Archive for March, 2009
Mountaintop removal mining has DEFINITELY been in the public eye this past week. If you haven’t heard the news, check fellow blogger Ken Ward Jr.’s wrap-up of media coverage of the EPA decision to further review three mountaintop removal mining permits, Appalachian Voices’ Director of Programs Matthew Wasson’s analysis of the “blow-back” from mining interests, and our coverage of the introduction of a new Senate bill to end mountaintop removal.
Not only were papers across the region following these stories, editorials were popping up like daisies… overwhelming calling for an end to mountaintop removal. Want to check them out? You can… with the Editorial Run-down!!
New York Times “Appalachia’s Agony” March 16, 2009
Roanoke Times “Mountaintop Removal Gets More Scrutiny” March 29,2009
Chattanooga Free Press “Mountaintop Removal Brake” March 29, 2009
Virginian-Pilot “End the Scourge of Mountaintop Mining” March 30, 2009
Asheville Citizen Times “Time to Write the Obituary for this Mining Practice” March 27, 2009
Better Know a CWPA Sponsor: Dale Kildee (D-MI-05) has represented Michigan on the state or federal level since 1964 and has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1974. Hailing from the industrial town of Flint, Michigan, Congressman Kildee is intimately acquainted with the boom and bust economics of single industry regions. We thank him for his support of the people and resources of Appalachia!
Better Know a CWPA Target: Vern Ehlers (R-MI-03) is currently serving his eighth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He sits on the Transportation & Infrastructure committee, the committee to which our bill has been assigned, so his support is crucial in getting the bill heard and passed through committee so it can be passed on the House floor! Ehlers has a strong history of supporting water quality in the Great Lakes, which border his state, and recognizes water as a valuable natural resource that needs to be protected! Ehlers also advocates for alternative energy and increased energy efficiency… he owns and drives a hybrid! We hope that Ehlers can see the connections between these interests and the needs of the region of Appalachia to protect our natural resources, water, and our need to create a sustainable energy future all across the nation, because right now Appalachia is paying an extraordinarily high price for America’s energy.
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This past Monday, President Obama shared more of his thoughts on mountaintop removal coal mining. Its a sign of good things to come!
JIM CARROLL: There has been decades of dispute in eastern Kentucky and other parts of Appalachia about removing — mountaintop removal, they call it; some people just call it strip mining. Do you anticipate in your administration a tighter regulation of this activity or even an outright ban on it? Where do you see that going?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: You know, this is one of those things where I want science to help lead us. I know that the Bush administration made some decisions pretty late in the day, at the end of their administration, on this issue. We want to reexamine it.
I will tell you that there’s some pretty country up there that’s been torn up pretty good. And I will also tell you that the environmental consequences of the runoff from some of these mountains can just be horrendous. You know this probably better than I do and have probably reported on it more.
Not taking that into account, because of short-term economic concerns, I think is a mistake. I think we have to balance the economic growth with good stewardship of the land God gave us.
Thanks so much to the Louisville Courier-Journal for their Whitehouse interview, and Ken Ward Jr’s blog, Coal Tattoo, for the heads up!
Be sure to read his statements from the campaign trail here: http://www.iLoveMountains.org/Obama
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The following email was sent to the 35,000+ supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.
Sen. Alexander Sen. CardinNow we’ve got momentum — and we need you to act.
On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it was reviewing hundreds of mountaintop removal coal mining permits.
We wrote to ask you to thank the administration for taking this bold stance against the devastation of mountaintop removal coal mining, and asked you to help make the EPA’s decision permanent by telling the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the Clean Water Protection Act.
And yesterday, for the first time ever, a companion bill to the Clean Water Protection Act was introduced in the U.S. Senate.
Two U.S. senators from coal producing states — Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) and Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) — introduced the Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696), which would amend the Clean Water Act to prevent the dumping of toxic mining waste from mountaintop removal coal mining into headwater streams and rivers.
Can you contract your Senators today, and urge them to support (co-sponsor?) the Appalachia Restoration Act?
http://ilovemountains.org/action/write_your_senators
In introducing the legislation, Senator Cardin said: “My goal is to put a stop to one of the most destructive mining practices that has already destroyed some of America’s most beautiful and ecologically significant regions. This legislation will put a stop to the smothering of our nation’s streams and water systems and will restore the Clean Water Act to its original intent.”
