Archive for January, 2009
You may not know this, but iLovemountains.org is managed and funded not by a single organization, but by a coalition of groups from across Appalachia who work everyday at the grassroots on environmental issues such as mountaintop removal.
We will be taking one Monday each month to spotlight one of the amazing organizations that makes up the Alliance for Appalachia.
This month’s featured organization is the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. OVEC was formed in 1987 and since then has become a vital voice for environmental justice in the coalfields of West Virginia. Based in Huntington, WV, OVEC organizes around numerous environmental issues pertinent to the region including mountaintop removal mining, coal slurry impoundments and contaminated water, and the need for clean, alternative energy and green jobs.
OVEC first learned of mountaintop removal in 1997, when directly-impacted residents came to us to tell us about the issue and ask for our help. OVEC organized and hosted the first-ever public forum on mountaintop removal, and has been organizing in the West Virginia coalfields since then. The Coalition works with state, national and international media* to raise awareness about and ultimately hopes to end this extremely damaging form of coal mining. So far, OVEC has held back 90 valley fill permits at proposed mountaintop removal operations through litigation. Besides a host of newspaper and magazine articles, our work has been featured in music, books and films.
OVEC and its sister group, Coal River Mountain Watch, collaborate on the Sludge Safety Project (SSP), which works to protect clean water and promote human health and safety near coal waste storage sites. The recent coal ash disaster in Tennessee underscores how dirty and deadly the rear-end of the coal-use cycle is. SSP’s work examines and exposes the dirty and deadly front-end of that cycle. We encourage everyone reading this blog to learn more about coal slurry impoundments and underground coal slurry injection by exploring the SSP website and, if possible, attending our Jan. 31 SSP Legislative Kick-Off event–details here.
In addition, you can learn more about SSP volunteers work by listening to this West Virginia Public Radio news story.
OVEC’s work also focuses on solutions to the energy crisis. We’re a founding member of CLEAN , a grassroots collaboration of state and local organizations. CLEAN, a project of the Civil Society Institute, seeks policies that will protect our environment, cease and reverse global warming, disentangle the U.S. from unstable regions of the world, and create a new energy economy that promises jobs and a sustainable and equitable economic prosperity.
To address a root cause of all the issues OVEC has worked on, we lead the West Virginia Citizens for Clean Elections with the West Virginia Citizen Action Group . This upcoming legislative season (Feb. 11 to April 11, 2009), we’ll be working at the West Virginia State Capitol to advance on Clean Elections, Sludge Safety Project concerns and on cemetery protection issues. Join OVEC’s Action Alert e-mail list (two to four e-mails a month, usually) to stay current with our work and/or check out daily news updates.
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* Newspapers that have quoted our members or staff or used our photos include New York Times, Los Angles Times, Washington Post, Toronto Star and scores more. Radio and TV outlets that have aired news of our work include National Public Radio, Bill Moyers of Public Broadcasting, British Broadcasting Company, Danish, Norwegian, Australian and Canadian Broadcasting, and more. Magazines that have featured are work include Smithsonian, National Geographic, People,
E-magazine, O (Oprah Winfrey’s magazine), and dozens more.
Thanks to Vivian Stockman of OVEC for helping put together this post. Check back next week for more news from the mountains, a new edition of Better Know a CWPA Sponsor & Target, and more!
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The following email was sent to the 33,000+ supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.
Yesterday was a historic day for our nation. And like millions of others across America, those of us here at iLoveMountains.org watched the inauguration with a mixture of hope for the future and awe at how far we’ve come.
But we know that we still have a lot of work to do if we are going to stop mountaintop removal coal mining and achieve a clean energy future for our nation.
That’s why iLoveMountains.org is joining with a nationwide network of clean energy and justice advocates for 100 Days of Action to Power Past Coal:
http://www.powerpastcoal.org/
Beginning today and continuing until April 30th — the first 100 days of the Obama administration — Power Past Coal will organize national actions calling on President Obama and Congress to ensure a clean energy future for America.
