Record participation moves legislation closer to passage
Last week, the Alliance for Appalachia put on our largest lobby week ever to end mountaintop removal. More than 200 participants from 27 states came to tell Congress to end mountaintop removal and pass the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310) and the Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696). Citizens directly impacted by mountaintop removal were joined by concerned Americans from as far away as Oregon, Maine, California, Minnesota, Michigan, and Colorado in an incredibly powerful act of solidarity.
Participants set up and executed over 150 meetings with Congressional offices, sharing their stories and concerns about the horrific practice of mountaintop removal. We also dropped in on over 200 additional offices with whom meetings were not scheduled, and worked hard to get face-to-face time with key Congressional targets.
Thus far, the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310) has picked up 166 bipartisan cosponsors, including two additional signers this week; Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL-05) and Bill Foster (D-IL-14). The Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696) has 10 bipartisan cosponsors, with many more in the works.
Thanks to the planning team, the participants from around the country, and the people of Appalachia who spent many long hours and sleepless nights to make this the biggest and best lobby week we have ever had.
A coalition comprised of 28 Christian groups sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency demanding that the organization take action to end mountaintop removal through the restoration of the Clean Water Act’s protections.
“As part of our call to be stewards of creation, we have a duty to use the land responsibly, to manage it so that it serves the good of all, and to protect it for future generations and for all life. Establishing the Clean Water Act rule is one step in doing that.”
-Jordan Blevins, Land and Water Program Manager for the National Council of Churches
This week, more than 200 citizens from Appalachia and across the U.S. are gathering in our nation’s capital as part of our 5th Annual End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington.
They will be meeting with members of Congress to urge them to co-sponsor H.R. 1310, the Clean Water Protection Act, which would help to end mountaintop removal coal extraction. This issue is extremely urgent and the coal industry is working overtime to block the passage of this bill.
Please take a moment to contact your Representative’s office and ask them to sign on to save streams. Hearing from their constituents is incredibly powerful, and you can help end mountaintop removal with a simple phone call.Just dial (202) 224-3121, or use our free online calling tool. Here is a script to help you:
Hello, my name is ______________ and I live in ________________. I’m calling to request that the Representative becomes a co-sponsor of the Clean Water Protection Act – H.R. 1310. This bill would help stop mountaintop removal coal mining — a dangerous form of coal mining that happens in Appalachia. More than 2,000 miles of streams have been destroyed by mountaintop removal, and it poses a serious health risk to local citizens. The destruction of clean water and endangerment of American citizens is an urgent national issue, and I would appreciate your support of the Clean Water Protection Act.
By Marsha Johnston
A citizen participant in the Alliance for Appalachia’s annual Week in Washington
Over 200 citizen lobbyists from as far away as California and Oregon converged on Washington, DC this weekend to push Congress to pass legislation in 2010 that will put an end to mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. Our excitement built throughout the day as a series of passionate, well-organized presentations from staff members and coalfield residents inspired, shocked, informed and amused us into readiness for tackling Capitol Hill.
Deftly ironic, Mickey McCoy from Kentuckians for the Commonwealth made us laugh while presenting the horrific facts of mountaintop removal. “They have a lot of soft words for what they’re doing. Like `pond’ for slurry. We’re talkin’ 72 acres! That’s a lake. And `spill’. `Spill’ is what happens when your son reaches over the table and spills his sister’s milk. These are floods. Even mountaintop removal doesn’t sound too bad if you say it real fast. They should really be calling it `mountain bombing’.”
As new citizen lobbyists, we began doing just that.
Among several inspiring coalfield resident testimonies, Cari Moore was particularly compelling. An eighth-generation Appalachian and grand-daughter of a preacher-miner, Cari recounted how, incredibly, fellow Appalachians label her “outsider” for opposing the destruction of her family’s beloved mountains. “I try to imagine how he would react if someone said that children are breathing the same dust that gave him black lung, and I cannot imagine in my heart that he would support mountaintop removal mining,” she said. She also recounted how her community, trying to provide cleaner water by switching systems, now finds that its new system–which is closer to a mountaintop removal site–has 3 times the recommended levels of manganese instead of just 2.5 times.