“It is not necessary to destroy our mountaintops in order to have enough coal,” said Senator Alexander. “Millions of tourists spend tens of millions of dollars in Tennessee every year to enjoy the natural beauty of our mountains – a beauty that, for me, and I believe for most Tennesseans, makes us proud to live here.”
Senator Alexander has it right. This is not an either/or choice — it’s about saving the environment and creating new jobs.
Please, contact your Senator today and urge them to support this important bipartisan bill:
http://ilovemountains.org/action/write_your_senators
With your help, the Clean Water Protection Act can pass the House and Senate this year — and put a permanent end to the worst practices of mountaintop removal coal mining.
Thank you for taking action.
Matt Wasson
iLoveMountains.org
PS Please forward this email to your friends and family, and ask them to take action by contacting their Senators today!
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U.S. SENATORS CARDIN, ALEXANDER INTRODUCE BILL TO PROTECT STREAMS FROM MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL COAL MINING WASTE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Contact:
Lenny Kohm, Campaign Director, Appalachian Voices, 828-262-1500 / lenny@appvoices.org
Jamie Goodman, Communications Coordinator, Appalachian Voices, 828-262-1500 / jamie@appvoices.org
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Two U.S. senators from coal-producing states introduced bipartisan legislation yesterday that would protect Appalachia from mountaintop removal coal mining.
The Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696), introduced by Senators Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), would amend the Clean Water Act to prevent the dumping of toxic mining waste from mountaintop removal coal mining into headwater streams and rivers.
“My goal is to put a stop to one of the most destructive mining practices that has already destroyed some of America’s most beautiful and ecologically significant regions,” said Senator Cardin, Chairman of the Water and Wildlife Subcommittee of the Committee on Environment and Public Works. “This legislation will put a stop to the smothering of our nation’s streams and water systems and will restore the Clean Water Act to its original intent.”
Mountaintop removal coal mining is an extreme form of surface mining where explosives are used to blast up to 1000 feet of mountaintop in order to reach thin seams of coal. The remaining rubble, or overburden-which contains toxic heavy metals-is dumped into adjacent valleys, contaminating headwater streams where drinking water supplies originate for millions of Americans. More than 1200 miles of streams and over 500 mountains in the central and southern Appalachians have been devastated due to mountaintop removal.
“It is not necessary to destroy our mountaintops in order to have enough coal,” said Senator Alexander. “Millions of tourists spend tens of millions of dollars in Tennessee every year to enjoy the natural beauty of our mountains-a beauty that, for me, and I believe for most Tennesseans, makes us proud to live [there].”
The bill is a companion to the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310) currently in the U.S. House of Representatives. The House bill was introduced March 4th by Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) along with Congressmen Dave Reichert (R-WA) and John Yarmuth (D-KY), and currently has 134 bipartisan cosponsors.
A number of recent studies, such as one by the Appalachian Regional Commission, report on the tremendous potential for employment growth with green jobs, while employment in coal has been on a downward trajectory for decades. In West Virginia alone, coal mining once provided over 120,000 jobs, but that number has dropped to less than 20,000. Even traditional underground mining provides far more jobs than mountaintop removal coal mining.
“This is not an either/or choice, it’s about saving the environment and creating new jobs,” said Dr. Matthew Wasson, Director of Programs at the environmental non-profit group Appalachian Voices. “Mountaintop removal does the same thing to our economy that it does to our mountains. Ending mountaintop removal will allow sustainable, long term economic growth to flourish in Appalachia.”
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, counties with a high concentration of mountaintop removal mines are some of the most impoverished in the United States.
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For text of the bill, please visit http://ilovemountains.org/ftp/lobbying/ara/AppalachianRestorationAct.pdf
For photographs or video b-roll of mountaintop removal coal mining, please contact Jamie Goodman at 828-262-1500 or jamie@appvoices.org
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Today, President Obama took a dramatic step to reverse the Bush Administration’s policies on mountaintop removal coal mining that have led to the destruction of hundreds of Appalachian Mountains and the burying of hundreds of miles of headwater streams over the past eight years.
