This rough week for coal continued yesterday, as Rising Tide Boston (RTB) acted in solidarity with those who took a stand at Coal River Mountain, earlier that day. Steve Leer, CEO of Arch Coal, the second largest coal supplier in the U.S., attempted to deliver a public lecture on “clean coal technology” at Harvard University last night. Not only was the crowd less than receptive to the coal baron’s sad defense of coal, the final word was delivered by members of RT Boston.
The Arch Coal rep was a guest speaker in a special series of lectures entitled “The Future of Energy.” As if its some sort of cosmic joke, the lecture series is funded by none other than Bank of America, the largest financial sponsor of coal extraction, and a predominant investor in Arch Coal. Not surprisingly, the lecture contained very little discourse on the feasibility of carbon capture, and served mainly as a defense for maintaining the status quo of centralized and dirty energy production (including nuclear!!!).
After a hour-long excretion of predictable arguments for keeping us addicted to dirty coal, the evening was ended with an enlightening Q&A session. Every single person in line at the mic made a critical comment as part of their question, the first being delivered by a young woman from the coal-fields of Kentucky, who brought attention to the conveniently overlooked issue of coal extraction in Appalachia.
You could almost see the CEO shrink in his cocoon of avoidance and denial, his voice dropping to near inaudible as he delivered each sidestepping non-answer. After getting nailed one question after another, a member of Rising Tide Boston got to ask the last “question,” which ended, “…what gives us the right to gamble the future of civilization on a magic technology that doesn’t exist?”. Oh snap.
As he tried to control the damage, and fashion some sort of response, two other members of RTB walked to the front of the lecture hall and unfurled a banner which read, “The coal bubble is bursting – Clean Coal is a Dirty Lie,” before proclaiming a list of statements on Arch Coal’s investments in “every dirty energy practice in the country.” (Note that the banner included both the Arch Coal logo, as well as Bank of America’s.)
That was the end of the evening’s failed attempt at disinformation. Don’t quit your day job, Steve. No wait, quit your day job.
The whole debacle served as yet another blow to King Coal, a one-two punch after the morning’s inspiring action at Coal River Mountain. And with the capital action and others across the country on the horizon, things are only heating up for Steve and friends. Rising Tide Boston isn’t letting up on Bank of America either, and will continue to stick it to them come Valentine’s day.
The press release, from the laptop of Rising Tide Boston:
Rising Tide Boston crashes talk by Arch Coal CEO
February 3, 2009
Boston, MA – Seven activists from Rising Tide Boston disrupted a lecture at Harvard University being delivered by Arch Coal CEO Steve Leer, who was speaking on the future of “clean coal” technology. The activists attempted to enlighten the coal baron and the lecture attendees on the true cost of coal extraction.
“Arch coal is participating in the destructive practice of mountaintop removal,” says Tyler Kinser, a member of Rising Tide Boston. “How can coal ever be clean when entire communities are being poisoned and displaced by coal extraction?”
“This Harvard lecture series is funded by Bank of America, the single largest financial sponsor of mountaintop removal,” said Kinser, “so it’s no surprise that Harvard is hosting this lecture of disinformation on coal. We decided to balance out the lies.” Bank of America has invested billions of dollars in Arch Coal, according to the website dirtymoney.org.
The guest lecture was received with criticism by the some of those in the packed lecture hall. In the end, every question asked sounded more like a critical comment. Activists from Rising Tide Boston ended up delivering the final word on the matter, with the question “What gives you the right to gamble the future of civilization on a magic technology that doesn’t exist?” As the Arch Coal CEO attempted to avoid the question, two members of Rising Tide walked on stage and unfurled a banner which read “The coal bubble is bursting – Clean Coal is a Dirty Lie,” before interrupting Leer’s mumbling and shouting a list of statements regarding Arch Coal’s “investments in every dirty energy practice in the country.” Activists also distributed literature to attendees as they entered the lecture hall.
“The idea of ‘clean coal’ is nothing more than a marketing term, a myth. It ignores the extraction side of coal’s death-cycle,” added Kinser. “Even if the technology to capture all emissions is perfected and implemented in time to avert climate catastrophe, we will still be sacrificing the people and ecosystems of Southern Appalachia for a few more years of fossil fuel energy.”
