Jesus, Whitman sounds like a battered wife. "Sure, he beat me a few hundred times, but he still loves me!"

NewportBarGuy: Jesus, Whitman sounds like a battered wife. "Sure, he beat me a few hundred times, but he still loves me!"

The whole Republican rank-and-file sound like battered wives. :(

I thought WV was a blue state.

"Coal is affordable and coal is available right here in the United States of America," [Bush] said to applause.

Yeah! Fark those hippies and their "green energy" BS. What's wrong with knocking the tops off a few mountains and choking the waterways with waste and debris?

NewportBarGuy: Jesus, Whitman sounds like a battered wife sister. "Sure, he beat me a few hundred times, but he still loves me!"

FTFY. It is West Virginia, after all.

Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: FTFY. It is West Virginia, after all.

good catch.

A lot of "conservatives" are rugged out door types who like to hunt and fish, go camping, or just sit out on the deck grilling and having a beer. Unlike us libs who sit in dark basements on our computers all the time.

"Conservative" environmental policy will eventually haunt those who love it so much. That's justice.

Mordant: A lot of "conservatives" are rugged out door types who like to hunt and fish, go camping, or just sit out on the deck grilling and having a beer. Unlike us libs who sit in dark basements on our computers all the time.

"Conservative" environmental policy will eventually haunt those who love it so much. That's justice.

I'd like to agree, but it farks over the rest of us, as well.

Skail: Mordant: A lot of "conservatives" are rugged out door types who like to hunt and fish, go camping, or just sit out on the deck grilling and having a beer. Unlike us libs who sit in dark basements on our computers all the time.

"Conservative" environmental policy will eventually haunt those who love it so much. That's justice.

I'd like to agree, but it farks over the rest of us, as well.

I have no kids and my health isn't that great. Shaking my fist from the grave is pretty much all I look forward to anymore.

soze: NewportBarGuy: Jesus, Whitman sounds like a battered wife. "Sure, he beat me a few hundred times, but he still loves me!"

The whole Republican rank-and-file sound like battered wives. :(

Baby, I know I hurt you, but this time it's different! Nobody can love you like I can. Now I know I've let you down in the past, but this time, well, this time I promise I'm gonna reduce the size of government in a responsible manner, pay down the deficit, and this time, baby, just for you, I'm gonna make sure them baby killin' doctors are stopped. Just you watch, honey.

Just you watch. Now get me another beer.

Crap, I hear an Arch-Vile!

Soon this will all be a thing of the past and Big Coal will be bankrupt.

The upside is that there will be no more mountain top removal mining. Yes, believe it or not I find the practice abhorrent.

The downside is that damn near the entire state of West Virginia will become a ward of the State.

And the blue states continue to point, and laugh at the red ones.

Serves ya right for being so ignorant, and gullible.

fuzzwell: I thought WV was a blue state.

They just like to pretend that.

They are either:

A red state because after 8 years of the Republicans running our country into the ground they still voted for them.

or

They're just plain racist.

/I've been to WV
//It's the second one sadly.

Reap what you sow and all that.

Maybe they can pray for the mining ops to stop.

Is it worth it?

Bobby Byrd is all for it. Those thousands of people with jobs are thankful for it. Everyone asking for more domestic fuels are all for it.

One wrinkly old assbag thinks it looks like hell. Well, yea. It's West VA dumbass.

That's ok. Wait until Obama shuts down the state when he pushes the carbon tax plan. Coal exports and farming are the main economic engines of the state. It is already right behind Michigan in slowest growing economies, and is 3rd lowest in incomes.

But then being a solid blue state has really helped Michigan.

culebra pretty much nailed it. All you have to do to argue against this practice is show a picture of the aftermath.

Just to drive the point home, find a river at the bottom of the hill. Go to the first town downstream. Ask the locals what's up.

Check this out if you have the time. It's disturbing to say the least. (new window)

Ironic, ain't it?

Gosling: culebra pretty much nailed it. All you have to do to argue against this practice is show a picture of the aftermath.

Just to drive the point home, find a river at the bottom of the hill. Go to the first town downstream. Ask the locals what's up.

