author of 'Lost Mountain'
Writer-in-Residence at the University of Kentucky and author of Lost Mountain: A Year in the Vanishing Wilderness: Radical Strip Mining and the Devastation of Appalachia
PROFILE
Erik Reece
Guest
FROM Erik Reece
To the Point
Leveling Appalachia's Ancient Mountains for Cheap Coal For the past 20 years, coal operators have been removing the tops off peaks and ridges and plugging up streams in the Appalachian Mountains, one of the world’s oldest ranges, allowing them to mine more coal with fewer people than they can with traditional mining. Today, the Bush Administration is issuing new rules for a practice that can change the landscape of southwestern Virginia, southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and wreak havoc on fish, wildlife—and people. The old rules said mine operators had to prove they would not damage water supplies. The new ones say it’s alright, as long as they plan to make repairs later. We consider how the drive for cheap energy and oil independence impacts the environment and public health.
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To the Point
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
To the Point
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
Left, Right & Center
How was the trip? President Trump's travels got less fun as he went from the Middle East to Europe.
To the Point
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.