Today, people from all over the country and all walks of life are calling the White House, asking Obama to invest in real solutions to our energy and environmental crisis — clean, renewable energy.
To take part in today’s action and see what other events are coming up near you, click here:
http://www.powerpastcoal.org/
Here at iLoveMountains, we’re hoping to get Congress to power past coal during our 4th Annual End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington, from March 14th-19th, 2009.
Please consider joining us in Washington to meet your representatives and ask them to stop the destructive practice of mountaintop removal coal mining.
To learn more and register for the Week in Washington, click here:
http://ilovemountains.org/action/wiw2009
Thank you for doing everything you can in the next 100 days to help America power past coal.
Matt Wasson
iLoveMountains.org
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With the opening of the Congressional session last week, and the inauguration on Tuesday all eyes are on capitol hill.
This, thought the folks here at iLoveMountains, makes it the perfect time to roll out a new weekly feature. We’re taking a page from the great Stephen Colbert and using each Mountain Mondays post as a vehicle to spotlight one of our valued co-sponsors for the Clean Water Protection Act, and a representative from a nearby district we would love to see add their John Hancock.
In the future, we’ll have a regular post along with this new feature, but for this, the inaugural post, it will stand on its own.
Better Know a CWPA Sponsor: Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ-06)
Frank Pallone, Jr. is the lead sponsor of the Clean Water Protection Act bill. He introduced the bill in the 110th congress, and will again in the 111th. Rep. Pallone has a strong history with water issues in his home district, successfully working to stop ocean dumping and offshore oil and gas drilling. Check out his great blog about the CWPA on Daily Kos.
Better Know a CWPA Target: Rep. Frank Lobiondo (R-NJ-02)
Congressman Lobiondo represents New Jersey’s second district. He serves on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and its subcommittee, Water Resources and the Environment. According to his official biography, he “has worked to protect fragile wildlife and wetlands areas,” meaning he knows some about threatened ecosystems, and the importance of maintaining water resources.
Rep. Lobiondo has also shown firm support for the broad implementation of sustainable alternative energy sources in an effort to both achieve energy independence and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Promisingly, though energy independence is his ultimate focus, he did not see coal as key in the achievement of that goal, presumably because of its know impact on the environment and place at the top of the pile when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions.
If you’d like to get involved, send a letter to your congressperson asking them to co-sponsor the Clean Water Protection Act in the 111th congress. You can do it easily with our online tool.
And, if you want to get up close and personal with your congresspeople, register for the End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington, March 14-18, 2009. Registration ends February 25, so sign up now!
‘Cause we know it’ll be a law someday! At least we hope and pray that it will, but today it is still just a bill…
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2009 promises to be a good year for clean water.
The TVA coal ash spill in Harriman, TN, though devastating, has given citizens a new insight into the dirty side of coal. It has served to remind many of us that the interests of coal companies do not align with what is best for the people of Appalachia or the environment.
As the new session of Congress begins this week, and a new administration to enter office early next week, there is more attention than ever before on the energy crisis and the need for a green economy.
The time is right to pass the Clean Water Protection Act, and with that dramatically curb the instance and impact of mountain top removal mining. Last session closed with the broadest support we’ve ever had for the measure:
- 153 co-sponsors, exactly double the 76 co-sponsors we ended with in the 109th
- Co-sponsors hailing from 31 different states, DC, and the Virgin Islands (including the entire delegation of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut)
- Eight bi-partisan Representatives from states where mountaintop removal is currently taking place
The Clean Water Protection Act can be passed this session. You can help make it happen.
By attending the 4th annual End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington, you can join us in lobbying our legislators to pass the CWPA. Past lobby week participants have come from all across the United States to join with other activists and impacted citizens in speaking with their congressional Representatives about MTR and the CWPA.
At last year’s lobby week, people like you helped us gain 8 new co-sponsors!
Registration is open now and will continue until February 25th. Scholarships are available on a limited basis; scholarship deadline is Feb 20th. Get the answers to more of your questions at our FAQ page.