Despite the money and purchased politicians behind King Coal, many presenters confessed a sense of guarded optimism. Long-time activist Lorelei Scarboro, of Coal River Mountain Watch, said she saw the momentum change with the arrival of the Obama Administration, and that we are getting more meetings with higher-level officers than ever before, who are listening. One staff member, noting that Appalachian state legislators are getting a bit desperate since the EPA said it would scrutinize MTR permits more closely, with West Virginia passing legislation naming coal the state rock.
More than once, staff members reminded us of Gandhi’s wisdom about fighting Goliath, saying we are in the last phase before winning: “First they laugh at you, then they ignore you, then they fight with you, then you win.”
Citizens will be lobbying representatives and senators Monday through Wednesday of this week. A national call-in day will take place on Tuesday, March 9. Find out how you can participate by calling your Congressperson or Senator, or learn more about the Clean Water Protection Act or the Appalachia Restoration Act.
Due to unclear rulings by the Supreme Court regarding the Clean Water Act, the EPA’s hands are tied on some waterways.
Loopholes and gray areas are leaving waterways unprotected and pollution rates are on the rise.
“…Midlevel E.P.A. officials said that internal studies indicated that as many as 45 percent of major polluters might be either outside regulatory reach or in areas where proving jurisdiction is overwhelmingly difficult,” said Charles Duhigg and Janet Roberts in their article, “Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Foiling E.P.A.”
Selenium, one of the pollutants related to mountaintop removal coal mining, poses serious health risks to both aquatic life and human life.
“We’re killing fish right now with selenium pollution from mountaintop removal mining. Toxic levels of selenium were found in 73 of 78 stream samples. The threat is expanding as use of this destructive process expands. Once these ecosystems are polluted, damage to the environment is permanent…I specialize in fish, but that is only one part of the overall picture. Public health is also an issue with mountaintop removal mining. Once in the aquatic environment, waterborne selenium can enter the food chain and reach levels that are toxic to fish and wildlife.”
–Dennis Lemly, professor of biology at Wake Forest University
As coal ash is shipped from Kingston, Tenn., the site of TVA’s coal ash disaster, to the Arrowhead Landfill, in Uniontown, Ala., controversy continues to rise over what scholars call, an environmental injustice.
The Natural Resources Defense Council is sponsoring “Music Saves Mountains,” (link: http://www.musicsavesmountains.org/) a concert dedicated to raising awareness about mountaintop removal.
The concert, hosted on May 19 at 8 p.m. at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn., will feature artists such as Ben Sollee, Dave Matthews, Sheryl Crow, and Kathy Mattea.
Tickets go on sale on March 5 at 10 a.m. Click here to buy tickets: www.ryman.com.
OVEC is trying to buy land in Twilight in Boone County, W.Va., in order to prevent a coal company from purchasing the land for mountaintop removal. The land includes two houses, seven buildings, a little over nine acres and the mineral rights to all of it.
The Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act (S. 1406/H.R. 899), would limit the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) from approving certain types of surface mining permits based on outlined conditions. The bill was introduced to the Tennessee House of Representatives by Reps. Bill Dunn and Michael Ray, while Sens. Bill Ketron and Doug Jackson introduced it to the Tennessee Senate.
According to the text of the bill, permits would not be issued or renewed if the surface mining operation or its waste, fill, or in-stream treatment takes place within 100 feet of any Tennesseee water system. A permit that would improve the quality of a body of water previously impacted by mining practices would, however, be eligible for issuance or renewal.
Another provision of the bill would prohobit permits that would certify surface mining at and above 2,000 feet elevation from sea level if it would disturb a ridgeline. The expection to this rule would be if the permit required some surface mining in order to conduct underground mining, if approved by TDEC.
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey shares his thoughts on mountaintop removal and the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act:
Last week, the Alliance for Appalachia put on our largest lobby week ever to end mountaintop removal. More than 200 participants from 27 states came to tell Congress to end mountaintop removal and pass the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310) and the Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696). Citizens directly impacted by mountaintop removal were joined by concerned Americans from as far away as Oregon, Maine, California, Minnesota, Michigan, and Colorado in an incredibly powerful act of solidarity. 
Participants set up and executed over 150 meetings with Congressional offices, sharing their stories and concerns about the horrific practice of mountaintop removal. We also dropped in on over 200 additional offices with whom meetings were not scheduled, and worked hard to get face-to-face time with key Congressional targets.
