Help Stop a Coal Mine in Arizona
We've just gotten some news in from one of our coalition partners, the Black Mesa Water Coalition (BMWC) in Arizona. The Office of Surface Mining (OSM) has re-opened the public comment period on a Peabody Coal Company coal mine expansion plan in Black Mesa, Ariz.
The comment period for the mine's environmental impact statement (EIS) is too short (only 45 days long, it closes on July 7th) to be able to garner enough comments from nearby affected Native American tribes. The draft EIS also switches the details of the mine expansion plans since the first comment period was open in 2006 -- and the new plans aren’t entirely clear.
Your comments will help -- BMWC has a take action page where you can learn a lot more about the issue and send in comments to the OSM asking that the agency "grant an immediate suspension or, in the alternative, an indefinite extension of time in which to comment on the 'reopened' Black Mesa Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement."
According to BMWC, "In 30 years the Black Mesa mine has contributed an estimated 325 million tons of CO2 to the atmosphere. If Peabody's Black Mesa Project is permitted, coal from the Black Mesa mine could potentially contribute an additional 290 million tons of CO2 to the global warming crisis."
BMWC formed in 2001 to address the ground water usage of the Peabody Coal Company's coal-slurry operations.
So what are you waiting for? Speak out against coal and speak up for communities affected by the mining practices!
Global Warming's Security Implications
U.S. intelligence agencies released a report last week saying that global warming will cause a number of destabilization effects around the world. Citing the report, the National Intelligence Council's Dr. Thomas Fingar testified at a Congressional hearing on June 25th about global warming's intelligence implications.
From Fingar's testimony: "We assess that climate change alone is unlikely to trigger state failure in any state out to 2030, but the impacts will worsen existing problems -- such as poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership, and weak political institutions."
Click here for the results of the report read during Fingar's testimony (pdf).
Satellite Launched to Monitor Global Warming Impacts
Scientists launched the Jason-2 satellite last week, which will "become the primary means of measuring the shape of the world's oceans, taking readings with an accuracy of better than 4cm."
Learn more about the satellite's global warming monitoring on NASA's Jason-2 website.