This afternoon, Lisa Jackson, Obama’s head of the EPA, announced a decision to suspend and review permits for two mountaintop removal mining operations, an action that effectively suspends more than 100 additional valley fill permits now pending that threaten to bury hundreds more miles of headwater streams and destroy dozens more Appalachian Mountains.
During the campaign, President Barack Obama expressed concern over mountaintop removal, stating “we have to find more environmentally sound ways of mining coal, than simply blowing the tops off mountains.” However, people that are working to save their homes, mountains and communities across Appalachia have been waiting for a clear sign of how President Obama intends to proceed.
A recent editorial in the New York Times laid out in stark terms the choice with which President Obama was confronted:
The longstanding disgrace of mountaintop mining is now squarely in President Obama’s hands.
A recent court decision has given the green light to as many as 90 mountaintop mining projects in Appalachia’s coal-rich hills, which in turn could destroy more than 200 miles of valleys and streams on top of the 1,200 miles that have already been obliterated. The right course for the administration is clear: stop the projects until the underlying regulations are revised so as to end the practice altogether.
In making this decision, President Obama also took another step in fulfilling his campaign promise to bring science back to it’s rightful place in guiding the decisions of federal agencies. Over the course of eight years, the Bush Administration ignored the advice and analysis of the best scientists and systematically re-wrote the rules to allow companies to dump mine waste indiscriminately into streams. They also sought to allow higher levels of arsenic, selenium and other toxic metals from mine runoff in drinking water.
Of course, there is going to be intense pressure by existing coal interests to release many of the permits – and the National Mining Association is already issuing sky-is-falling predictions of job losses if permits are not issued immediately. But people in Appalachia know that mountaintop removal destroys far more jobs than it creates. If mountaintop removal created prosperity it should have done so decades ago. Instead, the counties where mountaintop removal occurs are among the poorest in the nation, with high unemployment rates and rapidly dwindling populations.
“Well-Being” Index by US State
A recent study by Gallup showed that the region where mountaintop removal occurs scored the lowest of any region in the nation for their “Index of Well-Being.” In fact the three Congressional Districts in Southwest Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Southern West Virginia where more than 90% of mountaintop removal operations are located were all among the bottom 2% of districts in the Gallup Survey.
But no matter how many jobs are created or lost in the Appalachian mining industry over the next few years, there’s no question that mining jobs are on their way out. The Department of Energy projects Central Appalachian coal production will decline 25% in the next decade, and it’s common knowledge that the Appalachian coal industry is undergoing a steep decline simply because the highest quality and easiest to access coal seams have long since been mined out. President Obama’s longer term plans to address mountaintop removal should focus on replacing these mining jobs with new green jobs in clean and renewable energy industries, no different than his approach in other areas of the country.
And what better place to invest than Appalachia? Not only does Appalachia have the most to lose if the jobs lost in the old industries are not replaced with new jobs in emerging industries, but Appalachia is also blessed with abundant wind, biomass and hydroelectric resources that could create far more jobs than the few supplied by the mountaintop removal mining industry. This energy would supply eastern states with much-needed renewable energy as well. In fact, specific ideas and proposals to create green jobs in this region provide an incredible jumping off point for building a green economy. Here are just a few:
– A recent report from the Appalachian Regional Commission shows that Appalachian states can create thousands of jobs and save billions of dollars by investing in energy efficiency programs. Such programs would also cut energy use in the region by 24% over the next two decades.
Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining VS. Wind Energy Development
– A group in West Virginia is proposing a wind farm on Coal River Mountain, which studies have shown has outstanding potential for industrial wind development. According to the Coal River Wind Project, this wind farm would immediately create 200 jobs during construction, and 50 permanent jobs during the life of the wind farm, generate 440MW of clean and renewable electricity, and still allow for concurrent uses of the mountain including harvesting of wild ginseng and valuable forest plants, sustainable forestry, and mountain tourism. The potential for wind development and other economic uses that would be permanently destroyed if the Obama Administration allows permits for more than 6,000 acres of mountaintop removal on this mountain to go ahead.
