Daryl Hannah, scientist arrested at W.Va. mine protest
SUNDIAL, W.Va. (AP) — More than two dozen people — including actress Daryl Hannah and NASA climate scientist James Hansen — were arrested Tuesday in the latest protest in a growing civil disobedience campaign against mountaintop removal in Southern West Virginia.
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State Police said about 30 people were charged Tuesday afternoon after they blocked State Route 3 near a Massey Energy subsidiary’s coal processing plant in Raleigh County.
Full AP story here
In a statement distributed by the Rainforest Action Network, whose executive director was also arrested, Dr. Hansen said:
I am not a politician; I am a scientist and a citizen. Politicians may have to advocate for halfway measures if they choose. But it is our responsibility to make sure our representatives feel the full force of citizens who speak for what is right, not what is politically expedient. Mountaintop removal, providing only a small fraction of our energy, should be abolished.
No Jimbo, you are an activist and advocate for a cause.
Note to NASA: Now can you fire this guy?
Meanwhile, back at the RealClimate ranch today, the sound of crickets…
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Sorry. See here for reclaimed land for elk restoration.
http://www.trailsrus.com/elk/reclaimedlands.html
Smokey (17:38:15) :
“Finally, who are you to tell workers in West Virginia that they must give up their jobs to make you happy? I’ll bet you’ve never even been to West Virginia.
I don’t think you would appreciate it if someone came to your town and told you to give up your job simply because they didn’t think you should be doing it.”
Actually, I would go further and say that, for the sake of the over burdened taxpayers, we should close GISS permanently because their “products” are redundant, or could be performed better by other government agencies. Who needs GISTEMP or Model E when you have NOAA and NCAR? Moreover, their offices in NY City are probably some of the most expensive real estate to maintain in all of NASA.
I’m sure Hansen could be reassigned as President Obama’s personal climatologist…or maybe even a climate czar!!
Right, RoyFOMR, Joel is a welcome true believer here. He hasn’t convinced anyone of his [repeatedly falsified] CO2=AGW hypothesis, but I’ll bet Joel would make an excellent next door neighbor. We could lean on the fence, and discuss the weather.
But the central question, as always, is this: does an increase in CO2 translate into higher planetary temperatures?
I’m still waiting for Joel’s article on that one.
RE: Mountaintop Removal
This is a safer and more efficient way to extract the coal.
Reclamation can and usually does return the land to a similar and often greater productivity.
Possibly thanks to minesite runnoff retention ponds the Elk River in south east BC is a trophy trout stream. (it may not be the retention ponds, it could be the selenium).
You need Mega-Pull to get an invite to fish for trophy trout in the tailing ponds at Highland Valley Copper
There have been some interesting reclamation failures. At one copper mine the reclamation failed because the deer ate all the trees. The deer were there because the mine site was a no hunting area and funny two legged animals kept planting succlent young trees.
Back to mountain top removal. Here in BC we call it “Terrain Modification”.
Back to Jim Hansen, he will discouver it was a “career altering experience”.
From a former civil servant
He did not campaign as Jim Hansen, regular guy, but as James Hansen, AGW prophet and NASA genius scientist. “Vote Kerry because he will deal with AGW, which is a problem and I should know, I’m James Hansen”. What would be the point of campaigning as a regular guy?
Don’t waste my time with the censorship BS…this has been dealt with before, he was whining about nothing.
So Hanson is against Mountain top removal….. I wonder if he is against erosion as well?
I mean, after all…. That nasty rain has just about dissolved all of Australia’s mountains over the eons….. We plum ‘got none left anymore. Bad rain. bad!
Please Mr Hanson, Help us. Now that you have banned Carbon dioxide, we need you to move on excessive rainfall…. And it may also be a good idea to halve the effect of gravity…. Think of all the people who fall off mountain tops!
Dave Wendt(17:56:11) :
“I think we should rethink the campaign to have Mr. Hansen removed from office with this bit of history in mind. I suggest that leaving him exactly where he is will make the task of turning public sentiment around on AGW easier to accomplish than having him removed from his public position would.”
I agree. Hansen is gradually descending into a world of delusion and his recent appearances do more harm to the alarmists than to the skeptics.
