"I think the board and Don Blankenship need to stand up and take responsibility for this atrocious safety record."
-- United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts before Massey Energy's annual shareholder meeting today
In this issue:
1) Take Action: Protect America's Lands and Wildlife from Climate Change
2) Take Action: Protect Appalachian Communities!
3) Enter to Win: Bike-Ku
4) Update: BP Disaster
1) Take Action: Protect America's Lands and Wildlife from Climate Change
The Department of the Interior and a broad array of agencies within the Obama Administration are beginning a bold new initiative. The America's Great Outdoors initiative will help to shape how we protect lands and wildlife in the 21st century. So far, the vision of what America's Great Outdoors will look like has only been painted in broad strokes.
We have the opportunity now to speak up and make certain that the initiative protects our country’s most treasured landscapes and imperiled wildlife and helps them adapt to a warming world.
Make your voice heard today!
2) Take Action: Protect Appalachian Communities!
The science could not be more clear; mountaintop removal coal mining has caused substantial, irreplaceable and irreversible loss of resources. Because of this the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has restricted one of the largest mountaintop removal permits in Appalachia, the Spruce No. 1 mine. The agency is holding the one and only public hearing on the permit today in West Virginia.
Thank the EPA for their action so far and ask them to finalize the veto prohibiting this mine from destroying Appalachia's natural heritage, communities, and water resources.
Protect Appalachian Communities!
3) Enter to Win: Bike-Ku
Sickened by the oil disaster? Ditch your car, write a poem, win a bike! It's National Bike Month and Climate Crossroads is celebrating by hosting a bike haiku ("bike-ku") contest. All you have to do is join the Bicycle group on Crossroads, post a picture, and paste in a well-written haiku.
A panel of Sierra Club bike-commuting staffers will select the finalists. A grand-prize winner will receive a new Breezer bike while two runners-up will get a Nutcase helmet and a Kryptonite lock.
Click here for details.
4) Update: BP Disaster
Efforts to siphon off some of the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico have reportedly been successful, but massive amounts of oil continue to spill into the water as concerns about oil entering the loop current grow. The loop current could carry the spill to the East Coast.
While crews in the Gulf work to stop and clean up the disaster, federal officials are testifying before Congress in a series of hearings this week about their role in the spill and what can be done to prevent another. An independent commission to investigate the disaster is expected to be named by President Obama soon.
Stay updated on the BP Oil Disaster here.
Image Credit: U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Woody Paschall / RELEASED