If saving mountains is a hobby of yours (and if you’re reading this blog, I imagine it is) then head out to the Whipple Company Store in Scarbro, W.Va., this weekend to support the historic Blair Mountain!
On Saturday, Sept. 4, from noon until 5 p.m., Whipple Company Store and the Friends of Blair Mountain—along with a host of other groups—will host a big Labor Day gathering to celebrate West Virginia’s Blair Mountain and promote the protection of this historic site.
Appalachian Voices is just one of the supporting sponsors of the event, which will include music, food, free tours of the Whipple store and a special display of Blair Mountain artifacts (including the baseball that saved 200 lives and the canon used by Big Coal as an early means of “collective bargaining”). A special fancy dinner party will follow in Tamarack, find out the details at the store!
To give you a little background, Blair Mountain is the location of the historic 1921 labor battle between miners seeking to unionize and coal companies attempting to prevent unionization. Read more about the battle.
Since the 1980s, a group of historians, archeologists and local residents have fought to preserve the unique history and natural beauty of Blair Mountain from the devastating effects of mountaintop removal coal mining. With a new mining permit approved, the future of this historic site is in imminent peril. Blair Mountain is now one of America’s Most Endangered Mountains.
Please come out on Saturday, Sept. 4 and show your support for Blair Mountain. If you are musically inclined, bring your instruments to help make a joyful noise!
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a New Deal initiative designed to uplift the Tennessee and surrounding Appalachian states by providing electricity to the region, is now better known for one of the largest environmental disasters on the east coast (not including the BP oil spill). A few days before Christmas of 2008, 1 billion gallons of toxic coal ash sludge inundated the Emory and Tennessee Rivers. They have been cleaning up their coal ash and their reputation ever since. Both have been difficult and there is still plenty of toxic mud left in the river and on their public image.
The newest attempt for the TVA to “clean up their act” is their recent announcement to idle nine units at three of their coal-fired power plants, equaling about 1000 megawatts. The TVA has been under intense pressure to clean up its air pollution ever since it was sued by the state of North Carolina to do so. (the 4th Court of Appeals overturned the NC win). TVA CEO Tom Kilgore says TVA is doing this because they are interested in ” replacing some coal with other, cleaner fuel sources allows a reduction in air emissions including carbon”. Some of those options include nuclear and energy efficiency.
Energy Efficiency is the best way to reduce carbon, and save consumers money on their electric bills. Plus, there is zero waste, unlike nuclear. As Amory Lovins from the Rocky Mountain Institute, a organization that promotes profitable innovations for energy and resource efficiency notes that, “In general, up to 75% of the electricity used in the U.S. today could be saved with efficiency measures that cost less than the electricity itself.”
Progress Energy and Duke Energy have both made announcements in the past two years to retire or convert 24 units in the state of North Carolina. This sounds quite dramatically positive until you look at the numbers. Most of these plants have been operating under 40% capacity. If some these plants are converted to natural gas and are operated at fuller capacity, it may pump more CO2 in the atmosphere. Plus, the new Cliffside coal-fired power plant, scheduled to go online in 2012, will make up for half the capacity that is being shut down.
This month, the New York Times ran a story in the front page of the Business Section about the battle over Coal River Mountain. This mountain, the last standing in the Coal River Valley, is slated for a 6,600 square mile mountaintop removal mine. But local residents, led by grandmother Lorelei Scarbro, has a different vision: a 328 megawatt wind farm. Appalachian Voices and Google Earth Outreach teamed up with the Coal River Wind project to create an interactive Google Earth tour and an accompanying video of the mountain’s plight. The tour was displayed at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen last summer.
Two days later, the New York Times came out with its most strongly worded editorial opposing mountaintop removal.
This September, thousands of people from across the country will gather in Washington, D.C. to urge for an end to mountaintop removal coal mining and a renewed vision for the future of Appalachia.
Will you be among them?
Building on a long history of social action for a just and sustainable Appalachia, Appalachia Rising is a national response to the poisoning of America’s water supply and the destruction of Appalachia’s mountains and communities through mountaintop removal coal mining.
The event, which will take place in D.C. Sept 25-28, consists of three components:
— The Voices From the Mountains conference kicks off September 25th and 26th, with a weekend full of workshops, panels, and cultural events celebrating the history and future of Appalachia. This is a great opportunity to meet individuals impacted by mountaintop removal as well as fellow activists to strategize on how we can secure a sustainable future for Appalachia. Click here to register.
