News
Coal River Mountain will not be moved
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
A wonderful Op-Ed by Jeff Biggers, originally printed in the Charleston Gazette (West Virginia) on December 6th, 2009.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — From Copenhagen to Charleston, the world will be watching Gov. Joe Manchin closely today.
This week at the Copenhagen Climate Summit, Google Earth will take world leaders on a virtual flyover of Coal River Mountain, selected as one of a handful of “global crisis hotspots,” accompanied by the narration of coal miner widow and Coal River Mountain resident Lorelei Scarbro.
World leaders will see the two choices for Gov. Manchin:
An inspiring range of hardwood forests in the carbon sink of Appalachia, adorned by wind turbines capable of providing energy for thousands of households, millions of dollars in tax revenues, and hundreds of long-term jobs that could also create a sustainable manufacturing sector, surrounded by historic settlements – or, a devastating 6,600-acre mountaintop removal operation, a limited number of short-term jobs and the life-threatening endangerment of blasting near the weakened Class “C” Brushy Fork coal slurry impoundment.
World leaders will ask: In the exploding market of clean-energy jobs and investment, how could any governor disregard sustainable economic initiatives and allow his own citizens to live in a state of fear of blasting, fly rock, and a potential catastrophe from an impoundment break?
“Unless there is a tragedy such as these, nothing happens,” Gov. Manchin declared on the anniversary of the Farmington mining disaster last year. “Why does human nature wait until we have such catastrophic tragedies?”
That same sentiment is why millions of other Americans will be watching besieged Coal River Mountain residents today at 2 p.m. at a rally in front of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. They are calling on the governor and the DEP to do their mandated jobs and halt mountaintop removal blasting on Coal River Mountain, protect the lives and health of residents, and work toward a sustainable economic future.
While Gov. Manchin says he never interferes in the mining permit process, the nation knows he contacted White House aide Valerie Jarrett in October to rein in EPA chief Lisa Jackson over the veto process for the Arch Coal’s Spruce Mine No. 1 permit; and that Gov. Manchin traveled 500 miles to Philadelphia last May to deal with the EPA on a mining permit for Consolidation Coal Co.
At the very least, could Gov. Manchin travel 42 miles to Pettus, W.Va., – or do a flyover tour with resident Lorelei Scarbro, who lost her husband to black lung disease – to understand the crisis on Coal River Mountain, the Brushy Fork impoundment, and the still great possibility for sustainable economic development and clean energy?
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READ THE REST AT WVGAZETTE.COM
January 8th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
Forget about Gov. Manchin… he never will be on the right side of this issue because he’s in the pocket of Big Coal!
I would strongly suggest that your organization conduct a grassroots effort to convince the people of West Virginia to defeat him when he’s up for re-election, or even to impeach him now!