Today’s action comes on the heels of an act of civil disobedience carried out this morning at Coal River Mountain, West Virginia, where five activists were arrested after locking down to a bulldozer and backhoe, and more were arrested later that day for delivering a letter to CEO of Massey Energy. Coal River Mountain is slated for a 6,600-acre mountaintop removal site, but local residents have developed plans for a wind farm there instead.
Although the activists made the final argument, words spoken by Leer, of Arch Coal, seem to stand out. ”Absolute power corrupts, but we need electricity.”
For updates, photos and video footage, visit http://risingtideboston.org
“Don’t quit your day job, Steve. No wait, quit your day job.”
Classic. Nice work y’all.
Check out some video footage from the action, here
Arch Coal sold all of their mountain removal valley fill properties in Appalachia a few years back.
Thanks for the update AdmChester, but I’d like to see your reference for that statement.
When the CEO was confronted about mountaintop removal at the talk the other night, he said they have scaled back their “surface mine operations,” but he himself admitted that they still own one surface operation in the Appalachian coal fields. I’m sure for the people and ecosystems being affected by that site, that one is too many.
I’d love to have some resources on Arch’s properties, if anyone knows where to find it!
Good stuff Julia, Deirdre, Marty and other RT Bostoners!!
Adm, just because they sold their mountain removal valley fill properties a few years back, doesn’t change the fact that they destroyed mountains. I hope whoever owns the land now will plant some Mountain Seeds, so that new mountains can grow back.
No, wait….
American scientists agree, Wind is the way to go! SEE:
There is as much wind power potential (900,000 megawatts) off our coasts as the current capacity of all power plants in the United States combined, according to a new report entitled, A Framework for Offshore Wind Energy Development in the United States, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, and General Electric. http://www.capecodtoday.com/news246.htm01/01/09
Solar has great support too! SEE:
If the U.S. had chosen to be a moral people, and leaving Iraqi oil alone, and following Al Gore, decided to develop the South Western deserts, with the technology of the times – solar/thermal-molten sodium – electricity installations, for the same amount of money as that war cost, ($650 Billion), today, we would be tapping into the largest, renewable, sustainable, energy source the world has ever known. It would have paid every energy bill in the U.S.A. for maintenance fees only – FOREVER! It would be equivalent to an oil field that can NEVER run dry! Low cost electric power, and storeable hydrogen gasoline replacement from the electricity, for all!
After the millions of murders, and $650 billions of dollars, borrowed from our children’s futures and pissed away, with thousands of our own and others maimed and disfigured for life, millions of families utterly destroyed, ours and theirs, we are no closer to Iraqi oil production than the Iraqis are!
The next time you hear a blithering idiot spoiled brat, drunken, drug addicted, sociopath, rich Arabic saber dancing daddie’s boy oilman, stand at a microphone and threaten YOUR safety with someone ELSE’S weapons, remember what you lost America, remember, and weep! (also see http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan)
Bio-Diesel has Universities support! SEE:
Algae can produce oil. Estimates using today’s production techniques are 400 gallons per acre. The University of New Hampshire is exploring ways of forced production of algae for biodiesel that is yielding 10,000 gallons per acre and uses salty water. Their calculations show that a tiny area of the Sonoran desert in New Mexico (about 9%) would be enough area to produce all of the transportation fuel in the U.S. using their production techniques. Already, one company is experimenting with algae production stations at a power plant to capture the CO2 from the exhaust and use it to make algae for biodiesel. http://www.itsgood4.us/biodiesel.htm
Sweden biogas Runs Buses, cars, trucks!
SvenskBiogas, which produces, distributes and sells biogas for transportation in eastern Sweden. Each year the company takes 50,000 tons of a stomach-churning mixture of slaughterhouse waste, human waste and seized alcohol and turns it into clean-burning biogas. See: http://www.sweden.se/templates/cs/Article____14363.aspx
Download this Movie before voting nuclear, and remember: All forms of nuclear are one engineering error from Armageddon!
Chernobyl Movie
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5384001427276447319
And for the sake of those suffering hardship in these trying times:
Please donate your old boxes to a church-group or some needy student in these hard times! To comply with the law, and with Microsoft’s leasing policy, you can now replace Microsoft OS with the free (download from the net) Ubuntu OS, which can be set to erase the hard drive of all traces of the “illegal to give away ” Microsoft system and your private information, before donation! Now, explain to your lucky recipient that all the manuals they will ever need are available for free on the internet! Just ask for them in Google! OpenOffice, which is installed already is plenty adequate for homework assignments and with a little exploring, everything else can work well too! Happy computing!