If you are antsy to get started appealing to your elected representatives, here is another initiative to tell the new administration clean energy is a priority:
CLEAN- a collaborative movement of state and local organizations working, at all levels of government, to implement new energy policies – has launched a campaign to let President-elect Obama know that there is strong grassroots support for bold action on our clean energy future. The next step in the campaign is a national call-in day to the White House on Wednesday, January 21st* in order to make our voices heard on Obama’s first day in office. We want to make it known that the American people are saying YES to renewables, YES to energy efficiency, NO to coal and nuclear! It will take people calling from all across the country and all walks of life to make an impact. We need your voice, too! Please click here to make your pledge to call the White House on Wednesday, January 21st. It will only take a few minutes to take part in this national movement to ensure a clean energy future for America!
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From our friends at CoalRiverWind.org:
December 19th, 2008
To the Supporters of Coal River Wind:
We’re writing to give you one last pre-holiday update on the Coal River Mountain Wind campaign. A lot has happened over the past few weeks, highlighted by the release of a landmark “Wind vs MTR” economic study, and we expect that things will pick up even more after the holiday break. So, here’s what’s been going on:
Release of the Coal River Mountain Economic Study
First of all, On December 9th, Downstream Strategies released the results of a 4-month economic study entitled “The Long-Term Economic Benefits of Wind Versus Mountaintop Removal Coal on Coal River Mountain, West Virginia.” The study proves that a 328 Megawatt wind farm represents a far better economic land use option for Coal River Mountain than Mountaintop Removal. Here are some of the report’s findings:
- According to the report, the wind project would provide more than $1.7 million in annual property taxes to Raleigh County — compared to a paltry $36,000 per year in coal severance taxes from the mining. Put another way, the property tax revenues from the wind farm in a single year would amount to almost triple the total amount of the coal severance taxes the county would receive over the 17-year mine life.
- When externalities such as public health and environmental quality are factored in, a mountaintop removal mine ends up generating an economic LOSS of $600 million over its expected 17 year life. A wind farm on the other hand would remain profitable over the life of the wind farm. This means that when the true costs of mining are considered, the wind farm option wins hands-down.
- Mining the mountain could produce nearly 200 direct jobs (and several hundred indirect jobs), but those jobs would last only as long as the coal mining (which is expected to take 17 years). Construction of a windmill operation would generate more than 275 temporary construction jobs, and afterwards create 40 direct (and more than 30 indirect) jobs that could last indefinitely.
- Over time, the windmill project would generate 28% more jobs than the mountaintop removal mining. (In addition, the wind project could sprout a long-term local industry building wind turbines, towers and blades — leading to three times more jobs than the mountaintop mine.)
— We held two press conferences to publicize the report, and we got some good media on that in West Virginia. Here is a link to Ken Ward’s article on the report and the press events.
— You can also download the Downstream Strategies report from the home page of our website, www.coalriverwind.org.
— We plan on using the report to lobby the state legislature on a resolution to preserve Coal River Mountain for the development of a wind farm. We’ll keep you updated on that!!
Appeal of the Bee Tree Mining Permit
We’ve also been keeping an eye on the mountain and we wanted to tell you that Massey has yet to begin preparing the site for blasting. However, they can begin any day, and so we’ll continue to check in on the mountain and keep you updated. We last reported that they had received the final approval to begin mining the first section of the Bee Tree permit, and since then we’ve been exploring ways to fight the revision, and we found one.
Just yesterday, with the help of the national Sierra Club and the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, we gave notice to the state Department of Environmental Protection that we are appealing the permit revision to the Surface Mine Board. This won’t stop any mining from going forward unless the board rejects the permit or classifies the revision as “significant,” thus requiring that the DEP open the permit to public comment – which would be the democratic thing to do. So we’ll keep you updated on that as well. For now, read Ken Ward’s article about the appeal here.
So that’s about it, we’ll get back to you in January. We hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday, and once again, we appreciate all of your support.
Sincere Thanks,
— The Coal River Mountain Wind Team —
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This page is for my special friend, Austin.
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