[Pen-l] Obama and mountaintop removal

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Although I have become somewhat inured to Barack Obama’s eagerness to 
continue with much of the agenda of the second Bush term, I felt an 
almost virginal sense of being violated by his latest thumb in the eye 
of the Democratic Party base. I am speaking of his giving the green 
light to 42 more mountaintop removal permits, thus proving his fealty to 
arguably the most viciously anti-environmental segment of American 
private enterprise.

So disgusting was this action that even Daily Kos, which tends to grovel 
at Obama’s feet, was forced to take notice. Dgil, a Kos contributor, 
directed his or her readers to a Los Angeles Times article that broke 
the story:

	With the election of President Obama, environmentalists had expected to 
see the end of the “Appalachian apocalypse,” their name for exposing 
coal deposits by blowing the tops off whole mountains.

	But in recent weeks, the administration has quietly made a decision to 
open the way for at least two dozen more mountaintop removals.

	In a letter this month to a coal ally, Rep. Nick J. Rahall II 
(D-W.Va.), the Environmental Protection Agency said it would not block 
dozens of “surface mining” projects. The list included some 
controversial mountaintop mines.

Dgil added his own two cents at the end of the post:

	So why has the current administration quietly moved forward with a huge 
expansion of an ecologically destructive mining process? The end result 
is expansion of an energy source campaigned against, and whose 
additional mined energy output can be created in ways with little (wind) 
or no (hydro) additional environmental impact.

	The gist of the LAT article is that this decision was made for the 
crassest of reasons-political expediency to get votes. Additionally, why 
would an administration that has positioned itself as determined to move 
forward on trimming atmospheric carbon emissions, purposefully expand 
the production of highly polluting coal? What benefit will this actually 
bring the residents of this area? More health problems? A devastated 
ecology? Destroyed recreational opportunities?

With all due respect (well, maybe half respect) to Markos Moulitsas and 
company, the real goal is not to get votes. Instead, this decision would 
have been made even if it cost votes. Obama’s calculation was, is it has 
always been, to act on behalf of the interests of the bourgeoisie, if I 
might put it in such crass, unrepentant terms. It goes along with 
putting a shiv in the back of UAW workers, bombing civilians in 
Afghanistan, catering to Goldman-Sachs and all the rest. It is called 
capitalist politics and acts independently of the wishes of the gullible 
voter.

full: 
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/obama-and-mountaintop-removal/
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