You've seen the stories in the US and Great Britain, about Al Gore's large energy usage at what can only be called his estate. As if that weren't bad enough, Gore used to collect royalties from a zinc mine on his property, one cited for polluting. The mining operation was closed in 2003. USA Today reported in 2006:

'Living carbon-neutral apparently doesn't mean living oil-stock free. Nor does it necessarily mean giving up a mining royalty either.

Humanity might be "sitting on a ticking time bomb," but Gore's home in Carthage is sitting on a zinc mine. Gore receives $20,000 a year in royalties from Pasminco Zinc, which operates a zinc concession on his property. Tennessee has cited the company for adding large quantities of barium, iron and zinc to the nearby Caney Fork River. '

'questioned Vice President Al Gore's credentials as an environmental champion on Tuesday, calling on him to divest his family shares in Occidental Petroleum Corp.

The Los Angeles-based company has come under fire from environmentalists for its plans to drill for oil on land claimed by the U'wa Indian tribe in northeastern Colombia.

More than 1,000 environmental activists and anti-capitalist demonstrators marched through downtown Los Angeles to the Democratic Convention where Gore will accept the party's presidential nomination on Thursday.

"Al Gore: reject big oil $$," said a banner.

"Divest your shares and show us you are an environmental champion on the side of the U'wa," Atossa Soltani, director of the Amazon Watch environmental group, said at the rally.

The 5,000-member U'wa tribe drew attention to their cause by vowing to commit collective suicide by walking off a cliff if Occidental proceeded with its drilling plans. Tribe members believe the land is sacred and oil is the "life blood of Mother Earth."

Gore reported in his public financial disclosure in May that his family's shares in Occidental were valued at between $500,000 and $1 million. "