Last Friday, the United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, VA overturned a 2007 decision stating that the Army Corps of Engineers had improperly issued permits for mountaintop removal coal mining operations.
This setback for our cause is a reminder of how important it is that the new Congress passes the Clean Water Protection Act (CWPA).
The Clean Water Protection Act would sharply reduce mountaintop removal coal mining, protect clean drinking water for many of our nation’s cities — and protect the quality of life for Appalachian coalfield residents who face frequent catastrophic flooding and pollution or loss of drinking water as a result of mountaintop removal.
The good news is that Representatives Frank Pallone and Dave Reichert are preparing to introduce the Clean Water Protection Act in Congress in the coming days.
Already, 91 of their fellow members of Congress have agreed to co-sponsor the CWPA when it is introduced.
Is your representative one of those co-sponsors? Click here to find out:
If your representative isn’t on the list, please take a moment to email them and ask them to support the CWPA and to take a stand against mountaintop removal coal mining:
You can also help move the CWPA through Congress by joining us for the 4th Annual End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington, taking place the March 14th-19th.
By joining us in Washington, you’ll get to meet and work with other passionate Appalachian activists from around the country; develop and hone your outreach skills in our outreach workshops; and meet face to face with legislators to help inspire and educate them to pass legislation to end mountaintop removal coal mining in 2009.
To learn more and register for the Week in Washington, click here:
As always, there’s plenty going on in the mountains this week. We’re very excited about the introduction of the Appalachian Mountains Preservation Act in Georgia (the number one consumer of MTR coal in the nation!) and Maryland in the last two weeks, to be followed with the introduction of the bill in North Carolina (number two consumer of MTR coal) later this week! The bill would ban the use of mountaintop removal-mined coal in the state. Georgia’s bill also includes a moratorium on the construction and permitting of new coal-fired power plants in the state.
This week also sees the launch of a new, innovative national anti-coal campaign, which specifically targets mountaintop removal mining; there’s good news from Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, who went out in force in Frankfort last week in support of the Stream Saver bill, which would target mountaintop removal; and the campaign for co-sponsors continues for the Clean Water Protection Act! Feels like there’s a lot of movement in the movement as they say!
The Dirty Lie:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Waterkeeper Alliance, which he heads, are no strangers to fighting coal. Waterkeepers around the nation fight the effects of coal on a daily basis, dealing with increased mercury levels in the waters due to emissions from coal-fired power plants, and toxic releases from their combustion waste, the worst of which was the TVA coal ash disaster in Roane County, TN last December.
Now these vetted activists have a brand new tool in their belts in their fight against coal and the pollution it creates. Their new campaign, “The Dirty Lie” is intended to create broader awareness of the destructiveness of coal in all parts of its cycle, cradle to grave. The campaign is reaching beyond the traditional environmental community by using online viral marketing techniques, with the goal of galvanizing broad popular interest via the Internet. The campaign’s hub is a website (www.thedirtylie.com) that will house video and editorial content and provide visitors with interactive tools to become anti-coal activists.
“Simply stated, clean coal is a dirty lie,” Kennedy said. “You don’t have to live in the coalfields or in the shadow of a coal-fired power plant to be affected by this filthy industry. Coal causes acid rain, pollutes our water and food chain with toxic mercury, destroys communities, and is grossly accelerating climate change.”
The website is launching this week, and strives to “debunk” the “dirty lies” that the coal industry perpetuates. The lie we know best at iLoveMountains? “Mountains are Replaceable.” Go check out this interactive and very informative site! The video on the right is just a taste of the great content!
Not One More Mile! Over 700 people joined Kentuckians for the Commonwealth for I Love Mountains Day in Frankfort, KY. The group marched over a half mile from downtown Frankfort near the Kentucky River, the headwaters of which have been severely damaged by coal company pollution. “Not One More Mile!” was the chant for the day as the defenders of Kentucky’s precious people and places said that 1,400 miles of streams buried or severely damaged by this practice is already way too many. Find more coverage of the event at the KFTC website
Better Know a CWPA Co-Sponsor: Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA-14) has served in the House for eight years, and currently sits on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee as well as the Water Resources and Development subcommittee, so we are thrilled to have his support on the CWPA! According to a 2008 editorial released by his office, Platts believes that “further development of traditional domestic sources of energy” is an important step in our energy policy but that it needs to be done in an “environmentally-protective manner.” Protecting mountain streams from being buried in toxic overburden sounds like it fits that criteria!!
Better Know a CWPA Target: Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA-04) is currently serving his second term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Altmire serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure committee, which makes him an important target for co-sponsorship of the CWPA. The electricity in Altmire’s district, which covers all or part of six counties in western Pennsylvania, is supplied by Pennsylvania Electric and Duquesne Light Company, both of which purchase coal coming from mountaintop removal mine sites. In Altmire’s issue statements on his website, he comes out in support of “additional funding for clean coal technologies.” Well, even if “clean coal technology” was here today, mountaintop removal mining would still be poisoning mountain headwater streams in Appalachia. That’s anything but clean, just ask the residents of Rawl, WV, whose well water was contaminated by toxic heavy metals thanks to a nearby mountaintop removal mine site.
