diane sawyer

Issues like mountaintop removal coal mining — a type of mining that is both environmentally and visually horrific — were made for television. but we’ve only scratched the surface with it. Diane Sawyer’s piece on Appalachia (see her discuss the piece on “The View”) about a month ago gave America a preview, but green bloggers raised a few issues with it here and elsewhere.

Ecorazzi wrote that Kentuckian Ashley Judd hinted at some — pardon the energy pun — megawatt star power that could raise awareness of mountaintop removal coal mining: Oprah.

On this afternoon’s live Q & a over on the DailyKos, the actress let slip that Oprah has potentially expressed some interest in a piece on the topic. in addition, Judd is also trying to get ABC’s Diane Sawyer to do a special with her. “You can absolutely help raise visibility of this issue,” she said in the Q & a. “Diane Sawyer’s piece on the children in hollows aired to much national conversation recently. I phoned her producer about a MTRCM piece. Contact ABC and let them know you want to see her do segment with me about it! also, there is a possibility Oprah is interested in a piece. I have also spoken with Anderson Cooper about it; if they public wants stories on it, they are more incentivized to do them.”

I love seeing Judd rallying these great media personalities to become involved in the issue. Anderson Cooper and Diane Sawyer would be great — but my hope lies with Oprah. I think a show dedicated to the topic would do wonders for organizations like Sierra Club, ilovemountains, or Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.

The salient bit of the Judd Q&A is here:

You can absolutely help raise visibility of this issue. Diane Sawyer’s piece on the children in hollows aired to much national conversation recently. I phoned her producer about a MTRCM piece. Contact ABC and let them know you want to see her do segment with me about it! also, there is a possibility Oprah is interested in a piece. I have also spoken with Anderson Cooper about it; if they public wants stories on it, they are more incentivized to do them.

If you’ve never seen mountaintop removal in action, here’s a quick preview from our friends at Assignment Earth:

And here’s Ashley Judd, working with the Sierra Club, speaking out:

::Listen to an NPR piece on the Bush administration’s role in spreading Appalachian mountaintop removal