The Obama Administration is investigating mountaintop removal permits. Senator Lamar Alexander has introduced the Appalachian Restoration Act, which strengthens the Clean Water Act by prohibiting the placement of mining wastes into waterways. The EPA is reviewing hundreds of removal permits, and judges have begun to nullify dumping permits. We applaud these efforts to curtail the destruction of Appalachia and save our resources and environment.

   However, these endeavors are weak. Ultimately, mountaintop removal must be halted to save Appalachia and help reverse the effects of this environmental scourge. In addition, permanent policies must be put into place to restrict all toxic wastes, regulate the natural gas industry, and restrict logging in order to protect our waterways, air quality, and communities. For the sake of preserving Appalachia and stopping global warming, we demand that these
policies be instituted now.

   The Appalachian Mountains must not be sacrificed for cheap energy.

    Imagine you are on a space station that has been thrown out of orbit.  You are now hurtling through space with no outside resources.  Your tiny little home has only a limited ability to produce food, oxygen and energy.  How would you respond?  Would it be fair that the wealthiest member of the crew be allowed to eat as much as (s)he wanted?  Would it be fair (or responsible) that this member also was allowed to consume energy without regard for the other members of the station?  Would you vote to systematically dismember the station to burn for fuel?  Or would a better solution be to assess the realistic capabilities of the station and adjust everyone's consumption accordingly? 

    Welcome to Planet Earth.  We are all passengers on a tiny blue spaceship that has only a finite ability to be mined, farmed and burned.  This planet is the life support system for all its inhabitants.  This includes life forms other than simply humans.  The good news is that the earth is a beautiful machine with the very special ability to provide all that we need to survive- if the system is kept in balance.  The bad news (for humans) is that this system will ultimately balance itself.  If we cannot learn to keep our consumption in check, Nature will remove us from the equation.  Cancer is the uncontrolled reproduction and growth of cells in a living organism.  Cancer thrives by producing more of itself and consuming its host at a rapid pace.  Ultimately, however, it consumes so much that it kills its host and then dies with it-Nature always keeps consumption in balance.

    Members of industrialized nations have succumbed to an Entitlement Mentality.  We believe we are entitled to consume all the resources we want.  I have often heard people say they feel they have the right to use as much electricity or gasoline as they choose, if they can afford to pay the bill.  This is wrong and blatantly irresponsible. Here is the simple truth: The consumption of energy is no one's right.  It is everyone's responsibility.  Basic human rights do not include the right to unbridled consumption of any form of energy or resource- especially that which comes from finite sources.   

    The true cost of all fossil fuels is not the price we pay at the pump or the power meter.  Gas pump and power meter prices don't reflect the cost of environmental degradation.  These costs are only now being realized because of global warming, oil spills, war for control of resources, coal slurry/ash spills and adverse effects on the health of individuals who live and work in areas where energy sources are produced.

    Renewable energies are perceived as inadequate primarily because of the projections of supply vs. demand.  At this point, renewables cannot meet the demand.  So how do we solve this?  Our first response is to build more power plants, mine more coal, split more atoms and drill for more oil (all for the comfort and ease of the wealthiest passengers on Planet Earth).  The better solution is to attack the supply/demand equation from both ends.  Rather than simply find ways to produce more energy, we need to find ways to REDUCE our consumption.

    Every day we are inundated with complaints that renewable energy is too expensive, not able to meet the demands placed on the grid, etc. ad nauseam. We have misconstrued the notions of Need for Want.  We have come to believe that we need all that we want.  Our priorities must be re-evaluated.  We do not need to consume with impunity. We do need clean energy because we need clean air and clean water.  We do need to take our role as stewards of this planet seriously.

   There are as many solutions to the energy crisis as there are people who consume that energy.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle- this is our Mantra for Survival.