Energy Newsroom

Rainforest Action Network Statement on EPA’s New Guidance for Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

Release Date: 
Thursday, April 1, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO (April 1, 2010) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today a major new guidance document that provides the coal industry and coal-state regulators with “clarity” regarding the permitting of mountaintop removal coal mining. This comes just days after the EPA blocked the Clean Water Act permit for the Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County, the largest mountaintop removal permit in West Virginia history. Following is a statement by Amanda Starbuck of the Rainforest Action Network.

Rainforest Action Network Statement on EPA Veto of Spruce Mine Permit

Release Date: 
Friday, March 26, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO (September 10, 2009) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it intends to block the Clean Water Act permit for the Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County, the largest mountaintop removal permit in West Virginia history. Following is a statement by Amanda Starbuck, Rainforest Action Network’s Global Finance Campaign Director.

Activists Risk Arrest with Elaborate Protest at EPA HQ; Demand Immediate Action to Stop Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

Release Date: 
Thursday, March 18, 2010

WASHINGTON- In an attempt to further pressure EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to enforce the Clean Water Act and halt mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR), activists early this morning erected two 20-foot-tall, purple tripod structures in front of the agency's headquarters.

More than 150 People Call on RBC to End Tar Sands Financing at Shareholder Meeting

Release Date: 
Wednesday, March 3, 2010

TORONTO—More than 150 people gathered outside the RBC Annual General Shareholder Meeting today to protest the bank’s leading role in funding the contentious Alberta tar sands. People concerned with the impact of tar sands projects on First Nations, water quality and the climate came from every corner of Canada to ensure that the bank heard the message: ‘stop bankrolling the tar sands.’

More than 40 Rallied at EPA Today; Asking Agency to End Mountaintop Removal

Release Date: 
Monday, March 1, 2010

PHILADELPHIA— As part of a growing movement against the practice of mountaintop removal coal mining, dozens staged a rally today at Philadelphia’s EPA Region 3 building. Those in attendance were asking the EPA to take immediate action to veto new Mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining permits, which Region 3 is largely responsible for. The participants successfully met with EPA representative, Jeffrey Lapp, and delivered a letter to Shawn Garvin, the EPA’s regional administrator.

Prince of Wales Warns Copenhagen that Planet is in Crisis

Prince calls for trees to be at heart of deal, as revolutionary plan to save forest forests and reduce emissions hangs in balance

The Prince of Wales has warned climate negotiators in Copenhagen that the "eyes of the world" are on them and that "our planet has reached a point of crisis", leaving only seven years before "we lose the levers of control" on the climate.

The prince was addressing ministers at the formal opening of the high-level talks. "It is no understatement to say that, with your signatures, you can write our future," he told them.

Prince of Wales warns Copenhagen summit that planet is in crisis
The Guardian (UK)
Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Missing the forest for the trees

Every cloud has a silver lining, right? Well, not in Copenhagen.

As COP15 talks got underway last week, many people thought that a deal on curbing deforestation in developing countries might offer one positive outcome to what looked likely to be an otherwise disappointing climate conference. Now, though, at a time when negotiations for a comprehensive climate treaty have hit a brick wall, talks concerning deforestation appear to be grinding to a halt as well. Can anything be resolved at COP15?

Missing the forest for the trees.
The Nation
Monday, December 14, 2009

Peat and Repeat: Can Major Carbon Sinks Be Restored by Rewetting the World's Drained Bogs?

The logging of palm trees grown atop the decaying peatlands of Borneo and Sumatra helps drive the economy of Indonesia, and this fact alone is starting to make the nation a top global priority for efforts to mitigate the warming climate. The problem is three-pronged: First, cheap pulp and paper produced in Indonesia winds up in the glossy coated products we know as junk mail, luxury shopping bags or children's books. Then, once the original trees are gone, palm oil plantations are often planted in their place.

Peat and Repeat: Can Major Carbon Sinks Be Restored by Rewetting the World's Drained Bogs?
Scientific American
Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Mountaintop removal mining protests going national

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - Activists with Mountain Justice, Rainforest Action Network and other groups planned protests at Environmental Protection Agency headquarters and across the country Friday to demand the end of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia.

An online map showed more than two dozen planned events from California to Maine, including demonstrations at a regional EPA office in Philadelphia and a New Jersey office of JPMorgan & Chase Co., a bank environmentalists say is the biggest financier of the destructive form of strip mining.

Associated Press
Friday, October 30, 2009

New Round of Climate Talks Opens With Stern Warnings

BANGKOK, Thailand, September 28, 2009 (ENS) - United Nations climate change talks resumed today in Bangkok with dire warnings that failure to agree on a post-Kyoto treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions is a matter of life and death.

In Bangkok, negotiators must advance a draft text for December's Copenhagen talks. Government delegates are wrestling with the two key issues, cutting emissions and paying the costs.

New Round of Climate Talks Opens With Stern Warnings
Environmental News Service
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
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