– Dominion Resources and BP announced a joint study in January on the possibility of developing wind resources in the coalfields of Southwest Virginia. In fact, the companies have gone so far as to purchase 2,560 acres of land in southwest Virginia’s coal counties where they plan to conduct studies.
– The High Road Initiative in Kentucky is working to tap the talent of Kentucky’s people and sustain the assets of Kentucky communities. This initative is providing small loans to support Kentuckians as entrepreneurs, workers and community leaders.
Despite all of the energy and commitment going into these projects, they simply cannot be successful if mountaintop removal is allowed to continue. The stark reality in the Coalfields is that few industries want to follow mountaintop removal. After all, what entrepreneur wants to open a new business in a community where massive blasts are cracking the foundations of people’s homes, where hundred-year floods are an annual affair, and where the tap water looks like tomato soup and smells like rotten eggs?
But suspending permitting is not a permanent solution, and there are many other initiatives that President Obama should immediately get underway before the issues of mountaintop removal can be resolved. These include:
– Reversing Bush era rule changes the currently determine whether and how mountaintop removal permits are granted. This would include elminating the Bush “Fill Rule” that allows indiscriminate dumping of mine waste into streams as well as restoring the Stream Buffer Zone rule, which was eliminated in the Bush Administration’s infamous 11th hour giveaways to industry in the waning days of the Administration.
– Require the EPA to conduct an extensive review of the impacts of additional mountaintop removal and to develop a new permitting process for surface mining in Appalachia and across the country that ensures transparency, public participation and scientific integrity.
– Initiate a green jobs program specifically in Appalachia that will develop new industries to replace the rapidly dwindling coal industry in the largely-exhausted Appalachian coalfields.
Across Appalachia, people are working for a better future. Community organizers are following in President Obama’s footsteps working to empower historically poor and oppressed communities. We are developing plans to bring new jobs, new industries, and new hope to the region.
President Obama has done a lot to inspire a new era of hope across the country, and today he kept hope alive in the coalfields of Appalachia.
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Today the Associated Press broke the news that the EPA is putting hundreds of mountaintop removal coal mining permits on hold until it can evaluate the projects’ ecological impacts. We thought you would would be interested in the reaction from Appalachia, including people who are working to stop mountaintop removal coal mining and individuals who live in the coalfields.
Photos, video B-Roll, and interviews available upon request.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
————-
CONTACT:
Dr. Matthew Wasson, Executive Director, Appalachian Voices, 828-262-1500
Jamie Goodman, Communications Coordinator, Appalachian Voices, 828-262-1500
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Community and environmental groups across Appalachia strongly applauded the EPA’s Tuesday decision to delay and review permits for two mountaintop removal coal mining operations. The EPA’s action calls into question over 100 pending valley fill permits that threaten to bury hundreds more miles of headwater streams.
Mountaintop removal coal mining is an extreme form of surface mining where explosives are used to blast up to 1000 feet of mountaintop in order to reach thin seams of coal. The remaining rubble, or overburden, which contains toxic heavy metal particles, is dumped into adjacent valleys burying headwater streams. Over 1200 miles of streams and 500 mountains have been destroyed due to mountaintop removal.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama expressed concern over mountaintop removal, stating “we have to find more environmentally sound ways of mining coal than simply blowing the tops off mountains.”
“This decision illustrates a dramatic departure from the energy policies that are destroying the mountains, the culture, the rivers and forests of Appalachia, and our most deeply held American values,” said Bobby Kennedy Jr., Chairman of the Waterkeeper Alliance. “By this decision, President Obama signals our embarking on a new energy future that promises wholesome, dignified, prosperous and healthy communities that treasure our national resources.”
Mountaintop removal coal mining, a heavily mechanized process, employs far fewer workers than underground mining. Coal mining once provided over 120,000 jobs in West Virginia alone, but that number has dropped to less than 20,000. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, counties with a high concentration of mountaintop removal mines are some of the most impoverished counties in the United States.
Groups in the region view the recent EPA decision as an acknowledgement of the destruction mountaintop removal coal mining inflicts on the environment and communities of central Appalachia. They hope that, with the halt of new mountaintop removal mining permits, there will be room for green industry and that the president’s green jobs stimulus and renewable energy development plans will reach the Appalachian coalfields.