They're busy working at the mine.

Red state West Virginia wakes up to discover that Bush's environmental policies have turned their once beautiful state into Hell on Earth T-Shirt

Sounds like an improvement for WVA to me!

The balance on that article is so incredibly off.

It acts as if up till Bush coal was picked up off the ground and nobody had to dig it up.

Well over half of the United States' energy production is from coal. It's been that way for a long time. It'll be that way as long as we have an anti-science administration in the US that thinks nuclear power is the worst form of energy.

But I'm sure those died in the wool Democrat coal miners hate Bush for pushing coal and can't wait for Barack to put them in the unemployment line.

Last time I was in WV, the place was a total hell-hole already. Let's not overreach when applying blame, yeah?

And before someone gets their panties in a know... I mean "electrical generation" when I say "energy production"

Mrbogey: died in the wool

Ignoramus.

It'll be that way as long as we have an anti-science administration in the US that thinks nuclear power is the worst form of energy.

Source?

Dancin_In_Anson: Soon this will all be a thing of the past and Big Coal will be bankrupt.

The upside is that there will be no more mountain top removal mining. Yes, believe it or not I find the practice abhorrent.

The downside is that damn near the entire state of West Virginia will become a ward of the State.

Reduced to less obviously plant-destructive mining techniques? Sure.

Bankrupt? Not bloody likely. That's like 2/3 of our power generation, plus used in metal smelting.

Also, "turned into"? It's been a coal mining state since the first railroads were laid in the area.

Jim_Callahan:
Also, "turned into"? It's been a coal mining state since the first railroads were laid in the area.


If you read TFA, it's talking about mountaintop removal. That is relatively new, compared to underground mining.

Coal Slurry Injection (new window)

For all of the people feeling smug and superior over how much they hate West Virginia, I'd like to remind you that it is one of the most beautiful places in the United States. I can't speak for the people. Many of them, quite frankly, suck, and the rest have been adversely affected by centuries-old poverty. But the landscape - the part of West Virginia that the non-failures in the state love so much, and which the natural world kept pristine for us for all the millions of years it took to create it - that is what the Bush legacy has helped to destroy.

John Denver loved the place. Think, for a moment, about why.

Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains growin' like a breeze.

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads.

All my mem'ries gather 'round her
Miner's lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye.

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads.

I hear her voice in the mornin' hours, she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
And drivin' down the road I get a feelin'
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday.

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads.

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads
Take me home (down) country roads
Take me home (down) country roads.

Malbar: Holy shiat, you mean taking coal from the earth doesn't leave the earth looking exactly the way it did beforehand? That's crazy!

Next you'll be telling me those pretty colored birthday cakes don't grow on trees looking exactly like they do in the bakeries!

It isn't only about the aesthetic aspects, fool.

Yes, this is sad. Yes, Bush is an asshole. But to try and pin the whole mountian on him is dishonest at best. Other articles on the subject include the fact that they started mining this mountain in 1986. Did we just notice today that it is gone?

Dupa: Yes, this is sad. Yes, Bush is an asshole. But to try and pin the whole mountian on him is dishonest at best. Other articles on the subject include the fact that they started mining this mountain in 1986. Did we just notice today that it is gone?


This is a good point. However, it should be noted that there was a real expansion in the sector after the change of certain regulations early on under the current administration. It's been quite a while since I've looked into this, but what I remember is changes in the so-called "fill rule", eliminating rules about proximity to streams, relaxing of regulations dealing with mercury, and a general move towards deregulation. That's off the top of my head. I'm sure someone more up-to-date could rattle off much more.

It's not longer a red state or blue state thing. It's urban versus rural
http://www.esquire.com/features/data/how-obama-won-0209 (new window)

culebra: Mrbogey: died in the wool

Ignoramus.

yea yea yea... I messed up a homonym. I do that sometimes when I'm in a hurry.

Bu.. Bu.. Bu.. but Bush!


I feel like I'm going to be saying this a lot for the next 4-8 years.

