Please join SAMS in calling Senator Jim Webb on Monday July 26th and ask that he “KEEP ISON ROCK RIDGE STANDING” and support the communities of southwestern Virginia in our fight against mountain top removal coal mining.
We are asking Senator Webb to:
Thank the EPA for all they have done to protect coalfield communities from surface coal mining and
Ask the EPA to continue to intervene with the Ison Rock Ridge water permit.
To reach Senator Webb’s DC office call: 202-224-4024
or Toll Free: 1-866-507-1570
Questions, comments, or to find out how to take further action, please contact Nina at the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards office: (276) 523-4380
You can find talking points for your call below at this link »
As a parting gift to Big Coal, in late 2008 the Bush administration gutted the Stream Buffer Zone rule, which protected our nation’s streams and waterways from the worst coal industry abuses.
The old rule was a good rule – but it was never properly enforced. Today, however, instead of reinstating and enforcing the old stream buffer zone rule, the Obama administration is proposing totally new guidelines that would regulate how — and whether — America’s streams can be filled with waste from mining operations.
But before they’ll write the new regulations, the administration has decided to gather information for an Environmental Impact Statement. To that end, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) is requesting your opinion on what requirements a new stream protection rule should include.
This is a tremendous opportunity to make your voice heard on the kind of protections our streams deserve – before the rule is written.
Please, take just a few minutes to make sure that your views are taken into account and our streams are protected from the devastation of mountaintop removal coal mining. Click hear to submit your comments today.
The OSMRE is also hosting a serious of open houses to allow you to meet with officials, learn more about the rule and make your comments in person.
Residents in Pike County are working to pick up the pieces from last week’s flooding. Although there was certainly a lot of rain, some areas of the county were much worse than others. People are starting to ask the question, “why?”
Near Raccoon Creek, people are talking about the impact of the construction of Hwy 119. In Harless Creek, people are talking about the impact of strip mining.
“I think everybody up this holler would say that there wasn’t enough rain to cause all of this,” Bo Sayler, Harless Creek resident shared. He described the flooding as coming in 2 waves shortly after the rain started and has concerns about the sediment ponds at the head of hollow.
“The creek has been getting higher and higher since they started stripping,” Freddie Coleman shared who grew up in the community and is helping several family members rebuild.
Apex Coal is actively mining on the left-hand side, and there is an abandoned strip mine on the right-hand side.
Both are retired coal miners and acknowledged how a lot of the companies do.
“I think the mining contributed to it. It’s not fair that people be put in this situation,” Freddie added. Folks are working to figure out what can be done as they continue to rebuild.
Heartwood is pleased to announce that it is currently accepting applications for another round of mini-grants. Mini-grants of up to $1,000 may be awarded to Heartwood members and member groups to fund projects that educate the Heartwood region about an environmental threat or opportunity or inspire action in the Heartwood region to protect, restore, or create environmental integrity. Applications must be received by August 1, and winners will be announced at the Heartwood Reunion, October 8-10 at the Lazy Black Bear in southern Indiana.
Additional questions may be directed to info@heartwood.org or 615-358-8898.
Reverend Billy and the Mountaintop Gospel Choir are coming to celebrate in West Virginia!
Reverend Billy is an internationally known activist and performance artist who has crusaded against consumerism on the streets and in theaters across the world. His 35 person gospel choir has written dozens of original songs, including some new songs about the problems with mountaintop removal coal mining, and expressing the needs for banks to divest from mountaintop removal.
After years of campaigning against consumerism and cheap, disposable goods, the group has turned it’s focus towards methods of extraction that are turning entire communities and watersheds into disposable goods. Reverend Billy and his gospel choir have hosted a number of events in the New York City area calling for an end to mountaintop removal, and now they’re coming to West Virginia to celebrate recent victories and local activists. The event will take place in Charleston on Saturday, July 24th at 8 pm at the Cultural Center Theater.
In the words of Reverend Billy:
We’ll celebrate JP Morgan’s quiet retreat from financing MTR operations. We’ll celebrate the freedom of Marsh Fork Elementary School from the threatening coal slurry lake poised above it. We’ll celebrate the lives and work of Mountaintop Removal activists. We’ll give them thanks and praise, invigorate them, REVIVE THEM. We can end Mountaintop Removal in 2010.
There has been a lot of controversy the last couple weeks regarding Kentucky actress Ashley Judd’s strong statements against mountaintop removal and her standing up for a just economic future for Appalachia. Recently she gave a powerful press conference where she came out against mountaintop removal, and she lent her voice to a new commercial against mountaintop removal coal mining.
