Power Shift Blog

Coal burning is to the environment what cigarette smoking is to the body, a point brought home as the Tennessee Valley Authority's power plant ruptured in eastern TN. The amount of gunk spilled is about 100 times larger than the mess from the Exxon Valdez disaster. Gray sludge has spread across 300 acres, buried a dozen homes, left residents anxious about the safety of their water supply and, hopefully, opened Americans' eyes about the dangers posed by our poor energy choices. Especially as it relates to coal.

I'd like to propose a New Year's Resolution-- this year, let's try to not dump a billion gallons of toxic coal sludge on anybody's hometown. I think we can do it.

Ken Salazar, Pres. Elect Obama's choice for Secretary of the Interior, could make a difference. He can set new precedent, simply by hiring staff without ties to the coal and oil lobbies. The Bureau of Land Management, which will fall into Salazar's purview, has a say in who gets to mine coal on public lands.  Curtail coal mining, and power plants will inevitably have less to burn.

As the holiday season comes to end, we are thankful for family and friends and all the blessings that make life worth living. But as we mark the beginning of a new year, we also know that America faces great and growing challenges—challenges that threaten our nation's economy and our dreams for the future.  Nearly two million Americans have lost their jobs this past year—and millions more are working harder in jobs that pay less and come with fewer benefits.  For too many families, this new year brings new unease and uncertainty as bills pile up, debts continue to mount and parents worry that their children won't have the same opportunities they had.

On December 19 Utah resident Tim DeChristopher took creative and effective action to disrupt an auction that was selling off oil and gas leases on hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in Utah. As around 100 concerned citizens rallied outside opposing the opening up of wilderness areas to the oil and gas industry, Tim entered the auction and started bidding. Time and again he outbid the speculators, and when he failed to outbid them he managed to drive the price way up. According to local news reports he “caused chaos” in the auction room, costing companies hundreds of thousands of dollars and  prevented 22,500 acres of land from being developed for fossil fuel extraction (at least for the time being). Tim’s actions were extremely effective at throwing a wrench in the works of the oil and gas industry and he is to be applauded.

Unfortunately, federal agents were not as sympathetic and detained Tim for a couple of hours. He may be facing federal charges in which case he will need our support. You can follow the link below to donate to his legal defense.