UPDATE, 3/23/07, via Earthjustice:

I am delighted to brighten your day with news of an important victory in our fight to stop hugely destructive mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia.

Today, a federal judge in West Virginia ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers illegally issued permits allowing mining companies to bury streams under millions of tons of waste.

In September 2005, Earthjustice and the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment went to court challenging five mountaintop removal coal mining permits in West Virginia. We believed that the Corps approved these permits without proper evaluation of environmental impacts - which is in violation of the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Today, the court agreed.

Today’s ruling sets a strong precedent and is a first and important step in stopping this shameful destruction. Thank you for helping to make this possible through your support of Earthjustice.

To learn more about this ongoing struggle and meet the people most affected by mountaintop removal , please visit www.StopMountaintopRemoval.org.

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Via Stop Mountaintop Removal.org:

Mountaintop removal coal mining is destroying Appalachia

Thousands of acres and hundreds of miles of streams and rivers are being permanently demolished while state and federal governments look the other way. The culture and history of Appalachia is disappearing with each mountaintop that is blown away. Mountaintop removal mining is the worst environmental disaster our country has ever known, and it’s time this destructive mining practice ends!

Regardless of where you live, there is something you can do to let your community know that mountaintop removal mining is unacceptable. Help end mountaintop removal mining.

* Send a letter to your public utility commission!

* Send a message to your elected officials!

* Send a letter to the EPA

* Send a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers

Via Earthjustice:

Halt the Sale of Wild Alaskan Wetlands: Save Teshekpuk Lake!

The delicate habitat surrounding northern Alaska’s Teshekpuk Lake, one of the most wild, diverse, and fragile ecosystems in North America, has been protected from oil and gas development as a “special area” for nearly three decades. Until now. . .

Despite the objections of local and international conservationists, Alaska natives, scientists, and sportsmen, the Bush administration has scheduled the first lease sale in the Teshekpuk Lake area for this September.

Please, take action immediately to tell Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne that some places are just too special to be sold to the highest bidder. Oil and gas development in Teshekpuk lake would be a national shame and an environmental catastrophe, and should be canceled.

Hurry! The sale is scheduled for September 27!

From the latest Earthjustice e-Brief:

Save Alaska’s Teshekpuk Lake

Teshekpuk Lake and its surrounding pristine wetlands are designated as a “special area” of the United States federal lands. Since 1977, this beautiful, unspoiled area has been protected and free from large-scale industrial exploitation.

But soon this special area will be sold off – piece by piece – to giant oil companies. In a place where, today, the greatest influence by man is the traditional hunting and fishing activities of Alaska Natives, tomorrow it may be obscured by a web of drilling platforms, roads and pipelines.

Unless we do something about it.

Via Earthjustice:

On August 10, the Bureau of Land Management plans to lease for oil and gas drilling almost 20,000 acres — more than 30 square miles — of roadless lands within three national forests in
Colorado.

Leasing these areas for development would pave the way for road construction and drilling activities that could damage the wildlife, watershed, hunting, fishing, and recreational values found there. Leasing would violate Forest Service commitments and undermine the efforts of a statewide task force that will make recommendations to Colorado’s governor on whether and how to protect Colorado’s 4.4 million acres of roadless forest.

Tell BLM and the Forest Service not to lease Colorado’s roadless forest!

Of course, you can also do so without decrying the “damage” that road construction and drilling would do to the “sports” (*cough, cough*) of hunting and fishing. Gotta be careful with those enviro/animal welfare alerts!

Via Earthjustice:

Help Reduce Mercury from Cement Kilns!

Across America, more than 100 cement plants spew a continuous stream of pollution into the air we breathe, releasing huge amounts of mercury and other toxic pollutants into the environment.

This past February, more than 11,000 Earthjustice supporters sent emails to the Environmental Protection Agency, calling for stronger protections against mercury pollution from cement kilns. This public outcry spurred EPA to reconsider its minimal approach to regulating some of the biggest sources of mercury pollution.

The agency recently published a revised rule limiting toxic pollution from cement kilns, but more can still be done. Now is the time to continue the pressure and send EPA a message: Mercury pollution from cement kilns has got to stop!

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Earthjustice - action [at] earthjustice.org
Date: Jul 11, 2006 5:28 PM
Subject: Don’t let EPA allow polluted pumping

Transferring dirty, contaminated water into drinking water supplies poses grave public health threats, and under the Clean Water Act is illegal without a federal permit.

But now, the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a misguided rule that would allow polluted water to be dumped into another body of water without a permit or any restrictions. The proposal, if adopted, threatens the health of all of our nation’s waters.

The agency is accepting public comment until July 24. Please tell the EPA that pumping polluted water into clean water without a permit is unacceptable and should remain illegal under the Clean Water Act.

Go to this link to take action: action.earthjustice.org/campaign/water_transfer/

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this:
action.earthjustice.org/campaign/water_transfer/forward/

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-Earthjustice
Because the earth needs a good lawyer
426 17th Street, Oakland, CA 94612-2820

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