LEFTIST HYPOCRITES UPSET OVER RULE EXPANDING MOUNTAINTOP COAL MINING

THIS IS THE MOST EMAILED STORY IN THE NYTIMES TODAY; NYTIMES:

The Bush administration is set to issue a regulation on Friday that would enshrine the coal mining practice of mountaintop removal. The technique involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the rubble into valleys and streams.

It has been used in Appalachian coal country for 20 years under a cloud of legal and regulatory confusion.

The new rule would allow the practice to continue and expand, providing only that mine operators minimize the debris and cause the least environmental harm, although those terms are not clearly defined and to some extent merely restate existing law.

... The regulation is the culmination of six and a half years of work by the administration to make it easier for mining companies to dig more coal to meet growing energy demands and reduce dependence on foreign oil.

Government and industry officials say the rules are needed to clarify existing laws, which have been challenged in court and applied unevenly. ... Environmental activists say the rule change will lead to accelerated pillage of vast tracts and the obliteration of hundreds of miles of streams in central Appalachia. ... mountaintop mining, which is generally cheaper, safer and more efficient than extraction from underground mines like the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah, which may have claimed the lives of nine miners and rescuers, and the Sago Mine in West Virginia, where 12 miners were killed last year.

... Even with the best techniques and most careful reclamation, surface or underground mining will always generate mountains of dirt and rock, he said.

I GUESS THE LEFTIES HAVE GOT THEIR PANTIES ALL IN A KNOT OVER THIS, AND THAT'S WHY THEY'RE EMAILING TO EACH OTHER.

• LEFTIE ECO-NUTSIES DON'T SEEM TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE USA GETS MOST OF ITS ELECTRICITY FROM COAL.
• AND THEY WON'T LET US DRILL FOR OIL IN ANWR OR OFF THE COASTS OF CA AND FLA.
• THEY WANT TO CHARGE THEIR BLACKBERRY'S AND IPODS AND LAPTOPS AND WATCH THEIR FLAT-SCREEN TV'S, BUT THEY DON'T WANT US TO MAKE THE ENERGY NEEDED FOR THEM TO DO SO.
• THEY EVEN OPPOSE BUILDING MORE NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS.
• THEY HAVE NO PROBLEM BUILDING THEIR HOMES ON BEACH-FRONT PROPERTY, OR SKIING AT RESORTS ON ONCE "PRISTINE" MOUNTAIN TOPS.
• DO THEY THINK LA AND NYC WERE ALWAYS COVERED IN ASPHALT AND CONCRETE?
• BOTTOM-LINE: TO IMPROVE UR LIVING STANDARDS WE MUST CONTINUE TO EXPLOIT NATURE.
• IF THEY LEFT WANTS TO THE USA TO REDUCE THEIR ENERGY USE, THEY SHOULD START WITH THEIR OWN LIVES AND LEAVE THE REST OF US ALONE.