“Not only does mountaintop removal coal mining destroy mountains, it also destroys the economic potential of Appalachia,” said Dr. Matthew Wasson, Director of Programs for the environmental non-profit organization Appalachian Voices. “This decision rekindles hope for a new economy in Appalachia built around green jobs and renewable energy,” Wasson said.
Carl Shoupe, a retired coal miner and member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, echoed Wasson’s sentiment that this decision is a step in the right direction. “We finally have an administration in place that uses scientific reasoning to make decisions instead of ideology,” Shoupe said. “We fought for this for years. I hope the EPA comes through and permanently stops the permits in our community.”
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The following email was sent to the 34,000+ supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.
We’ve got great news to report!
This afternoon, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it was suspend and review permits for two mountaintop removal coal mining operations — and putting hundreds more mountaintop coal-mining permits on hold until it can evaluate their impact on our nation’s streams and wetlands.
This is a major victory for our movement. And make no mistake, it is a result of your efforts to raise the alarm about the devastating effects of mountaintop removal coal mining to our mountains, our waters, and our communities.
CBS News has the details:
The decision was announced Tuesday by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson….
It could delay 150-250 permits being sought by companies wanting to begin blasting mountaintops to access coal.
Those permits are issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, an agency that has been criticized by environmental groups. The Corps has been sued for failing to thoroughly evaluate the environmental impact of mountaintop removal, during which forests are clear-cut and mountaintops are blasted apart to expose coal seams; the rock and dirt left behind is dumped into adjacent valleys, affecting the course and health of waterways.
In a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers denying the two permits, the EPA wrote:
[T]hat the coal mines would likely cause water quality problems in streams below the mines, would cause significant degradation to streams buried by mining activities, and that proposed steps to offset these impacts are inadequate. EPA has recommended specific actions be taken to further avoid and reduce these harmful impacts and to improve mitigation.
In other words, filling valleys with mountaintop removal coal waste and healthy ecosystems don’t mix.
The EPA’s decision is a powerful statement for good science and common sense, and it’s an amazing first step towards ending mountaintop removal and creating a new, green and just economy in Appalachia.
This is a big victory for our effort to end mountaintop removal coal mining — but here’s what you can do to make it just the first of many victories to come:
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Call the White House and thank the administration for using sound science and common sense to put a hold on the permitting process. You can call the White House at 202-456-1111 or click here to be connected.
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Help make the EPA’s decision permanent by telling Congress to pass the Clean Water Protection Act, which would outlaw the valley fills that the permitting process seeks to allow.
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Spread the word about the disastrous effects of mountaintop removal coal mining by inviting your friends and family to join you at iLoveMountains.org.
Thank you for everything you do!
Matt Wasson
iLoveMountains.org
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Submitted by Rev. Kait Delapoer
Be at peace now
Still the heart, the mind, the spirit
Be certain and clear and remember her now
She is our mother, our life support, our blessing
Breathe her essence into your heart and hold on
Release her love through gratitude
Know that she will survive
Be at peace now
Still the heart, the mind, the spirit
Be certain and clear and remember now
The preciousness of all life
Breathe this memory into your heart and hold on
Release this thoughtform through gratitude
Know that this will not be forgotten, however…
Blessed Humanity Please Be Concerned:
Remember the preciousness of all life! We are only as healthy and as vibrant as the blessed earth beneath our feet. Honor the earth and remember that she too, Is a being of life. She is a living breathing, being of life who has not been honored by mankind. When we honor the earth, we honor ourselves. When we dishonor the earth through destruction we dishonor ourselves by limiting future generations the opportunity of experiencing natural beauty. The earth offers humanity the gift of multi-dimensional wisdom through experiencing its magnificent natural beauty. Through spirit the human sensory system is capable of accessing this sacred wisdom and beauty. You might say that this is a type of technology that will never be available for future generations if mankind continues to destroy the earth. The earth is our salvation. Remember her every day as the mother of humanity. Is this anyway to treat your beloved mother? Time is of the essence now. We must not stop or hesitate or even pause for a moment without knowing that it is our responsibility to take action on behalf of the earth. If humanity becomes complacent and forgetful, the luxury of hesitation will turn into a motherless child. Bless this earth now with presence of mind and insist that your voice be heard.