In regard to the real subject of Hansen’s appearance in WVa, many of the above posts object to MTR because of it’s impact on the environment in general and the local fauna in particular. It’s hard to read some of the extreme environmentalists’ concern for the wildlife without sensing a collateral contempt for us mere humans.
This past week my 4-year old grandson came down with Lyme disease caused by a tick bite. The tick, the carrier of the disease, more likely than not picked up this spirochetal bacteria from the local deer population which has expanded greatly in the Northeast thanks to various layers of protection afforded these seemingly benign creatures. You’ll pardon me if I don’t share the deep concerns of those who would favor the proliferation of the wild animal population over homo sapiens.
“Elizabeth (18:48:55) : Given the observed cooling of the planet, Dr. Hansen should consider a career change. He may have a more lucrative career in environmental activism.”
Not if the letters “NASA” are taken off his name.
Hansen has lost his mind. Is he having problems in his marriage?
did Dr. Hansen meet with Mr. Blankenship or not?
My impression is that ordinary everyday people are no longer impacted by these stunts. In the early days of the enviro movement, it may have made the news, now it only really makes if it is a slow news day. If a celebrity makes an appearance, people are more likely to criticise their dress / makeup than their commitment to the cause (am I just cynical?). My guess is that there are more hippies living up trees now than ever before (google Forestry protests = 326 000 hits). It is a rite of passage.
Now to really get yourself noticed James … http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6548107.stm – that’s what I call dedication to the cause.
I know that coal comes from open cut mines. I enjoy the electricity generated from it. I know cfl bulbs contain mercury and are made in China which must have one of the worst environmental records. I still have to buy them now that the alternatives are phased out in Australia.
I am employed in an industry that uses portland cement – a significant CO2 emmiter in manufacture but we also use flyash from coal fired power stations that helps reduce cement use. It pays my salary and my taxes. I also believe we should tread lightly wherever possible – it is the only planet we have.
As far as 2 deg C of cataclysmic climate change goes, I have always lived in locations where the average temperature is between 18deg C and 21deg C with annual ranges from 0 deg C minimum to 40 deg C maximum and I can assure you it is quite liveable and I perfer the heat to the cold.
Seriously, as long as we live in a consumer driven society that promotes and values on going consumption, there will be steady demand for all things that emit and offend. Those of a more radical outlook will continue to enjoy the benefits that come from participation in this society whilst righteously sniping from the edges. That doesn’t make them the enemy – but it helps us redefine the middle ground.
I really hate to say anything good about Jimbo, but I do applaud him for sticking up for his beliefs. He did this as a citizen, and he had a perfect right to do so.
Hank (20:18:39) :
Hansen has lost his mind. Is he having problems in his marriage?
Enough already. Too many are trying to accuse Hansen of making this a political stunt.
It is scientific from the get go. Daryl Hanna is providing scientific peer review for his works.
She has risked her life coming to support a fellow scientist. Daryl would not risk a blemish on her c.V. for this cause if it fell short in any way.
Move along now.
TonyB (14:57:33) :
…, but please just keep him in the US will you?
Tonyb,
I live outside of Washington, DC. In the USA, each state rounds up their least desirable citizens and elects them to Congress. It at least gets them out of their state and into Washington. Lucky me. 🙂
–Mike
He was Big, now he’s small. Let the scoop be of the same dimension as of the person he has become, doing what he do lately.
I didn’t realize this before now, but now it seems pretty obvious — I surmise that NASA scientist Jim Hansen wants to become a martyr for his cause. Before, I thought he was just a science geek who went near the edge, but I’m thinking now he wants to make it look like others have pushed him to this. Going out in a blaze of glory, being fired from NASA for one civil disobedience or another may be the only step he now feels he can make. Or the biggest statement.
Gordon Ford (19:22:36) :
Surface Mining safer than Underground?
No!
http://www.msha.gov/fatals/fabc2009.asp
Powered Haulage at the surface is the #1 killer these days.
As always, complacency is the enemy, no matter what you are doing.
At a mine, everything is conspiring to kill you, irregardless of what sector you work in. If you screw up, you won’t get a 2nd chance.
Stay alert, stay alive. Safety is everyone’s business.
Quoting oakgeo:
“Does employment preclude activism?”
