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Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05
April 10, 2008 issue
Carter Pledges To Take Stand
Against Mountaintop Removal
Story by Kathleen McFadden
At a press conference at Appalachian State University last Friday morning, Roy Carter, Democratic candidate for the Fifth District congressional seat currently held by Virginia Foxx, pledged to be a vocal opponent of mountaintop removal if he is elected to Congress.
After talking about the mountain tradition and the ecological importance of mountain streams, forests and wildlife, Carter painted a picture of the devastation in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee where “more than 470 mountains have been decapitated, more than 1,000 miles of headwater streams have been filled, and more than a million acres of hardwood forests have been stripped from an area the size of Delaware, all for the purpose of extracting cheap fuel for coal fired power plants in the Midwest and South, power plants whose pollutants cause premature deaths, hospitalizations for respiratory and cardiovascular complications, asthma attacks and the further deterioration of the forests in our own Blue Ridge mountains.”
Carter continued, “Mountaintop removal is not only an important environmental issue; it is also a family issue. Communities and working families are being ripped apart by this obscene practice. One of the lessons that I learned growing up in a mountain community was that when neighbors are in need, we have a moral obligation to extend a hand of friendship and offer help. I boldly stand with our mountain neighbors for a national energy policy that values people more than profit, respects the land, sustains alternative local jobs, and offers hope for the future.”
“We need a national energy policy that values people more than profit,” Carter said, “and we must not mortgage the future of our mountain communities.”
Dr. Harvard Ayers, professor of anthropology at Appalachian State University, and Dr. Pat Beaver, director of the Center for Appalachian Studies, joined Carter for the press conference and expressed their support for his statement in opposition to mountaintop removal.
“I commend Roy Carter for taking such a courageous position on mountaintop removal,” Ayers said. “Not many political candidates are willing to take on big corporations in the name of the people. Roy Carter has proven that he has the foresight to recognize the impact of mountaintop removal not only on our neighbors to the north, but also on the future of our entire region.”
Beaver reminded the audience that North Carolinians are connected to this regional problem and can be part of the solution.
“I stand with Roy Carter in his opposition to mountaintop removal,” Beaver said. “North Carolina is the biggest importer of coal-generated power in areas outside of West Virginia and Kentucky. All the coal from the Martin County [Kentucky] site went to Duke Power who supplies BREMCO, my home and yours. We are complicit.”
Beaver encouraged anyone who would like to learn more about joining the fight against mountaintop removal to click to www.ilovemountains.org.
Carter faces a primary on May 6 against Diane Hamby of Iredell County. The winner of the Democratic Party primary will challenge Foxx in November.
National Resources Defense Council Issues Action Alert on Mountaintop Removal
Within days after congressional candidate Roy Carter made his statement in opposition to mountaintop removal, the National Resources Defense Council issued an action alert on the same topic. The text of the alert follows:
“The Appalachian Mountains were formed nearly 300 million years ago; in recent years nearly 500 of them have been flattened by greedy energy companies—and many more are threatened by so-called mountaintop removal coal mining. This extremely destructive form of strip mining, happening throughout central Appalachia, flattens peaks, clear-cuts trees, destroys streams and tears apart communities—while fueling coal-burning power plants that worsen global warming, release other harmful pollutants to the air and water and create thousands of tons of solid wastes.
“Instead of extracting the coal from underground, mountaintop removal mining uses very large explosive charges and machinery to remove the mountain from on top of the coal. The leftover rubble that cannot be piled back up is dumped into adjoining valleys and often into streams. Hundreds of thousands of acres of Appalachian land have been and will be affected by mountaintop mining; some mine sites cover more than 16 square miles—nearly the size of Manhattan. Efforts to restore these moonscape-like mine sites have commonly been poor at best—leaving behind vast deforested areas where very little vegetation grows.
“The mining companies have been able to do this dirty work thanks to the Bush administration's weakening of Clean Water Act regulations in 2002, making it easier for mining waste to be dumped directly into Appalachian headwater streams, often burying them altogether. Now Congress is considering legislation that would strengthen the Clean Water Act by restricting that practice—thereby curtailing mountaintop removal mining.”
The NRDC urges opponents of mountaintop removal to send messages this week to their representatives in Congress, urging them to co-sponsor the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 2169) to help end mountaintop removal mining.
Roy Carter for Congress Rally at Watauga High School Saturday
Democratic Congressional candidate Roy Carter is coming to Watauga High School for a campaign rally on Saturday, April 12, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., to speak to Watauga County voters. The rally will be held in the Watauga High School cafeteria. There is no admission charge.
Roy Carter has been a public school educator for over 40 years in Ashe, Wilkes and Surry counties. He has also served as head football coach in these counties. Carter retired from education in December 2007 to devote full-time to defeating Virginia Foxx.
“I am running against Virginia Foxx because her voting record in Congress has been a slap in the face to our young people, to working families, and to farmers in our district,” Carter said. “In Congress, I will never turn my back on the people who elect me serve. I will be the kind of Congressman who will stand up for what is right, tell you the plain truth, and always place the needs of people above politics.”
The Watauga Executive Committee for the Roy Carter for Congress campaign is sponsoring the rally at Watauga High School. Saul Chase, chair of the Executive Committee, invites all Watauga County voters to attend the rally. “This is a great chance for Watauga voters to hear Roy Carter, a candidate who has the strength, vision, and heart to truly represent the people of Watauga County and the Fifth Congressional District.”