A new poll commissioned by Appalachian Mountain Advocates, Earth Justice and the Sierra Club shows overwhelming support for ending mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachian coal mining states. Conducted by two bipartisan firms, the poll has revealed that 57% of informed voters oppose the practice, versus 20% approving.
The following email was sent to the 100,000+ supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.
Today Virginians who live at the base of Ison Rock Ridge, a mountain threatened by a pending mountaintop removal permit, have been joined by hundreds from across the region for Virginia Rising: The Rally to Keep Ison Rock Ridge Standing. Today at noon, they will gather at the headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency and ask that the agency deny the proposed mine which would destroy 1200 acres and bury three miles of headwater streams above several Appalachian communities.
They need your help! Please add your voice and let EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and the White House know that Ison Rock Ridge should be protected. Click here.
More than 500 mountains have been destroyed due to mountaintop removal and we will not stand by and let Ison Rock Ridge be the next.
To date, over 8,000 comments have been sent to the EPA in defense of this mountain and the communities surrounding it, yet any day Lisa Jackson could make a decision on the permit. Please join with the hundreds gathered in DC by taking action today. Together we can demonstrate that people from across the country echo the concerns raised by these Virginians and that in fact that America is Rising.
For the Mountains,
Matt Wasson
iLoveMountains.org
The following email was sent to supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.
Only one week left until we gather in Washington DC at the Environmental Protection Agency to demand protection for Ison Rock Ridge!
Will you join us on November 16th?
In Wise County Virginia, a mountain known as Ison Rock Ridge is slated to be destroyed by a 1,200 acre mountaintop removal coal mine. Ison Rock Ridge sits above five small communities made up of 1,800 people. If the permit is approved, the quality of life for these people would effectively be destroyed as well.
The proposed mountaintop removal permit boundary calls for mining 300 feet from some community members’ homes as well as the burying of headwater streams that feed the creeks running through their communities.
Your efforts have held this permit at bay for years but now the EPA is close to making a final decision, and the state is siding with the coal companies. We need to make our voices heard louder than ever by showing up at their doorsteps and demanding justice.
On November 16th, we will gather in DC in front of the EPA headquarters alongside community members from Wise County to ask the EPA to Keep Ison Rock Ridge Standing.
I Love Mountains is teaming up with the Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition and others to bring hundreds of people to the doorstep of the U.S. EPA. The EPA’s authority is all that stands in the way of blasting on Ison Rock Ridge but the agency has indicated that it is considering allowing the permit to move forward!
No matter where you are from, please join us in DC for Virginia Rising: the rally to keep Ison Rock Ridge Standing!
When: Wednesday November 16th, 12:00 PM
Where:U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW (Federal Triangle Metro)
Click here for the facebook event, invite your friends!
For the Mountains,
Matt Wasson
iLoveMountains.org
Mountaintop mining is the dominant form of coal mining and the largest driver of land cover change in the central Appalachians. The waste rock from these surface mines is disposed of in the adjacent river valleys, leading to a burial of headwater streams and dramatic increases in salinity and trace metal concentrations immediately downstream. In this synoptic study we document the cumulative impact of more than 100 mining discharge outlets and approximately 28 km2 of active and reclaimed surface coal mines on the Upper Mud River of West Virginia. We measured the concentrations of major and trace elements within the tributaries and the mainstem and found that upstream of the mines water quality was equivalent to state reference sites. However, as eight separate mining-impacted tributaries contributed their flow, conductivity and the concentrations of selenium, sulfate, magnesium, and other inorganic solutes increased at a rate directly proportional to the upstream areal extent of mining. We found strong linear correlations between the concentrations of these contaminants in the river and the proportion of the contributing watershed in surface mines. All tributaries draining mountaintop-mining-impacted catchments were characterized by high conductivity and increased sulfate concentration, while concentrations of some solutes such as Se, Sr, and N were lower in the two tributaries draining reclaimed mines. Our results demonstrate the cumulative impact of multiple mines within a single catchment and provide evidence that mines reclaimed nearly two decades ago continue to contribute significantly to water quality degradation within this watershed.
T. Ty Lindberg, Emily S. Bernhardt, Raven Bier, A. M. Helton, R. Brittany Merola, Avner Vengosh, and Richard T. Di Giulio (2011) – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Appalachian Voices • Coal River Mountain Watch • Heartwood • Keeper of the Mountains • Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition • Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment • Sierra Club Environmental Justice
Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards • SouthWings • Stay Project • West Virginia Highlands Conservancy
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