Bless all humanity!
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The following email was sent to the 34,000+ supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.
Today — St. Patrick’s Day — you can help keep the Appalachian mountains green and their waters clean by taking action to bring an end to mountaintop removal coal mining.
This week, more than 150 citizens from Appalachia and across the U.S. are in our nation’s capital as part of our 4th Annual End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington.
These citizens are meeting with members of Congress to urge them to co-sponsor H.R. 1310, The Clean Water Protection Act.
But these citizens need your help. That’s why today, St. Patrick’s Day, we’re asking you and nearly 35,000 other members of iLoveMountains to call your Representative in Congress and ask them to co-sponsor the Clean Water Protection Act.
Click here to be connected to your Representative right now.
By calling your House Representative today, you can make the case that now is the time for Congress to take action to stop mountaintop removal coal mining.
Mountaintop removal is one of the most egregious environmental and social justice disasters in America today. More than 500 mountains — more than 1.5 million acres of land — have already been destroyed by mountaintop removal coal mining. And dozens of other mountains in Appalachia are still under threat.
That’s why we need to make sure that every member of Congress hears from us today. Our goal is to pass the Clean Water Protection Act in 2009 — but we can’t do it without you.
Call your House Representative today – our nifty call-in tool will dial your Representative directly at no charge and provide you with a suggested script for talking points.
Dial your Representative right now by clicking here.
You can also find out whether your Representative sponsored the Clean Water Protection Act in 2008 by clicking here.
Thank you for taking action today.
Matt Wasson
iLoveMountains.org
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Call-in Script Previews
Before you click the “Call Now” link on the call-in tool, click one of the following links or scroll through all the scripts below to get a feel for what you might say.
For a Representative SUPPORTS the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310)
“I am calling to thank Representative _____ for co-sponsoring HR 1310, The Clean Water Protection Act.
“Please let (him or her) I am glad to hear that Representative _____ is in favor of protecting the water and communities of Appalachia.
“In addition to leaving this message of thanks, I also want to ask Representative _____ to take further action to ensure the Clean Water Protection Act passes in the House this year.
“Please ask Representative _____ to encourage other Representatives from our area to sign on as co-sponsors of the bill.
“I also ask that Representative _____ encourage Chairman Oberstar to make sure this bill passes through the Transportation and Infrastructure committee.
“Thank you for your time. And, once again, thanks to Representative _____ for taking leadership and signing on to HR 1310.”
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For a Representative OPPOSES the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310)
“I have heard that Representative _______ is opposed to HR 1310, The Clean Water Protection Act, which would rein in mountaintop removal mining.
“Please let Representative___________ know that supporting mountaintop removal is not only wrong, but it puts Representative ______ on the wrong side of history. The American people, and most importantly the people of Appalachia, oppose mountaintop removal.
“I want to ask Representative ________ to protect the water and communities of Appalachia, and the water of all those downstream. Support the Clean Water Protection Act.”
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For a Representative whose position is UNKNOWN concerning the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310)
“I am calling to ask Representative ______ to help end the destruction of the water and communities of Appalachia, and the water of all those downstream, by becoming a co-sponsor of HR 1310, The Clean Water Protection Act.
“Mountaintop removal is an unnecessary method of coal extraction that blasts hundreds of feet of mountains with dangerous chemicals to get at very thin seams of coal. The debris from mountaintop removal is dumped into nearby streams and rivers. The Clean Water Protection Act would return the Clean Water Act to its original intent and would prohibit this mining ‘waste’ from being used as fill in these U.S. waterways.
“Already, more that 500 mountains and 1200 miles of streams have been destroyed in Appalachia. Please ask Representative ______ to sign on today as a co-sponsor of the Clean Water Protection Act to protect the region’s land and people.
“Contact Tim DelMonico in Representative Pallone’s office or Jason Edgar in Representative Reichert’s office to sign on to HR 1310.
“I thank you for your time.”
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