Is Hillary pro-Mountaintop Removal, Because the Clinton Fund Got $131 Mil and More From Mining??

Dems Will Win

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Fri Mar-21-08 06:42 PM
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Is Hillary pro-Mountaintop Removal, Because the Clinton Fund Got $131 Mil and More From Mining??

Edited on Fri Mar-21-08 06:52 PM by Dems Will Win

FRANK GIUSTRA AND THE FIRST LADDIE

The Clintons received $131 Million in money for the charities, but the mining magnates do a lot of business with the government. Supposedly, mining concerns gave tens of milllions more. Then Hillary comes out pro-Mountaintop Removal on Wednesday, after hiding her true opinion all this time.

Clinton Used Giustra's Plane, Opened Doors for Deals

By Elliot Blair Smith

Since he left the White House in 2001, Clinton, now 61, has earned more than $50 million for himself and raised hundreds of millions more for global charities, according to New York Senator Hillary Clinton's financial disclosures and foundation statements.

The former president has declined to identify most of his financial benefactors, including donors to his presidential library. He says he will make public the names of future contributors should his wife win the Democratic nomination.

`Pursuit of Money'

``Bill Clinton is the ex-president who has pushed the pursuit of money into the stratosphere, and will probably set a new bar for future ex-presidents,'' says Bill Hogan, director of investigative projects at the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit ethics watchdog in Washington, and head of its Buying of the President 2008 program.

``One can imagine an ex-president saying this is none of your business,'' Hogan says. ``It doesn't work this time because Hillary Clinton is married to him, and she's running for the highest office in the land.''

...

$131 Million

The Canadian businessman donated $31 million to Clinton's charity in 2006 through his own nonprofit, the Radcliffe Foundation. Last June, he made an additional $100 million pledge to the newly established Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative, and secured the promise of tens of millions more from Canadian mining companies. He stipulated the funds be deployed in developing countries, where he does most of his business.

...

Clinton arranged for Giustra to meet the president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, in New York three months later, the Wall Street Journal reported last week. Last year a Canadian company Giustra's investment firm was advising acquired oil fields in Colombia, the Journal reported, and Giustra met Uribe again to discuss a coal-export project.

...

On Sept. 6, 2005, Clinton flew aboard Giustra's plane into Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, where the two men met up and shared a private dinner with President Nursultan Nazarbayev, according to interviews and public statements at the time.

The U.S. State Department's country report on human rights for Kazakhstan for 2006, the latest available, criticized the regime for ``pervasive corruption'' as well as arbitrary arrests and detentions, particularly of government opponents.

...

Another topic of discussion was an agreement Giustra was negotiating with the Kazakhstan government and a former energy minister to buy controlling stakes in three uranium mines.

...

``A president who wanted to assure that his good name is deserved would steer clear of accepting an airplane ride to Kazakhstan, or being involved even peripherally in this business deal,'' Baker says. ``Kazakhstan has a track record of such enormous corruption, particularly in natural resource transactions, that one should be extremely cautious in getting involved.''

...

The same month, Dzhakishev said Giustra arranged for him to visit Clinton at his home near New York to discuss the future of nuclear power.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aa2b8Mj3NEWQ

HERE'S HILLARY ON MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL THIS WEEK:

Hillary Clinton on Mountaintop Removal this morning

by faithfull
Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:21:26 AM PDT

(Cross-posted at the Appalachian Voices Front Porch Blog)

Beth Vorhees interviewed Senator Hillary Clinton on West Virginia Public Broadcast (audio), this morning and asked her a direct question about her position on mountaintop removal coal-mining.

Hillary's answer below the fold.

Keep in mind, mountaintop removal:

- Has destroyed 1 million acres of the most biodiverse temperate forest in the world
- Has led to a 90% reduction in mining jobs in WV because of the automation of labor
- Has leveled 470+ of the oldest mountains on the continent.

Hillary on MTR: (unofficial transcript)

I am concerned about it for all the reasons people state, but I think its a difficult question because of the conflict between the economic and environmental trade-off that you have here.

I'm not an expert. I don't know enough to have an independent opinion, but I sure would like people who could be objective, understanding both the economic necessities and environmental damage to come up with some approach that would enable us to retrieve the coal but would enable us to do it in a way that wouldn't damage the living standards and the other important qualities associated with people living both under the mountaintop and people who are along the streams.

You know, maybe there is a way to recover those mountaintops once they have been stripped of the coal. You know, I think we've got to look at this from a practical perspective.

...

I am disappointed that she is setting up this false dichotomy of "economic necessities" vs "environmental damage." Mountaintop removal does the same thing to our economy as it does to our mountains. The destruction of one and the destruction of the other go hand in hand.

Thirdly, Hillary Clinton has sat in on Senate Committee hearings on mountaintop removal since 2002, so she should have a pretty good idea of what is going on. She promised to take a flyover of the region, but has failed to follow-through on that commitment.

Listen to the whole thing here. http://www.wvpubcast.com/audio/news/0319wvm1.mp3

Update: An important note from DevilsTower:

When I was getting feedback from campaigns I could never get the Clinton campaign to give me a statement on MTR. Now I suppose we know why.

This is extremely disappointing, since most of her energy plan is quite good.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/19/105837/690/142/479900

AND OBAMA??

When Appalachian Voices asked Senator Obama about MTR, and whether he supported or opposed strip mining, he said:

Strip-mining is an environmental disaster!

The telegenic Presidential hopeful did not stop there. He went on to adress mountatintop removal by saying:

We have to find more environmentally sound ways of mining coal, than simply blowing the tops off mountains.

He said the country also needs a forward-thinking energy policy, and he alluded to his disapproval of the coal mining process of mountaintop removal.

"We're tearing up the Appalachian Mountains because of our dependence on fossil fuels," he said, sparking loud applause.

This is a Senator from a state that contains a LOT of (high-sulfur) coal. The fact that big fish like Obama are trending our way is fantastic.

Lets hope that this leads to some leadership on specific legislative proposals to end mountaintop removal in America by someone in the Senate. A presidential candidate opposing mountaintop removal represents the ideals of the Appalachian people. And the Appalachian people represent a potential of 51 electoral votes. That as much as Florida, Ohio, and New Hampshire combined.

Call and THANK Senator Obama for taking a stand against mountaintop removal by calling him at (202)224-2854. You can also call your US Representative at (202)224-3121 and ask them to co-sponsor the �Clean Water Protection Act� to help stop mountaintop removal coal-mining.

http://www.appvoices.org/index.php?/frontporch/blogposts/obama_says_that_we_must_find_a_way_around_mtr

It's also because she doesn't want to appear anti-coal mining in WV, too. Whatever it is Mountaintop Removal is absolutely despicable and I urge all Hillary supporters to reconsider their vote given her statement above and Obama's strong opposition. $131 Million and tens of millions more is a lot of money, and the Clintons would be reluctant to bite the hand that feeds them and their charities directly.

PLEASE RECOMMEND IF YOU ARE AGAINST THE SECRECY BEHIND THE CLINTON FUND DONORS AND THINK THIS MINING ISSUE ILLUMINATES THE PROBLEM WITH THAT!