UPDATE:Joe and ACCCE made Rachel Maddow the other night. Check it out here.
Nice post on Think Progress’s site where ACCCE spokesperson Joe Lucas is arguing that mountaintop removal helps Appalachian communities deal with the lack of flat space.
Lucas told the Guardian that blowing the tops off of mountains is an economic boon for the region, not the rape of Appalachia that we call claim.
“I can take you to places in eastern Kentucky where community services were hampered because of a lack of flat space — to build factories, to build hospitals, even to build schools. In many places, mountain-top mining, if done responsibly, allows for land to be developed for community space.”
You’d think as VP of ACCCE communications, Joe Lucas would be too busy dealing with the Climate Bill letter forging scandal to make such ridiculous statements. ACCCE is the pro-coal front group that hired Bonner and Associates, a PR firm that sent a dozen forged letters from community groups and the NAACP arguing against the Waxman-Markey climate bill.
When I see Lucas in action, he often reminds me of Aaron Eckhardt’s character in “Thank You for Smoking.” Slick and unscrupulous. Unfortunately, the stress must be getting to him as his logic is failing.