But the baseless personal attacks on Ashley’s character have reached a shocking new low. It seems coal supporters have hung a banner at a golf course in Floyd County, Kentucky — located on a reclaimed mountaintop mine — that cleverly yet crudely mocks Judd in the most offensive manner imaginable. The sign depicts a photo of Ashley (from a Marie Claire magazine article profiling her philanthropy and social activism) topless with her arms crossed over her chest, with this message: “Ashley Judd makes a living removing her top. Why can’t coal miners?”
According to the local TV news coverage of this controversy, an anonymous donor offended by Ashley’s recent public remarks against mountaintop removal, paid for the sign to be displayed at StoneCrest golf course during a golf tournament for mining executives and local politicians.
Author Jeff Biggers pointed out that Ashley Judd needs no one to defend her – that she has done wonderful work for Eastern Kentucky communities and a few cowardly signs are meaningless. He also notes that Floyd County, KY – where the offensive sign was displayed – has faced serious setbacks because of coal industry abuse, and these facts support Ashley Judd’s stance on mountaintop removal:
This time the barking dogs of Big Coal are howling in Floyd County, Kentucky–where 82 % of the coal mining jobs have been lost thanks to mechanization and massive mountaintop removal operations, where more than one third of the area remains in entrenched poverty due to outside corporate control and a county devastated by mountaintop removal operations and virtually no post-mining economic development or reclamation, where a fly-rock boulder the “size of a pickup truck” came blasting into a nearby home from a mountaintop removal operation.
Over 250 mountains–and historic communities–have been eliminated in eastern Kentucky alone in the last decades. Want to understand the despair? Just check out the new film documentary on mountaintop removal, Deep Down, based in eastern Kentucky.
I believe everyone has the right to offer their opinion about MTR and Judd’s speech, and I welcome differing voices. But twisting words and purposely taking things out of context is just flat-out wrong. It’s lying.
When people and the media do this, however, they’re doing just what the industry wants them to, as big corporations have always furthered their own causes by dividing and conquering the people. And when they do this they’re simply illuminating to most intelligent folks that they don’t have enough real facts to back up their argument that MTR is a good thing, so they resort to name calling and lying. That’s just pathetic, and I hope more people will start seeing through these tactics.
When I started speaking out about mountaintop removal, I expected to be attacked personally. I told my husband we should be prepared for it, because the coal companies are cunning, callous and greedy. They use people on the ground as their front, and pit us against one another. However, I know the derogatory and defamatory comments directed at me absolutely pale in comparison to what it is like for those who live every day in the war zone created by mountain top removal mining in our beloved communities and mountains.
I look forward to the chance to have a real conversation, a civil conversation, as weretire the cynical and superficial coal company-created argument that we must choose between people and mountains.
That is simply false, fear based and fear mongering. The time has come for Appalachia to have a dynamic, diverse economic base that actually supports and perpetuates our inherent richness, rather than destroying and depressing it.
We support Ashley Judd and her call for an honest discussion about Appalachia’s future. If you haven’t yet watched Ms. Judd’s excellent speech, please do so below:
This event will honor Roosevelt Lynch and Joel “Jody” Price, two African-American miners who were killed in the Upper Big Branch mine explosion. The event will also honor the rich history of diversity of Southern West Virginia’s mining communities, while raising money for the Roosevelt Lynch Scholarship Fund. This fund was started through the Oak Hill High School Alumni Association by one of Lynch’s high school class mates, DL Hamilton, who is an OVEC member. For more information, click here.
Join us this Saturday, July 3 (starting at 1 p.m.) and Sunday, July 4, for the annualMountain Keepers Music Festival on Kayford Mountain at the Stanley Heirs Park. This is a free concert that will celebrate Appalachian life. Attendees are encouraged to bring a covered dish for potluck lunches and dinners. Come hear some great music and enjoy a special appearance by leading NASA climate scientist James Hansen.Crystal Good (of the Affrilachian Poets), 2004 Winner of the Governor’s Innovative Artist Award, will perform her unique poetry.
The purpose of the concert, according to Kayford Mountain Keeper and OVEC board member Larry Gibson, is to “bring family and friends together for a weekend of celebrating West Virginia’s heritage and freedom.” Festival organizers will have trained security present; all are invited to peacefully enjoy the event.
Stanley Heirs Park is located near Dawes, W.Va., about 35 minutes south of Charleston off of Interstate 64. Camping is available for free. If you have questions or would like more information, please contactMtKeepersFestival@Gmail.com.
