control virtually all 14,000 radio stations, all 2,200 TV stations, 80% of our newspapers, all of our billboards, and most of the large Internet content providers. You have 5 guys who are deciding what Americans hear as news. They know no longer have an obligation to serve the public interest, their only obligation is to their shareholders. They serve that obligation not by informing us, telling us the things we need to know to make rational decisions in a democracy, but by entertaining us. So they appeal to our prurient interests of sex and celebrity gossip. So we are today the best entertained, least informed people. They got rid of their investigative reporters - 85% of them lost their jobs in the last 15 years. They got rid of their foreign news bureaus.
Ignorance, Fairness Doctrine, Corporate Money "The Canadians still have a Fairness Doctrine", Kennedy compares. "Fox News can't go to Canada, it's illegal to lie on the air in Canada. So Fox News can't go there". England and Europe also have similar rules. But in America there is no longer such rules and Kennedy says, "We know a lot about Britney Spears' gradual emotional decline and we know a lot about Charlie Sheen, but we don't know much about global warming or the fact that the Appalachian Mountains essentially no longer exist. So much of the media is dependent on corporate money".
Don Blankenship was CEO of Massey Energy during falsified safety records and corruption
Massey Energy Corruption The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is reporting numerous violations, including falsifying records, by Massey Energy Company (acquired by Alpha Natural Resources on June 1, 2011). The MSHA is investigating the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion that occurred in April 2010 in which 29 miners were killed. Massey Energy has a dismal record of uncountable environmental and safety violations (60,000+ from 2000 through 2006 per Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.). RFK Jr. succinctly states, "Corporations do not want democracy, they want profits".
The Last Mountain The corruption and destruction by Massey Energy is chronicled in the film The Last Mountain, which was reviewed in the prior post, The Last Mountain: A fight for our future (Video) *Mountain Top Removal: reducing mountains to rubble*. The Last Mountain is the story of a community that fights back to protect Coal River Mountain and stop Massey Energy. Massey Energy has become "the single most destructive coal mining company in history".
Investigators: Mine Owners Cooked Books on Safety Federal investigators on Wednesday said Massey Energy, the owner of the West Virginia coal mine where more than 29 workers were killed last year, kept two sets of safety records: one for the people working in the mine, another to mislead federal inspectors who came to check on the operation. NBC's Tom Costello reports.
Mountain Top Removal North American ecosystems are already being destroyed continent-wide, but mountain top removal (MTR) coal mining is catastrophic and the ultimate environmental Apocalypse. As Michael Rose in the Huffington Post stated, "Every day the sound made by the detonation of four million pounds of explosives echoes through the West Virginia mountains as a small army of companies wages a war on the ridges laying bare the coal formed over 200 million years ago. Like all wars, even environmental ones, there's collateral damage." Taking the tops off mountains is a violent business and all is laid waste. No semblance of the original ecosystem remains once it is blasted to pieces: no rocks, no water, no trees, no plants, no insects, no wildlife. The damage is mind-boggling, it is estimated to-date that mountain top removal coal mining has destroyed 500 Appalachian mountains, 1 million acres of forest, and buried 2,000 miles of streams. There are hundreds of leaking, spilling, and poisonous coal sludge impoundments, of which Massey Energy alone has created 300+. There is also the air pollution from the explosions and mining and those carcinogenic particles ultimately settle for miles around at homes, communities, forests, streams, lakes. Mountain top removal coal mining results in unimaginable debris and toxic waste.
Reducing Mountains to Rubble In the trailer below, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. describes the magnitude of explosives used in mountain top removal coal mining as, "the explosive power of a Hiroshima bomb once a week". Massey Energy Company (acquired by Alpha Natural Resources on June 1, 2011) has become "the single most destructive coal mining company in history". Massey Energy has a dismal record of uncountable environmental and safety violations (60,000+ from 2000 through 2006 per Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.). RFK Jr. succinctly states, "Corporations do not want democracy, they want profits". The Last Mountain is the story of a community that fights back to protect Coal River Mountain and stop Massey Energy.
The Last Mountain - Official Trailer The fight for the last great mountain in America's Appalachian heartland pits the mining giant that wants to explode it to extract the coal within, against the community fighting to preserve the mountain and build a wind farm on its ridges instead. The Last Mountain highlights a battle for the future of energy that affects us all.
