It's All About the Water

By Carl Galie



When we hear about mountaintop removal of coal, we visualize a devastated landscape, ravaged by what some call “strip mining on steroids”. We have seen the images of mountaintops reduced to rubble, but have we ever stopped to think of the real consequences of this mining practice?

Some view mountaintop removal as a regional problem only affecting a small group of people in the Appalachians and that it should be regulated by the states rather than the federal government. If you look at the larger picture though, you will soon come to realize that mountaintop removal is a national issue that is really all about the water.

The New River is a perfect example. The headwaters of the north fork begin as a small spring located on Snake Mountain near Boone, North Carolina and flows north through Virginia before merging with the Gauley River to form the Kanawha River in West Virginia. On its journey north it passes through some of the most beautiful and diverse ecosystems found in the Appalachians.

The Kanawha River begins in the heart of coal country where many of the headwater streams like the one I found on Snake Mountain have been buried by valley fills with the blessing of the federal government thanks to an executive order by the Bush administration in 2002. By simply changing the “fill rule” in the Clean Water Act by reclassifying mining debris from objectionable “waste” to legally acceptable “fill,” the mining industry was given free rein to dump mine waste and bury over 2,000 miles of headwater streams.


Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that Bush era appointee, J. Stephan Griles, who was the Deputy Secretary at the US Department of the Interior and a former lobbyist for the National Mining Association, placed pressure on scientists and staff to disregard extensive scientific findings conducted by five separate federal and state agencies over four years in preparation for an environmental impact statement for the Office of Surface Mining. He felt that the EIS should focus more on centralizing and stream-lining the permitting process rather than concentrate on the negative impact of MTR.

Many of the scientists involved felt this was a disservice to the public and the heart of the Clean Water Act. Besides being the Deputy Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Griles was also the highest Bush administration official sentenced in the Abramoff scandal for lying to congress.

When will we wake up and understand that political appointees are often given their positions as payback for their support and end up representing special interest groups rather than “we the people.” There is a lot of talk in coal country about how bureaucrats at the EPA are costing jobs, but I can’t help but wonder if the scientists at the EPA were allowed to write and enforce the environmental laws of the land without political interference if this wouldn’t actually create more jobs in the coal fields because coal companies would have to place worker and public safety over profits and hire more employees to comply.

The propaganda machine of the coal industry would lead you to believe that without coal West Virginia would be in worse economic shape than it already is, yet state statistics show that coal production is approximately 7% of West Virginia’s GDP. While the coal industry does provide around 20,000 jobs, many believe that the coal industry has held back West Virginia’s economic growth because of the political leverage it holds over politicians. As long as there is no real competition in the state, the coal industry will continue to enjoy political favors.

Clean water and public health should be above partisan politics. On March 4th, 2009, HR 1310 The Clean water Protection Act was introduced to congress to restore The Clean Water Act to its original intent. As of August 11th, 2010 this bill is still in the first step in the legislative process. Introduced bills and resolutions first go to committees that deliberate, investigate, and revise them before they go to general debate. The majority of bills and resolutions never make it out of committee. This bill and S 696 The Appalachian Restoration Act have been stuck in committee since March 2009, and the possibility exists that these bills may die in committee, especially with any major changes in Washington after the mid-term elections.

A few years ago, while working on a project in eastern North Carolina, there was a push for some industrial development along the lower Roanoke River. Environmentalists argued against the development because of the negative impact it would have on the river. Those in favor of the plant argued that because of the high volume of water flowing down the Roanoke and because water quality was well above minimum government standards there was “room to pollute.” I could not believe someone actually had the audacity to make that statement. For too long we have relied on technology to fix our mistakes. This is an arrogant, misguided line of thinking that we will all pay the price for in the end if we continue down this path.

Contrary to what corporate America would like us to believe “dilution is NOT the solution to pollution.”

Water is the life blood of this planet and clean water is a right we should all enjoy in this country. We should not be held hostage by corporate interests, especially if the laws and environmental impact studies were tainted by political pressure from appointees whose loyalties lie with large corporations. This is not about being conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat. Clean water is necessary for our very existence, and we should all band together to demand passage of these 2 bills, regardless of what party is in power. The only thing our representatives in Washington have done collectively is destroy our trust. It is high time they get the message that they represent us too, not just corporate America.

For more information on:
HR1310http://www.ilovemountains.org/clean-water-protection
S 696http://www.ilovemountains.org/appalachia-restoration-act/




Carl Galie is a North Carolina photographer who left his home in the West Virginia coalfields in 1986 to follow a dream. For the last 15 years Carl has devoted his work to conservation issues. Working with organizations like Roanoke River Partners, The Roanoke River Basin Association, and The North Carolina Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, Carl’s photographs of the Roanoke River basin have helped protect and preserve that region since 1995.