Want to get to know Rep. Altmire better? Check out his appearance on the Colbert Report’s Better Know a District!
NATIONAL CAMPAIGN AIMS TO GET COAL INDUSTRY TO COME CLEAN ON THE DEVASTATING EFFECTS OF COAL
Click the movie above to watch “The Amazing Disappearing Mountains” from TheDirtyLie.com
Boone, NC – Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Chairman of Waterkeeper Alliance and Donna Lisenby of Appalachian Voices, announced today the launch of the group’s first national anti-coal campaign. Called “The Dirty Lie ,” the campaign is intended to create broader awareness of the destructiveness of coal-from its role in propping up an antiquated fossil-fuel-based economy to its adverse effects on the environment and the health of millions of Americans – and, ultimately, to bring about a change in national energy policy. It can be viewed at TheDirtyLie.com
“Simply stated, clean coal is a dirty lie,” Kennedy said. “You don’t have to live in the coalfields or in the shadow of a coal-fired power plant to be affected by this filthy industry. Coal causes acid rain, pollutes our water and food chain with toxic mercury, destroys communities, and is grossly accelerating climate change.” The campaign is reaching beyond the traditional environmental community by using online viral marketing techniques, with the goal of galvanizing broad popular interest via the Internet. The campaign’s hub is a website that will house video and editorial content and provide visitors with interactive tools to become anti-coal activists like the video below:
The Green for the Planet Among the Green for the Economy:
On Tuesday, President Obama signed a $787 billion economic stimulus package. As he promised on the campaign trail, the package contains some significant measures toward supporting green energy initiatives. According to an AP analysis of the bill, the package contains “more than $42 billion in energy-related investments from tax credits to homeowners to loan guarantees for renewable energy projects and direct government grants for makers of wind turbines and next-generation batteries.”
The AP report also details another $20 billion aimed at “green” jobs to make wind turbines, solar panels and improve energy efficiency in public buildings, and an addition $6 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy projects as well as tax breaks or direct grants covering 30 percent of wind and solar energy investments.
However, as this New York Times editorial points out, this should not be mistaken for a climate change bill. Though these are absolutely steps in a positive direction, it is not enough, and it doesn’t address the pressing need for disincentives for the use of dirty energy sources such as coal and other fossil fuels.
“Windmills Not Toxic Spills”:
Speaking of disincentivizing dirty energy, two activists stopped a Massey Energy mountaintop removal mining operation on Cherry Pond Mountain in Raleigh County, West Virginia by blocking a road with a large banner reading “Windmills Not Toxic Spills.” The photos from the action, shown in the YouTube video below are pretty powerful.
Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve:
Patagonia recently came out with a great new T-shirt design that uniquely expresses the intensely intimate tie many people feel to the mountains. Even better, when you turn in inside out, you can read about Appalachian Voices, one of the groups that coordinates all the great content you find on iLovemountains.org! Click here to order yours!
Better Know a CWPA Co-Sponsor:Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA-08) has signed on as the lead Republican co-sponsor of the Clean Water Protection Act. Paired with lead sponsor Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ-), Reichert’s sponsorship makes the bill bi-partisan in nature, and shows support for the bill from both coasts! Rep. Reichert is also intimately connected to the mountains, his district contains Mount Rainier, one of the nation’s last inland old-growth rain forests. He has long been a voice for conservation of natural resources in his home in the Pacific Northwest. Watch his statement on protecting the environment.
Better Know a CWPA Target:Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA-02) serves on the House committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, a key committee in the passage of the Clean Water Protection Act. His district also contains the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Though his official positions on energy mainly pertain to high fuel prices and the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, we hope that Rep. Larsen understands that petroleum is not the only fossil fuel that is threatening communities because of our unrestrained demand. Mountaintop removal mining is a symptom of our current energy economy as well and our “coal addiction” needs tempering just as our “foreign oil addiction” does! Energy needs cannot be a justification for the destruction of ecosystems and communities.
NEXT WEEK: A look at an exciting new national anti-coal campaign, a new edition of Better Know a CWPA Sponsor/Target, comments on West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin’s energy bill, and more!!
Residents of Kentucky will again be out in force next Tuesday, February 17th, to demand an end to mountaintop removal. They’ll be participating in the annual I Love Mountains Rally at the State Capitol in Frankfort organized by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth [www.kftc.org]. Last year, more than 1,200 people from all across Kentucky and allies from other Appalachian organizations participated in a massive rally to demand that legislators stop this immoral practice.
They will be there this year specifically pushing for passage of the Stream Saver Bill — common-sense legislation that would prohibit the dumping of toxic mining wastes into any Kentucky stream. According to U.S. EPA’s count, between 1981 and 2005 more than 1,400 miles of eastern Kentucky streams have been buried or severely impacted by this practice. The headwaters of four major rivers are located in eastern Kentucky, and the three largest are all severely polluted with sedimentation from coal mines.
