Sen. Robert C. Byrd aides studying mountaintop removal mining (BLAST, BABY, BLAST!)

Daily Mail ^ | 6/16/09

[Libloather]

Byrd aides studying mountaintop removal mining
by The Associated Press
Tuesday June 16, 2009

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Aides to Sen. Robert C. Byrd are in southern West Virginia for what they call a three-day fact-finding tour about mountaintop removal mining.

**SNIP**

But the West Virginia Democrat issued a statement Tuesday saying his aides will see mountaintop mining operations firsthand. They will meet with coal industry officials, environmentalists and citizens.

They'll also inspect flood recovery efforts and talk to people about fears that mining may have made the damage from the spring floods worse.

Byrd says the Obama administration's plan to increase federal oversight makes it imperative that he be well-informed.

[Libloather]

Byrd also thinks Hussein's czars are unconstitutional. If he passes suddenly, you'll know why.

[popdonnelly]

Apparently, despoiling the environment is okay if you’ve got the right political connections.

What a corrupt farce our government is becoming.

[org.whodat]

West Virginia Democrat issued a statement Tuesday saying his aides will see mountaintop mining operations firsthand.

Sure he did, I'd bet he don't know his As@ from his elbow, just nods and grins.

[St. Louis Conservative]

How’s this going to go over with communists like Waxman, Markey, & Boxer?

[GOPsterinMA]

Sheets might be the saving filibuster vote against some of Barry's radical agenda. Wow. Maybe, just maybe he can make up for many of the evil deeds he performed through the decades now that he's most likely at the end of the line.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Every night I shall pray that he keeps breathing.

[2harddrive]

Will WV end up as flat as Kansas? LOL.

[nufsed]

Too late. Much of the damage is done.

[GOPsterinMA]

yes - at least until a new Senate is sworn in in January 2011. i doudt the GOP will be the majority, but at least if they are around 44-46 seats, the filibuster becomes the weapon of choice.

if there’s around 44-46 seats, even with remaining RINO’s and additional benedict arlens, there would still be enough votes to filibuster.

[doc1019]

Come on guys, Byrd has no clue were he is, let alone able to make decisions … his handlers are doing all the grunt work and as such, subject to others with stronger minds (term limits come to mind). ;-)

[GunsAndBibles]

Ya think a couple o’ nuke reactors might help save the mountain tops?
Naw... too easy.

[alloysteel]

“Will WV end up as flat as Kansas?”

Not until every grain of coal is sucked out of the ground there.

Coal is actually one of the most concentrated chemical energy storage media we have available. The difficulty lies is extracting it from the earth.

Simply scooping off the overburden, and using a dragline to haul the coal up into a waiting gruck or even railroad gondola car, is the fastest way to get this “black gold” out to where it cn be used efficiently. There are ways of combusting coal that extract the maximum number of BTU’s opf energy from it, using a method called the “Fischer-Tropsch” process, converts the coal into a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, “Syngas”. This product may be burned directly to generate power, or it may be used to synthesize a number of other hydrocarbon products. A blast of superheated stean is sent at a quantity of coal that has been converted by destructive distillation into coke and the volatiles collected and condensed to a number of industrial products.

This is not new science, the Germans were doing this a century ago, which is what fueled the German industrial plant from about the time of Bismarck onward. Their industrial might before both the First World War, and later before the Second World War, was fueled almost exclusively by the vast quantity of coal they were mining in the Ruhr and the Saarland. German chemists in those years were unquentionably the best in the world, extracting miracles from the humble lumps of coal on an almost daily basis. BASF, Bayern-Analin-und-Soda-Fabric, and Krupp steel mills provided the converted materials that helped drive the German industrial complex, and provided them with the expectations they could subdue any and all of their neighbors.

But as a sop to the “Greens” in Germany (and Adolf Hitler was VERY much an environmentalist), the forests were groomed and kept in pristine condition by large crews of dedicated specialists that made sure the debris from the coal mining operations was re-incorporated into the soil in such way that plant growth would not be adversely affected, and the lush green plants could absorb all the carbon dioxide produced by the combustion of the huge amounts of coal that were mined annually. Were some of their cities sulfurous and smoky? Not as much as you might think, as they were becoming very good at recapturing and extracting most of the serious pollutants in the stack discharge, even turning the fly ash into building blocks.

Until they got bombed flat in 1943 and 1944 and 1945. That put a pretty serious drain on their economy.

[Rebelbase]

“Byrd also thinks Hussein’s czars are unconstitutional. If he passes suddenly, you’ll know why. “

Yeah, being 90+ years old will have nuthin’ to do with it!

[Mrs_Stokke]

Given that Byrd has been hospitalized for most of the past month, this is a pretty good trick.

[VanShuyten]

I’ve seen a couple of those reclaimed mountaintops, and I wouldn’t mind having a couple of flat acres on the top of a WV ridge. Except for the years it takes for the runoff to calm down enough so that the local streams run clean again, they look like nice places to make a homestead.

[ak267]

I think the Soviets tried that once....ONCE. The problem is that the ore becomes radioactive....dohhhhhh.

[BlueDragon]

The problem is that the ore becomes radioactive....dohhhhhh. Interestingly enough, there is already some small amount of radioactivity naturally existing in coal.

But then again, there is natural radioactivity in red brick. And basaltic rock. And common shales...and granite, and etc...

For starters---

Radioactive Elements in Coal and Fly Ash: Abundance, Forms, and Environmental Significance

[WVKayaker]

Apparently, despoiling the environment i

I've been in land development and sales in WV for years. I have sold lots of acres of "reclaimed mountaintop". The "despoiling" claim is ludicrous, except for enviros! The land is in better shape than when they started digging. It is usable, rather than just a pile of rocks.

There were trees, grass, and lots of open area to play. There were streams flowing, and runoff is still the same. Water still falls where it did before, and so do the streams.

There are lots of opinions about this stuff, but few have facts to back their claims. The environment" is Earth. We are part of it, too, and use it to our advantage! As A christian, I accept the Word of God, that it is CREATED for "our pleasure".

I've "been there, done that". I've driven four-wheelers on them. I've camped on them. The new owners LOVE them! Your mileage may vary!

Here's some "despoiled reclaimed places"...

[WVKayaker]

“As a Christian...” (fingers AND MIND still numb this morning!)

[Retired COB]

Will WV end up as flat as Kansas? LOL.

If you level us out we're bigger than Texas!

[2harddrive]

LOL! That’s a great reply!