He is currently documenting the vanishing beauty of coal country, focusing his attention on the devastating affect mountaintop removal of coal is having on our nation’s water resources. http://www.carlgaliephotography.com/

* Text and photos copyright Carl Galie

Condor Conservation in The Andes

by Shyamala Rao

I stood at the edge of the northern shore of the beautiful Nahuel Haupi Lake in the Andes and watched the sunbeams light up the ripples over the sparkling blue water and soaked in the glorious landscape of this enormous lake ringed by Andean peaks. I saw a large bird gliding in circles over the lake. The bird was flying without so much a flap of the wings. “What is that, a hawk?” I asked. The guide said “It is an Andean Condor.” I stared at the huge bird in wonder.

This was my first glimpse of a condor in the wild, completely free and unfettered.I watched as the bird flew in circles, higher, ever higher and eventually was out of sight. Clearly this bird was not in search of food, he was flying into the heavens for sheer joy and perchance to commune with the gods. Small wonder that the Incas believed the condors were God’s messengers and that condors fetched the sun and got it to rise every morning.

We set off in the travel coach and as we turned the corner there were tall and forbidding cliffs to the left and the shimmering lake to the right. The guide said these mountains housed the nests of the condors and pointed out to a couple high up on the mountainside, where we thought we saw the birds crouching and peering into nooks, presumably occupied with feeding offspring.

The cliffs were steel grey, dotted with pink, ochre and umber. There was no vegetation anywhere in sight. The bleakness and the immense height of these nesting grounds made me shudder. Wingless and without flight as I am, the very notion of a little chick high up in a nook or cranny on the side of these mountains made me feel faint with the myriad possibilities of danger and mishaps.

The nesting grounds are between 9800 feet to 15000 feet above sea level. I was informed that the female condor lays just one egg in a recess in the cliffs. The male and female birds guard the egg tirelessly until it hatches after 54 days of incubation. Both parents share the duty of feeding the chick. In the second year the chick is taught to fly. This goes on for another year. Only then does the chick fly away to start on its own life. Mating pairs have one chick every other year.

Condors are part of the scavenger family of birds. These birds are the ‘clean up crew.’ They eat carrion which means they find dead animals and consume them. If the scavengers didn’t do this, then the carcasses would rot and fester. The smells would be overpowering. Flies and other insects would be attracted to the decaying matter and would multiply and spread diseases galore. The decomposing material would contaminate the water source and poison everyone. For some reason the scavenger birds have been associated with death in the minds of humans. This is akin to blaming the undertaker for human death. So over the centuries hunting, poisoning and killing these birds has been engaged in with utter abandon.

Andean Condors are the largest of the flying birds on the planet weighing up to 33 pounds, standing 4 feet tall with a wing span of 10 feet. Their habitat is the Andes Mountain range. They have a wattle on the forehead called a caruncle. They often fly 200 miles a day in search of food. After a good meal they can go for a week or two without food and water. This huge bird flies on warm air currents called thermals and can fly to heights of 28,000 feet. When the bird is circling it is riding the columns of thermal currents. On cloudy days when there are no thermals the condors stay grounded.

On January 19, 2010 a formal partnership was signed between the Directors of the US National Park Service and the Argentinian Administracion de Parque Nacionales. The goal is to have these majestic birds soar the skies of North and South America. These birds have an important role in the folklore of the native population in both continents. They are a symbol of power, liberty and strength. They are believed to carry the wisdom of the gods from the heavens to our earthly realm. The plan is to raise the chicks in captivity for a year and then release them into the wild in Argentina. Many more of these glorious birds will soon be gliding in the pristine skies of the Andean Mountains.

Shyamala Rao is a guest blogger on Art for Conservation. She is a wildlife artist living and working in San Antonio, Texas where she is a practicing psychiatrist. Her interest in wildlife was stimulated by a visit to the Serengeti in 2007 and since then she has been putting her feelings about animals onto canvas. She has just begun writing about conservation issues and hopes that by writing and painting she can do her part in helping conserve the glorious diversity of species on this planet.


This post was excerpted from the full article which can be found on her
website: http://www.shyamalarao.com/
Her art can be purchased at www.artforconservation.org/artists/shyamalarao

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Is Your Studio Green?

By Kate Dardine

I’m not talking about color here, I’m talking about eco – and health – friendly. Most of us paint away without considering the ramifications to our own health and the health of the planet.

