A limited license allows the right to use or store water for no more than 5 consecutive years. Use of water under a limited license is subordinate to all other authorized uses
Read MoreA plume of hexavalent chromium made famous by the movie Erin Brockovich is growing and threatening some of the same families exposed to the carcinogen decades ago.
Read MoreSunday, The Register Guard did a front page story on the local battle between homeowners and Oregon Resources, chromite strip miners. The story was notable for bringing up past mining practices of ORC staff and printing the...
Read MoreIt is in the Guard because our local paper can’t always be bothered to inform their readers of all details. In addition to not telling the reader everything they deserve to know to make good choices, The World also took...
Read MoreORC came begging for tax abatement at today’s Coos County Commission meeting and left empty handed, for the moment, at least. After three of the other taxing districts approved over $1M in corporate welfare to the strip...
Read MoreAnother name calling editorial in the July 2, 2010 edition of The World regarding ORC and a recent storm water permit. This week, when word came that the company had received its final environmental permit, an anti-development...
Read MoreOr, in the lyrics of Lenny Kravitz, ‘it ain’t over til its over’. The World in its latest crappily written editorial is trying to reduce the chromite strip mining issue to a game metaphor The score is Miners...
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Such is the state of journalism today that a not for profit organization ProPublica formed to provide investigative journalism for the public good, “reporter Sheri Fink has been honored with a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting for an article published last August in the New York Times Magazine. In addition, reporting by Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber of ProPublica on lax oversight of nursing in California, published in the Los Angeles Times, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, the Pulitzer’s highest honor.”
While I haven’t seen it yet there is a half page ad in both The World and Bandon Western World from Oregon Resources Corp thanking ‘everyone’ for supporting strip mining or words to that effect. Two half page ads… maybe that explains the artful interpretation of qutoes from people like Jody McCaffree and forester, Bob Laport (so far I have heard of no clarification at The World).
Of the many things being revealed as a consequence of the mining tragedy in the Appalachians two things stand out. One, there are claims the local media would not report on mining violations, worker conditions and human rights violations related to the coal industry their readers are so dependent upon for a living. Two, there was a concerted effort on the part of the mining industry and Massey Energy to keep alternative employment industries out of the area thereby keeping the local workforce dependent and beholden to the coal mine to feed their families.
Massey Energy is certainly an extreme example of the lack of regard the mining industry has for its employees but safety failures are rampant throughout the industry. As Jeff Goodell, author of Big Coal points out it is cheaper to pay the fines than ensure employees go home safely. Deservedly, their stock is suffering for that decision. Surface mining also has fatalities and injuries as recorded at Mine Safety and Health Administration
Fur was flying yesterday during the public comment period at the Coos County Board of Commissioners meeting. Moved to the Owen Building to accommodate the crowd the room naturally divided in half with pro-ORC and anti-ORC taking opposite sides of the room. Reportedly, out of town ORC management, Blacklock, Wilson and Garrett were in attendance despite ORC not being on the agenda.