Commenting:
Yes, it does, if you work for the federal gov’t.
Mike Griffin got canned (I believe) for his refusal to accept the global warming hoax. That much is crystal clear and completely unjustified.
Hansen could be fired for a number of real, legal and justified reasons, but he won’t be.
That much is completely corrupt and abundantly hypocritical.
As I said before, the future of space exploration will be in private industry.
NASA is now a pale image of a once noble enterprise.
[over the top ~ ctm]
Perhaps CO2 enrichment ability will make his brain cells grow a little… 🙂
Mountaintop removal is just the “new rage” term for open pit mining. Open pits have been used to produce needed mineral resources for over 100 years.
The alternative to these are underground mines where miners by the hundreds (or thousands) die worldwide every year.
Open pit mining, in addition to being far safer, is also much less expensive, thus allowing cost efficient extraction of low grade mineral deposits.
Decommissioning of open pit mines in the US, Canada, Australia and other civilized nations of the world is a requirement. While these sites are not likely to be mistaken for natural landscape features by a knowledgeable person, they are not unpleasant to the eye.
Old open pit mines that were not decommissioned in the modern fashion, can be difficult for most to differentiate from the natural landscape features in temperate areas. Less so in deserts and tundra.
Hansen is just using the look of of an operational mine to create an impression that coal mines, in addition to killing the planet with their produce, are ugly scars on the landscape, and thus an environmental eyesore.
Luddites all, Hansen and his minions will not be happy until all the rest of us are removed from the planet. That will allow him and the 10,000 eco-idiots to live quite happily in a stone age existence.
I say drop them off in the remotest corner of the most remote wilderness and let them try and survive without their computers, cell phones, and electric cars. Don’t waste money or time letting them languish in the jails.
I suppose that this is Daryl Hannah best work since “Kung Fu Killer”
If Jim Hansen wants to continue to make a fool of himself, who am I to stop him?
Fools names and fools faces often appear in public places… I’ve always thought that the greatest thing about the freedom of speech and the marketplace of ideas is the sideshows.
Can this guy really be trusted to look at the facts with a skeptical eye (as is a requirement of good science) and to manage the temperature record without biase? If they put realistic evapotranspiration values into ModelE and found it cancelled co2 induced warming for example, would they publish this and put there hands up and say oops silly me?
If they find a station reporting falling temps I suspect it would be investigated as this is “odd” but stations showing warming are assumed “correct” as this is what is predicted?
People with predetermined outcomes in mind will not look at both sides of the data fairly, as their view is skewed. Hansen has proven his view is very skewed and he is as much an environmental advocate as he is a scientist. Though he is welcome to express his personnel views, I only hope they do not effect his work, as there is a definite conflict of interest.
Firing him may be excessive, but an independant review should be carried out to assess whether or not he is capable of being un-biased and independant in his work. If there is a conflict of interest he should be put to pasture somewhere out of media attention.
imapopulist (18:05:42) :
“So I am certain you would feel the same if a government health and human services official was arrested protesting at an abortion clinic?” You’ld be wrong.
“How do you suppose Mr. Hansen can serve as both an advocate and an objective scientist? Rhetorical – he cannot.” I happen to agree. But freedom of expression and assembly are there for everyone. If NASA has policies in place, then they can try to use them… but do you really think alarmists would miss a rallying point like that? A foolish Hansen moment would become an alarmist lightening rod. Scary.
It seems to me that the proper course of action is for the state and local authorities involved with this protest and the arrests that followed to send a bill for the entire cost to NASA. The public call to come and get arrested attracted others to this protest, and Jim H. should get the credit (and bill) he deserves. I really don’t think the citizens of West Virginia should have to pay for it, and as has been pointed out earlier, it’s only his position as a NASA scientist (Formerly a scientist? Should I call him an activist instead?) that enabled him to attract celebrities and others to the protest. If NASA is OK with Jim Hansen’s actions, they should foot the bill. If they aren’t, they should fire him.
West Virginia is not one of the richest states in the USA, and they can hardly afford the cost of celebrities coming in from out of state to waste precious resources. Let NASA pay for the entire cost incurred to the various agencies. If NASA refuses, take them to court.
Dan