That’s one of the reasons downstream legislators are among the chief proponents of the legislation. Their communities pay the costs of this pollution. In testimony last year, Dr. Nathanial Hitt, a researcher at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, presented scientific data to show that burying streams with mining wastes lowers their quality and recreational value, increases flooding, and increases treatment costs to communities and businesses for many miles downstream.
This year’s I Love Mountains Day activities start with a half-mile march from the Kentucky River to the front steps of the capitol to symbolize the focus on water. The noon rally will feature several speakers, including special guest Ashley Judd, and music. KFTC has asked for a meeting with the governor and other top officials for the afternoon.
Operation Endangers Community, Destroys Wind Energy Potential
Residents of the Coal River Valley, accompanied by supporters from across Appalachia, took a stand this morning against the impending destruction of their mountain in the name of coal. Five activists with Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice chained themselves to an excavator and a bulldozer at the Massey operation near Pettus, West Virginia (shown above). All five (Rory McImoil, Matt Noerpel, James McGuiness
Mike Roselle, Glen Collins and videographer Chad Stevens) were arrested for trespassing by 10:00 a.m. this morning.
Beginning at 11 a.m., demonstrators blocked access to the roads that Massey Energy’s equipment will use to prepare Coal River Mountain for blasting, leading to an additional eight arrests (Lorelie Scarbro, Larry Gibson, Charles Nelson, Missy Petty, Mary Wildfire, Vernon Haltom, Allen Johson and Heather Sprouse). Others peacefully (and legally) protested the blasting nearby on a public roadway. A public rally was held at 1:00 p.m. today.
The slogan displayed on the protesters’ banner “Windmills Not Toxic Spills,” stems from residents’ and activists’ concern over the safety of Massey’s plans for blasting, which include sites over former underground mines beside a nine billion gallon sludge dam full of toxic coal waste.
“I fear for my friends and all the people living below this coal sludge dam,” said Gary Anderson, who lives near the site. “Blasting beside the dam, over underground mines, could decimate the valley for miles. The ‘experts’ said that the Buffalo Creek sludge dam was safe, but it failed. They said that the TVA sludge dam was safe, but it failed. Massey is setting up an even greater catastrophe here.”
As an alternative, residents are advocating for a wind farm on the site as it would provide clean, renewable energy and long-term jobs.
“The governor and county legislators have failed to act, so we’re acting for them,” said activist Rory McIlmoil, who has led the Coal River Wind campaign. “They can’t allow the wind potential on Coal River Mountain to be destroyed, and the nearby communities endangered, for only 17 years of coal,” McMoil said, adding that “there is a better way to develop the mountain and strengthen the local economy that will create lasting jobs and tax revenues for this county, and that’s with wind power.”
Their concerns about their safety and the reality of the alternatives are well documented. A 2008 report by the federal Office of Surface Mining revealed serious deficiencies in the WVDEP’s regulation of coal waste dams (www.wvgazette.com/News/200901110512?page=1&build=cache). The Coal River Wind Project relies on wind studies, and economic analyses of the benefits of wind vs. mountaintop removal for the community. The project received the 2008 Building Economic Alternatives Award from Co-op America.
“We can’t sit by while Massey jeopardizes the lives and homes of thousands of people,” said Vernon Haltom of Naoma. “Governor Manchin and the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection have proven that they are unwilling to protect the citizens. What do they expect us to do? Will they wait until we’re in body bags to take this threat seriously?” In November, WVDEP approved a permit revision allowing Massey to begin the mountaintop removal operation. Despite citizens’ objections, DEP denied public participation in its decision process.
“We need to stop the madness and stop Massey from blowing up our beautiful mountain,” resident Gary Andersen adds. “We need to go with the better energy option, and that’s a wind farm, which is perfect for Coal River Mountain. We could have a green energy future for the country, starting right here.”
West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin’s office can be reached at 1-888-438-2731, or you can contact his office online using our simple web form to email the governor.
(R-PA-14) has served in the House for eight years, and currently sits on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee as well as the Water Resources and Development subcommittee, so we are thrilled to have his support on the CWPA! According to a 2008 editorial released by his office, Platts believes that “further development of traditional domestic sources of energy” is an important step in our energy policy but that it needs to be done in an “environmentally-protective manner.” Protecting mountain streams from being buried in toxic overburden sounds like it fits that criteria!!
Better Know a CWPA Target: 
has signed on as the lead Republican co-sponsor of the Clean Water Protection Act. Paired with lead sponsor Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ-), Reichert’s sponsorship makes the bill bi-partisan in nature, and shows support for the bill from both coasts! Rep. Reichert is also intimately connected to the mountains, his district contains Mount Rainier, one of the nation’s last inland old-growth rain forests. He has long been a voice for conservation of natural resources in his home in the Pacific Northwest. 
serves on the House committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, a key committee in the passage of the Clean Water Protection Act. His district also contains the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Though his official positions on energy mainly pertain to high fuel prices and the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, we hope that Rep. Larsen understands that petroleum is not the only fossil fuel that is threatening communities because of our unrestrained demand. Mountaintop removal mining is a symptom of our current energy economy as well and our “coal addiction” needs tempering just as our “foreign oil addiction” does! Energy needs cannot be a justification for the destruction of ecosystems and communities.
