Watch "Coal Country" - Win a Prize!

In November 2009, a documentary film premiered on national television that told the story of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia from the view of those people who live and work in the coal fields.

Mountaintop removal mining is an extremely destructive mining practice that literally blows the tops off entire mountain ranges in Appalachia. The resulting rock, waste and rubble are then dumped into nearby valleys, permanently burying streams. Nearby communities are being destroyed by floods, poisoned water and intimidation from coal companies.

Coal Country is a dramatic look at modern coal mining, telling the impact that coal has had in this region from both the mining companies and the communities affected.

And to give you just a bit more incentive to watch, EarthJustice has decided to offer a small contest:

How to Enter:

1. Watch Coal Country on TV at Planet Green
   
   
2. Answer the five questions below while you watch.
   
   
3. Email your answers to mtr@earthjustice.org by March 22. Include your mailing address if you'd like to receive a complimentary copy of the book Plundering Appalachia, a stunning look at the impact of coal mining in Appalachia. (Limited quantities available. Answer fast!)
   
   
4. If you're one of the first five people to respond with correct answers, we'll make you our Coal Country Champions on our Facebook and Twitter pages!

Coal Country will air on Planet Green this month:

• Saturday, March 13, at 10pm ET
• Sunday, March 14, at 2pm ET
• Thursday, March 18, at 11pm ET
• Friday, March 19, at 3pm ET

(Find out if you get the Planet Green channel)

The five questions to answer:

1. Chuck Nelson is a former coal miner who now fights with local environmental groups to stop mountaintop removal mining. Early in the film, he is being interviewed on his porch and he holds up a gold Bradbury Ring. What did he receive the ring for?
   
   
2. Environmental attorney Joe Lovett has been fighting in the courts against mountaintop removal for over a decade. He's won some important legal victories and continues to fight. He mentions there are two "good laws" useful for fighting mountaintop removal. What is at least one of those laws?
   
   
3. During the film, there is a public hearing packed with both coal company representatives and community activists. One man repeats a saying to the coal miners in the room that the coal companies have always said about their employees. What is this saying?
   
   
4. At the same hearing, coal company supporters are wearing buttons on their shirts and hats. What do the buttons say?
   
   
5. The film spent time with activists in many different parts of Appalachia, including West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. One activist from Meigs County, Ohio said that her county is ranked number 1 in two categories. What are those two categories?

Proposed Tax Could Kill Radio As We Know It

Big, internationally owned record companies are looking to put a new tax on every song played on radio so that they can get richer while local radio stations go bankrupt and up and coming artists are silenced. It is a bad idea, but it will become a reality unless we tell our members of Congress to stop it.

Whether you live in a big city or small town, local radio is important for your community. It’s a community resource that provides jobs, a critical communication path for regional issues, and an opportunity to showcase local talent.

Consider a recent report in Forbes Magazine:

In one corner is the MusicFIRST Coalition, which includes the Recording Industry Association of America, several artist groups and SoundExchange, the folks who collect licensing fees from satellite and Internet radio stations and distribute it in the form of royalty payments to musicians. They say it's not fair that session musicians and others who play or sing on records played on the radio should be denied compensation.

Led by the NAB, broadcasters including Clear Channel Radio, Emmis Communications and National Public Radio have formed the Free Radio Alliance in opposition to the Performance Rights Act. The legislation would require terrestrial broadcasters to pay performance royalty fees. Stations with less than $1.25 million in annual revenue would be allowed to pay a flat fee of no more than $5,000 per year.

It's the old Napster argument all over again. Despite the billions of people that buy records (or CDs, or iTune files) based on music that they hear FIRST on the radio, record companies want to draw blood even sooner by instating an outrageous tax for on-air performaces- a tax that would prevent thousands of radio stations from playing their music at all.

Do what I did, and check out www.noperformancetax.org to help stop the radio tax!

Also, show your support by following StopRadioTax on Twitter.

Bloom Box Hits The Market And Major Companies Are Lining Up To Buy

Boom box? Bloom Blocks? Although it's still wet behind the ears, the interwebs are all aflutter with details about this latest example of brilliant alliteration, and clean energy technology.

Exploiting the willingness of mainstream consumers to go green as long as it saves them some money, the Bloom Energy Fuel Cell allow a typical customer to achieve a 3-5 year financial payback making it an easy and economically sound choice.

These claims have some of the biggest companies in the U.S. lining up to get their hands on their very own "Bloom Box."

According to a recent press release:

Bloom Energy Corporation, a Silicon Valley-based company committed to changing the way people generate and consume energy, announced today several industry-leading customers for its Bloom Energy Server™, a patented solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology that provides a cleaner, more reliable, and more affordable alternative to both today’s electric grid as well as traditional renewable energy sources. The company’s first customers include Bank of America, The Coca-Cola Company, Cox Enterprises, eBay, FedEx Corp., Google, Staples, and Walmart.

During the Bloom Box's official launch on Feb. 24th, it was revealed that Google, one of the pilot customers, has a 400-kilowatt installation at its main campus. Over 18 months, the project delivered 3.8 million kilowatt hours of electricity. Ebay's CEO also told 60 Minutes that his company has saved about $100,00 in the nine months since it installed five Bloom Boxes to power about 15% of its San Jose, CA campus (Care2).

In all the hoopla, it's hard to think about practical issues like cost, but with corporate boxes running between $700,00 to $800,000 a piece, one has to question whether this technology can be adopted on a large scale (think small businesses and municipal power).

Eventually, K.R. Srindhar, the Bloom Box's inventor would like to get the costs down to about $3,000 for a private home, which would be a big improvement on the current $800,000 box.

Skepticism abounds though, as Michael Kanellos, editor in chief of the website GreenTech Media, told 60 Minutes: “People have tried fuel cells since the 1830s. And they're great ideas, right? But they're not easy. They're like the divas of industrial equipment.”