On February 14th, join with hundreds of Kentuckians to call for an end to the destructive practice of mountaintop removal coal mining and ask our leaders for clean energy solutions that provide good, safe jobs and healthy communities for Kentucky.
All over Eastern Kentucky and Central Appalachia, residents in communities like Eolia, Hueysville, Benham, Lynch and Montgomery Creek are speaking up to protect their health and homeland from the destruction of coal and to create a more sustainable economy.
Join us this May for the 8th Annual End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington.
We’re excited to announce that the application form is live for the 8th Annual End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington this May 4th-8th, 2013. This event is one of the most important events of the year for those working to end mountaintop removal. Click here to apply today!
This year we will ramp up pressure on the Obama Administration to end mountaintop removal once and for all. In addition increasing pressure on federal agencies, we will continue our ongoing work to support the Clean Water Protection Act and gain new bi-partisan support for the bill. We will also begin conversations with lawmakers about the potential for economic transition legislation for the region.
Registration is now live for our 2013 End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington this May 4th-8th! Click here to apply today!
This year we have new opportunities to make our voices heard in DC. Scholarships are limited. If you are seeking a full or partial scholarship, the deadline is March 12th. If you do not need scholarship support, the deadline to register is March 19th.
Last year’s Week in Washington was a tremendous success. More than 150 people from over 20 states came to Washington, holding over 200 meetings with Congressional offices and Agency Officials–all culminating in Appalachia Rising’s Day of Action.
2013 marks a critical moment to make the issue of mountaintop removal coal mining a top priority issue in Washington. Can you join us this year in Washington? Click here to apply!
We hope to see you in Washington!
P.S. Please forward this invitation to friends or colleagues who may be interested in joining us in Washington.
On Monday, just a few miles from the old school, students began classes at a new, safer Marsh Fork Elementary. Last week, families were invited to tour the school, where classrooms are equipped with smart board presentation stations, computer labs with the fastest internet connection in the area and a freshly painted gym with the school’s colors and mascot, a bulldog.
For years the old school building, which was adjacent to a coal silo and sat just 400 feet downslope from an impoundment that held back billions of gallons of coal slurry, was at the center of a controversy that led to protests, arrests and nationwide publicity. Local residents, especially parents of Marsh Fork students, were concerned about the health impacts of exposure to coal dust and the threat of a disaster at the impoundment owned by Massey Energy.
At the open house, Marsh Fork’s interim principal Tracie Wood told the Beckley Register-Herald, “I have never seen a community so excited about a school opening.”
Although it took years longer than many would have liked or expected from local officials and Massey, parents no longer have to worry about their children playing in the shadow of a coal preparation plant. Massey Energy gave the Raleigh County Board of Education $1.5 million to help pay for the new Marsh Fork Elementary.
Watch a flyover of the mine and impoundment above the old Marsh Fork Elementary building:
Children in Appalachian coal mining communities are 42 percent more likely to be born with birth defects and have a life expectancy that is almost five years lower than the national average.
Dozens of scientific studies have linked mountaintop removal mining to high rates of cancer and other diseases in nearby communities. But as these children show, you don’t need to be a scientist to understand the devastating impact that mountaintop removal has on the health and quality of life of people living nearby.
Thanks to thousands of people like you who have spoken up for the Appalachian Mountains and communities time and again, President Obama’s agencies have taken major steps to reduce the destruction caused by mountaintop removal mining over the past four years.
As the president is sworn in to a second term later this month, we have an opportunity to finish the job and stop mountaintop removal once and for all. We need your help to ensure that President Obama makes ending mountaintop removal a priority in his second term.
And please help these children spread the word about what’s happening in their communities by sharing this video with your friends, family and colleagues.
I Love Mountains Day 2013 is less than one month away!