My intention for today’s Earth Day blog was to write about all the ways that you can “green” your studio. The reason was two-fold: to learn ways that I can, as an oil painter, lessen my environmental impact, and to share that info with you. I naively thought that after typing in a few keywords into Google that I’d come up with enough info to write a book. Hardly. There is very little information out there, and what is available can be ambiguous, contradictory and in many cases, impossible to interpret. But I was determined…

Since I am an oil painter, I decided to start there. I use mostly Gamblin paints. Gamblin has a long history of environmental conscientiousness. Their website contains a lot of great information about studio safety. Their odorless mineral spirits (Gamsol) can be used as both a painting medium and a brush cleaner. Unlike regular turpentine, dirty Gamsol can be recycled with paints at the local recycling center. Of course, it is still made from a petroleum base, which by its very nature has an environmental impact. Dick Blick sells a turpentine substitute made by Eco-House called Orange Turpene which is made from “food-quality ingredients” and no petroleum. However, it still is classified as a hazardous material. I use Gamsol and have never had any problems with it – haven’t yet tried the various orange-based solvents made by Eco-House.

I was interested to learn that the cadmium pigments used to make paint are not considered harmful to humans during normal use. Gamblin does not make their Flake White with lead as other paint manufacturers do. However, they, as do all paint manufacturers, highly recommend that you wash your hands thoroughly after painting, or wear protective gloves.

One product that is icky is one that most oil and acrylic painters use – varnish. The best products I could find are still hazardous, and extreme caution should be used - proper ventilation, clothing, gloves and a respirator are all advised, particularly when using spray. Of course there is no law that says you HAVE to use varnish, but most of us like the extra layer of protection and the way it evens out surface reflection and deepens the colors.

And how about the support you paint on? Take canvas – seems environmentally friendly enough. But was the cotton grown using pesticides? Was the wood harvested using sustainable methods? Where was the canvas manufactured? I found some canvas made from organically grown hemp – but it comes from China. The amount of fuel used in transportation may offset the good of organic and sustainable hemp. You’d think someone in the States would figure that one out. I didn’t find any artist canvas made from organic cotton grown and manufactured in the USA. Maybe as artists we need to start demanding it? I know I am going to mention it to the company I buy most of my canvas from: Signature Canvas in Kansas. They use high quality materials all grown and manufactured in the USA, which is a big plus in my book.

How about wood support? According to the manufacturer, “Ampersand panels are made from FSC certified sustainable US Forest products. We use completely green manufacturing processes that protect the natural environment. No harmful chemicals used, no dangerous emissions for artists.” Ampersand panels come in a variety of surfaces for all types of painting processes, from watercolor and pastel to oil and acrylic, scratchboard and encaustic. They are available at a variety of art supply stores, including Jerry’s Artarama. Worth checking out – I know I’m going to try them!

A quick word on cleaning up after painting. Wipe as much excess paint off your brushes onto paper towel (recycled!) or painting cloths as possible. Swirl your brushes in odorless mineral spirits, wipe off on paper towel or painting cloth. Then use an environmentally friendly soap, such as Murphy’s Oil Soap or one of the brands made specifically for brush washing. (If you paint with hog bristle brushes, don’t use soap and water, as water will cause the bristles to get mis-shapen. Use lanolin lotion instead. Dispose of the painting cloths or paper towels into a metal trash bin with a lid.

You can recycle your solvents like this: Get two glass jars with tight fitting lids. Dirty solvent is put into one of the jars and left to stand overnight. By the following day, the pigment in the solvent will have settled to the bottom of the jar. Pour the recycled solvent into the second jar for reusing. The pigment sludge at the bottom of the jar can then be poured into a separate container and disposed of at any paint recycling center.

Make sure your studio is well ventilated – if possible, cross ventilate with a box fan in one window blowing air out of the studio and a second window open to let in fresh air. Researchers have identified several varieties of houseplants that excel in removing chemical pollutants from the air. Some common ones are philodendron, spider plant, and golden pothos, gerbera daisy and chrysanthemum (mum).

Obviously, there are many more ways to green up your studio and your art work. I’d love to hear from you on what you do to protect yourself and the environment while creating your art! Please leave your tips in the Comments section – thanks!

Here are some links you might find helpful:

http://www.gamblincolors.com/
http://www.ampersandart.com/
http://www.signaturecanvas.com/
http://www.air-purifier-power.com/art-studio-safety.html
http://www.eco-house.com/orangesolvent915.html
http://www.cleanairgardening.com/houseplants.html
http://www.goshen.edu/art/DeptPgs/safety.html

If you have other resources you’d like to share, please do so in the Comments section. Thank you! And Happy Spring!
Kate Dardine is a professional artist and the Marketing Director for Fine Print Imaging.