— On September 27th there will be a National Day of Action in which thousands will march and rally to call for an end to mountaintop removal. Click here to learn more.
— And to top it all off, on September 28th, our National Lobbying Day will bring activists and coalfield residents to the Capitol to pressure Senators and Representatives in Congress on the need for laws to end mountaintop removal coal mining. Would you be willing to meet with your representatives and make your voice heard? The Lobbying Day is open to people of all experience levels, and there will be lobby training throughout the weekend. Click here to apply.
This fall marks a critical time in the fight to end mountaintop removal. We hope that you’ll consider joining coalfield residents, grassroots groups, national organizations, and individuals like yourselves to help strengthen our movement and show the world that Americans are ready to end mountaintop removal coal mining.
So please, mark your calendar, and join us this September.
Thank you for everything you do.
Matt Wasson
iLoveMountains.org
P.S. Be sure to forward this email to friends or colleagues who may be interested in taking part in this momentous event.
A dynamic group of academics, local community members, and business leaders have produced a unique special issue of Solutions journal dedicated to creating a brighter future for Appalachia. Hear from Wendell Berry, John Todd, Adam Lewis, Sarah Forbes, Erik Reece and many more in the July/August Appalachia special issue of Solutions.
• Current AV members: Receive a free copy by emailing us or calling 828-262-1500
• Become a member of AV and receive a free copy
• Subscribe to Solutions Journal
Here’s what the Folks at Solutions Journal have to say about the issue:
Together with a dynamic group of academics, business leaders, and activists—each living and working in Appalachia—Solutions will present a special issue dedicated to creating a brighter future for Appalachia. Appalachia is a special place—one of the most biologically diverse and culturally rich regions on the planet. But it is only one of several regions in the United States with an economy dependent on fossil energy production and where the people fear they will suffer when America makes its necessary transition to a low-carbon economy. The challenge in each of these regions will be to make the transition as deliberately and thoughtfully as possible. Central Appalachia has the potential to become a national model of the positive transition to America’s clean energy future. Our members will receive $5.00 off the low subscription rate that keeps Solutions going.
When we think about the fight to end mountaintop removal coal mining, it’s easy to focus on the more than 500 mountains in Appalachia that have already been lost.
While remembering the places that have been destroyed by mountaintop removal coal mining is important, in many ways the best way to honor the past is to focus on the future — and ensure that we don’t allow the coal industry to continue to destroy our mountains and communities.
That’s why we created the America’s Most Endangered Mountains video series — to show the world that the effort to end mountaintop removal coal mining is an effort to save some wonderful places.
Solar photovoltaic systems have long been painted as a clean way to generate electricity, but expensive compared with other alternatives to oil, like nuclear power. No longer. In a “historic crossover,” the costs of solar photovoltaic systems have declined to the point where they are lower than the rising projected costs of new nuclear plants, according to a paper published this month.
Solar photovoltaic systems have long been painted as a clean way to generate electricity, but expensive compared with other alternatives to oil, like nuclear power. No longer. In a “historic crossover,” the costs of solar photovoltaic systems have declined to the point where they are lower than the rising projected costs of new nuclear plants, according to a paper published this month.
LINK TV is an online TV program supported by notables like Danny Glover and Harry Belafonte, recently ran a piece about mountaintop removal in their news program. Its a very dramatic piece and will get you fired up. But my only wish is that they showed more of the middle ground, less of the anger and more of the sustained passion that so many people have. Not that anger is not justified or have its place, but there are more nuances to this mountaintop removal movement. As a movement, we need to learn to talk to those who support mountaintop removal, because, most people want the same things- security for their families.
We do need to attract economic options to Appalachian coal regions that does cost people their health, their mountains and their communities. But it will be difficult to do that when mountains are blasted, streams are buried and polluted, and drinking water is orange from heavy metal and smells like sulfur. But we will prevail- we have a national movement. If you are not already, please join us today.
If saving mountains is a hobby of yours (and if you’re reading this blog, I imagine it is) then head out to the Whipple Company Store in Scarbro, W.Va., this weekend to support the historic Blair Mountain!
A dynamic group of academics, local community members, and business leaders have produced a unique special issue of Solutions journal dedicated to creating a brighter future for Appalachia. Hear from Wendell Berry, John Todd, Adam Lewis, Sarah Forbes, Erik Reece and many more in the July/August Appalachia special issue of Solutions.
