Foreign Policy Blogs

Mountaintop Removal Mining – Update

The excellent “Green Energy Reporter” had an item noting a new study on mountaintop removal mining and Stephen Colbert’s take.  There are huge environmental and health impacts associated with coal mining, as I’ve noted a number of times, here and here, among others.

Now a group of scientists, led by the University of Maryland’s Dr. Margaret Palmer, recently presented “…extensive scientific evidence of permanent environmental damage and risks to human health…” in one particularly pernicious coal-extraction method:  mountaintop removal mining.

Here’s Stephen Colbert riffing on MTR mining and talking with Dr. Palmer.

The Colbert ReportMon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Coal Comfort – Margaret Palmer
www.colbertnation.com
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Author

Bill Hewitt

Bill Hewitt has been an environmental activist and professional for nearly 25 years. He was deeply involved in the battle to curtail acid rain, and was also a Sierra Club leader in New York City. He spent 11 years in public affairs for the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, and worked on environmental issues for two NYC mayoral campaigns and a presidential campaign. He is a writer and editor and is the principal of Hewitt Communications. He has an M.S. in international affairs, has taught political science at Pace University, and has graduate and continuing education classes on climate change, sustainability, and energy and the environment at The Center for Global Affairs at NYU. His book, "A Newer World - Politics, Money, Technology, and What’s Really Being Done to Solve the Climate Crisis," will be out from the University Press of New England in December.



Areas of Focus:
the policy, politics, science and economics of environmental protection, sustainability, energy and climate change

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