![\"coal](\"http:\/\/planetsave.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Steve-Beshear.jpg\" "\\"Steve")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe influence of coal money on politics is more than a shame — it’s a crime. But politicians seems more or less immune to paying the consequences of their criminal action. To help bring more attention to their criminal behavior though, there are always (well, sometimes…) activists!<\/p>\n
“In Kentucky, a state where mountaintop removal has destroyed\u00a0more mountains<\/a>\u00a0than in\u00a0any other state<\/a>, protesters have staged sit-ins at the governor\u2019s office and the statehouse throughout the year,” Think Progress reports<\/a>. “Those activists visited the office of Gov. Steve Beshear (D) again [Tuesday], this time hoping to deliver a little holiday cheer and\u00a0a few gifts<\/a>\u00a0for the governor who trumpeted his support for mountaintop removal and opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency during his re-election campaign in 2011.”<\/p>\n The protesters waited for the Governor for hours and a Lexington teacher\/activist dressed and a merry but disapproving Santa Clause was set to present the governor with lumps of coal and switches. (Though, the governor and his Lieutenant Governor, Jerry Abramson, were out of the office.)<\/p>\n \u201cSanta brought the governor some lumps of coal and switches because he\u2019s been a naughty boy in not doing everything that he can to protect the people of eastern Kentucky and our mountains and water<\/strong>,\u201d he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n This, apparently, wasn’t his worst year ever, though.<\/p>\n “In 2009, he angered activists by firing Ron Mills, the head of Kentucky\u2019s mining permit division, after Mills refused multiple permits for Alliance Resource Partners, a Tulsa-based company with multiple mining sites in Kentucky,” Think Progress notes.<\/p>\n “Beshear signed the permits over Mills\u2019 objections, and Mills told the Lexington Herald-Leader that Alliance executives had\u00a0lobbied for his firing<\/a>.”<\/p>\n Note that a Kentucky representative in the House also criticized, yesterday, the tremendously helpful mercury and other toxic pollutants standards announced yesterday by Obama and the EPA. Despite the fact that these will clearly save many, many lives and improve the lives of millions, Representative Ed Whitfield stated<\/a> on FOX News that “the scientists that testified before our committee were unanimous in the view that\u00a0there is not going to be any benefit from this new regulation in reducing mercury levels<\/strong>.” Guess what? That’s because his committee didn’t invite real, independent scientists but ‘experts’ from the coal industry!<\/p>\n From Think Progress<\/a>:<\/p>\n “Whitfield and energy committee chair Fred Upton (R-MI) have assiduously avoided having medical experts testify about the EPA\u2019s mercury rules, instead parading utility and\u00a0coal industry<\/a>officials before their committee to make exaggerated claims about the costs of upgrading power plants to protect children\u2019s health. At one such hearing, Rep. Joe Barton denied the ‘medical negative<\/a>‘ of mercury exposure.”<\/p>\n Here are some real facts, by independent scientists, on what the new standards will do<\/a>:<\/p>\nSteve Beshear Has Dirty History<\/h2>\n
Kentucky’s Got More Coal-Loving (Meaning, In-Bed-with-Coal) Politicians<\/h2>\n