Dear JWR Friends:

This is just to keep you in the loop on Kevin's efforts. He wanted to respond to the NY Times Magazine article on "How Coal Got Its Glow Back" -- the article that we sent out last week regarding mountaintop removal mining.

As a native of Kentucky I was glad that Jeff Goodell's article "How Coal Got Its Glow Back" (July 22, 2001) finally exposed the rest of the country to the business of mechanized coal extraction and its devastating impact on the people and land of the mid-South. While at home in Kentucky, I too had the opportunity to fly over mountaintop removal mine sites and witness firsthand the massive transformation of forests and mountains and streams into a wasteland.

As our government debates a national energy policy for our country, they need to remember that coal is not really the "cheap" source of energy proponents claim. Right now coal is cheaper than other energy sources because the mining companies are allowed to rip off mountain tops, fill valleys and clog watersheds with dirt, and dump toxic soups of acids, heavy metals and sludge in huge lakes. Right now electricity from coal is cheap because old power plants get to ignore clean air laws that others must abide by.

There's no question coal will continue to play a vital role in our country's energy needs for the future. Let's just make sure coal companies play by the same set of environmental rules. If their free ride were to disappear and the corporations that mine coal and burn it to light our homes had to cover the actual costs of their business, including the clean up and disposal of their waste products and true restoration of the lands they exploit, maybe we'd discover that coal is not such a bargain after all. Maybe then we'd make more than a token effort at exploring more renewable sources of energy.

I think we'd discover that they're the real bargains because they'll not only help us to grow and thrive as a country but do so while protecting the land, water and air for our kids.

Kevin Richardson

Lexington, Kentucky

Los Angeles, California

Orlando, Florida

C/o 3940 Laurel Canyon Blvd., PMB 256

Studio City, CA 91604

Phone: 310/770-9091

* Kevin Richardson is a member of the pop group Backstreet Boys and founder of the Just Within Reach Earth Foundation