Mountaintop removal:
Why are both Ohio’s U.S. Senators being evasive?


Ohio Senators George Voinovich, left, and Sherrod Brown, right, last December.
Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow stands between them.

In recent weeks, Ohioans have sent 5,360 handwritten letters and other messages to U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, and another 1,661 messages to U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, urging them to co-sponsor S. 696, a bill to ban mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. Here are their replies –

  • Letter from Sen. George Voinovich
  • Letter from Sen. Sherrod Brown

    • Sen. George Voinovich
    Sen. Voinovich’s June 4, 2009, letter correctly identifies H.R. 1310 as the House bill banning mountaintop removal. Then he says, “To date no similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate.” This is not so.

    On March 25, 2009, Sens. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) introduced S. 696, which is similar legislation. The bill was referred to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, on which Sen. Voinovich sits. How could he not know about this?

    Meanwhile, in his letter, Sen. Voinovich not only doesn’t say whether he’ll co-sponsor S. 696, he takes no position at all on a mountaintop removal ban. Why not?

    Sen. Sherrod Brown
    Sen. Brown’s July 1 letter shows he is aware of S. 696. Then he ends the letter oddly: “Should this legislation come before the Senate for consideration, I will certainly keep your views in mind.” The legislation is already before the Senate for consideration, and he could have co-sponsored it any time after it was introduced.

    When he was in the U.S. House, Brown co-sponsored a bill banning on mountaintop removal coal mining. Has something happened since then to make mountaintop removal acceptable to him?

    In his letter, Brown makes two comments on the merits of the issue, the first inaccurate and the second backward.

    First, he says, “Less than five percent of coal mined in the United States is produced through mountaintop mining . . . “ In fact, almost ten percent of coal mined in the United States comes from mountaintop removal mining. Maybe he meant to say that less than five percent of electricity produced in the United States comes from coal mined by mountaintop removal. That would have been a true statement (Source: Dr. Matthew Wasson, Appalachian Voices, http://www.ohiocitizen.org/campaigns/coal/workbook.xls).

    Second, Brown writes, “…with the current state of our economy, we have an obligation to ensure environmental concerns are properly balanced with the urgent need for job creation.” This is the classic all-purpose brush-off. On the mountaintop removal issue, it makes no sense. Coal companies use mountaintop removal precisely because it destroys jobs. Instead of paying hundreds of miners to work in a conventional underground mine, the coal company pays a couple of dozen workers to blow up the mountaintop. If Sen. Brown’s main concern is to protect Appalachian coal jobs, he should co-sponsor a ban on this job-killing practice.

    It is more important to find a way forward than it is to understand why Ohio’s Senators have been evasive so far. Here are two steps we suggest:

    1. Talk to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN). He can tell you why he co-sponsored the bill to ban mountaintop removal coal mining, and why this issue is separate and distinct from other energy, climate and coal issues. He’ll tell you that you can favor a ban even if you are a strong supporter of coal, as he is. He’ll tell you that you can favor a ban even if you are opposed to the Waxman climate change bill, as he is.

    2. Go see the consequences of mountaintop removal for yourself. Don’t send an aide, go yourself. Whether you see it from the top of Kayford Mountain or from an overflight, once you have that experience, you won’t hesitate to co-sponsor a ban on this atrocity.

    - Paul Ryder, Organizing Director