Damnhippyfreak: Jim_Callahan:
Also, "turned into"? It's been a coal mining state since the first railroads were laid in the area.


If you read TFA, it's talking about mountaintop removal. That is relatively new, compared to underground mining.

Revelation 6:14
The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

Exodus 24:17
To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

Exodus 19:16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently

Malbar: culebra:
It isn't only about the aesthetic aspects, fool.

That would explain why the linked article, video and majority of comments in this thread are focused solely on how awful it looks, right?


Hm. Maybe you're looking at a completely different article, seeing as there's actually no video associated with it. If you actually take the time to read TFA, it does look at much more, even at Bush's wider legacy in terms of environmental issues.

"Throughout his term, Bush worked to preserve coal's position as the biggest source of electricity and to increase domestic production of oil and natural gas. These priorities have translated into a lasting environmental legacy that includes buried streams in the coalfields of Appalachia, polluted waterways in the Rocky Mountain West and coal-fired power plants that haven't had to clean up."

xuanzhiyouxuan: Damnhippyfreak: Jim_Callahan:
Also, "turned into"? It's been a coal mining state since the first railroads were laid in the area.


If you read TFA, it's talking about mountaintop removal. That is relatively new, compared to underground mining.

Revelation 6:14
The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

Exodus 24:17
To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

Exodus 19:16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently

Volcanoes in my West Virginia!

fuzzwell: I thought WV was a blue state.

For presidential elections, WV went for Bush twice, and then McCain.

IIRC - and I hate to "but Clinton" this - this type of mining was allowed under the Clinton administration, though the rules seemed to state it shouldn't be, leading to some confusion. Bush just clarified the rules that this was indeed allowed.

I thought it was everything from buildings to lawn furniture named after the Klansmen, that ruined their state.

You idiots got the government you deserved. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure you've noticed the cancer rates in your cities starting to rise. Arsenic and other carcinogens in your family's drinking water does not a healthy body make. Enjoy!

You see, there's a reason why we instituted these environmental policies all those decades ago. And now you are learning the hard way why we did. Same as regulations on our banking system. There's a reason why it's regulated. Congress wasn't just sitting around a table one day flipping coins and writing collections of random words into law.

"Truly, I think that the Bush administration is responsible for the destruction of one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world," says

What on earth does he mean by "oldest mountain ranges"? I've got some rocks in my backyard that are probably just as old.

Dancin_In_Anson: Soon this will all be a thing of the past and Big Coal will be bankrupt.

The upside is that there will be no more mountain top removal mining. Yes, believe it or not I find the practice abhorrent.

The downside is that damn near the entire state of West Virginia will become a ward of the State.

West Virginia taxes everything, unlike the other red states. They won't be leeching off everybody else like the south.

WV has plenty o' money.

Malbar: culebra:
It isn't only about the aesthetic aspects, fool.

That would explain why the linked article, video and majority of comments in this thread are focused solely on how awful it looks, right?

I just spend a year doing research on ecosystem function with some EPA folks, the water draining those filled valleys is farked, the ecosystem integrity is farked, ecosystem function is farked. It's all farked. You take all of that earth, flip it over, filter water through it and expose it to redox potentials it hasn't seen ever, you get nasty shiat coming out the bottom. So drinking water is farked, not to mention ecosystem services. There's a thing in freshwater ecology called nutrient retention. farking ecosystems results in lots of N coming out, and things like dead zones in the gulf of Mexico are a consequence.

Then there's the whole terrestrial ecosystem. Do we value biodiversity? Do we value natural systems? that's a whole philosophical thing, but if you do then this is bad. If you're fine with a few ubiquitous species everywhere, then I guess this wouldn't matter to you.

etc. etc...

PascalsGhost: West Virginia taxes everything, unlike the other red states. They won't be leeching off everybody else like the south.

WV has plenty o' money.

Really? Where do you get your data?

I'm sure all of those little whiners in WV don't hesitate to make a little cash off of the coal industry in between their little biatching sessions. Someone has to be working the jobs getting the coal from the ground and all of the support jobs that support the industry in the surrounding communities.

Liberals are idiots.