June 12, 2015 12:21 AM UTC

Beer Wars: Coal, Water, Smelt, and the Great Beer Boycott of 2015

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• by: kwtree

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Forget about buying New Belgium Craft Beer in Craig, Colorado. Most of the liquor stores, and some of the bars, just aren’t selling it anymore. The boycott is a reaction to New Belgium’s support of the work of the Wild Earth Guardians (WEG). WEG has successfully promoted an environmental lawsuit halting expansion of the ColoWyo coal mine in Moffat County near Craig, and some local coal miners fear that their livelihoods will be sacrificed for an environmental cause or an endangered species. In an article in the Craig Daily Press, Lori Gillam, an owner of Stockmen’s Liquor store, said, “We pulled those beers because their support of WildEarth Guardians… who said their ultimate goal is to shut down coal mines. Craig is a coal mine town.”

These fears are being relentlessly inflamed in the right wing blogosphere, and on right wing talk radio. On June 9 and 10, Ken Clark’s Freedom 360 show was all about the so-called “War on Coal” in Craig, Colorado. 

“They’re coming after Colorado!,” Ken Clark breathlessly reported at 8:39 minutes into his 6/9/15 Freedom 560 show. From 5:23 to 8:20, Clark made the following statements about Wild Earth Guardians:

  “These are the same folks that created all this havoc in California. [They] .. are the whack jobs that shut down all of the irrigation to these farmlands in order to protect that smelt, that fish. . . They pretty much killed California and their farm production.  Fresno County – the unemployment rate’s 47%. These are the same guys. . . .They have set their sights on Colorado. They are coming here.  And now they’re coming after us.” 

Factually, Clark is just plain wrong here, although he wisely left wiggle room by saying that his “friend told him so”, and he plans to “check it out”. Fresno’s unemployment rate in 2014 was 11%, not 47%. California is obviously suffering from drought, and farmers, tourists, developers, businesses, and wildlife are all struggling and negotiating for the use of the same diminishing pool of potable water. The only reference to environmental regulations and fish in the Fresno Bee article was the mention of how water is being kept in Lake Shasta to keep  salmon and trout alive. 

I looked in vain for a mention of shutting down farmland irrigation to protect smelt. One of WEG’s fact sheet pdfs discussed risks to endangered species and water, but…not a whiff of smelt. 

At 9:02 in Clark’s program, he said, ” They [WEG] want to shut down all coal mines everywhere –  the coal fired power plants, the mines.”

WEG has no plans nor ability to shut down all coal mines and plants. But if Craig residents listen and believe Clark’s tirades, it’s not surprising that they might see environmentalists as “the enemy”, and that there can be no possible compromises, no outcomes where everybody wins. 

Transitioning from coal to a more diverse economy

However, Craig’s leaders are already planning the transition from coal to  a future in which Craig is more than just a “coal mine town”. Craig’s community leaders traveled to Kentucky recently, as one of seven teams from coal mining areas, that have been meeting in an “Innovation Challenge”  with National Association of Counties to work on plans to help their communities to become more economically diverse. 

The Colowyo mine is not the only local mine which is cutting  mining jobs; Peabody Energy’s Hayden mine will lay off 200 workers, not for environmental, but for financial reasons. The truth is that coal is losing money, becoming less competitive as an energy source.  That is why the Appalachian coal regions are moving away from coal.

There are several state and federal programs to help with retraining coal miners and diversifying economies. Miner retraining programs piloted in coal mining country in Kentucky can be rolled out in Colorado. These communities have a wealth of experience in how to be less coal-dependent.

The environmental impacts, and external costs of coal are severe; increased respiratory disease around the power plants and greenhouse gas emissions were all factors in Judge Jackson’s decision to halt expansion of the Colowyo mine.  Proper notice of the environmental impacts was never given to the affected communities.

 CBS Denver reported:

A lawyer for the Colowyo mine, Mike Drysdale, said waiting until now to stop mining would likely put about 200 miners out of work overnight because it has no other coal currently permitted to mine other than the portion in dispute.   

Nobody wants to close Colowyo down overnight, or lay off workers

WEG’s climate and energy program director Jeremy Nichols  said in an interview with High Country News, that he doesn’t want Colowyo to have to lay off workers.  

“I want the Interior Department to respond in 120 days, so that Colowyo doesn’t have to be shut down,”  Nichols said.

Colorado’s entire congressional delegation, as well as Governor Hickenlooper,  wrote to EPA Chief Sally Jewell to ask her to do “What’s necessary” to keep the Colowyo mine open. Nobody wants to be the politician who lost 200 jobs under his/her watch. 

Yet, the Colowyo mine is going to need to close, and sooner rather than later. Transition gradually,  not abruptly -fine.  Diversify economy -good idea. Retrain and re-employ miners – absolutely. But coal as a fuel is too costly to the environment, to people’s health, to the planet. The rest of the world is weaning itself from coal. It’s time we followed suit.  To quote Michael Bowman, hemp farmer,   expert on rural energy issues, and sometime blogger on these pages:

I’ll drink to that – maybe with a nice cold New Belgium brew. 

Additional Sources

Denver post article

Craig Daily Press article 

West Virginia Miner retraining Program

Rep. Gail Schwartz meets with miners to talk retraining

Kentucky coal mining transition program

CBS Local story on Judge Jackson’s decision

Westword article on Judge’s decision

Other boycotted brewers meet with Craig residents