The Alliance for Appalachia

Excerpted from SOCM’s excellent digital newletter:

SOCM’s Green-Collar Jobs Committee is working on a transitional approach to economic development to focus on pilot programs across the state. Here is an update on our progress:

The RRENEW Collective - based in Appalachia, Virginia - has recently published a powerful short collection of stories on organizing against mountaintop removal - their write up follows:

It Takes Unity

Stories from Members of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards

There’s a reason why people do things, there’s a reason why people organize their communities. These are the stories of a few members of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, the stories of what got them involved with fighting back against the coal companies that most of them worked for, the stories of their relationship to the mountains, and the things that they envision for their communities.

Click the link here for the PDF version of It Takes Unity, or read the stories by clicking on the links below. We are planning a follow up to It Takes Unity, so we’d love your feedback on this project.

Please take action on this important issue highlighted at www.kftc.org

Submit comments by 4pm on Monday, February 1st.
Click here to go to the KFTC Action Page to send your letter.

Read more of this great write up of the debate at www.appvoices.org

By_Bill_KovarikAn often pointed but unfailingly polite debate Thursday demonstrated a wide gulf between environmental and coal industry positions on Appalachia’s environmental woes.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, challenged coal baron Don Blankenship to be honest about the coal industry’s environmental record, especially mountaintop removal mining.

“This is the worst environmental crime that has ever happened in our history,” Kennedy said, advocating an end to MTR and a gradual shift to renewable energy sources. “We all have a moral obligation to stop this from happening.”

Blankenship, chairman of Massey Energy Company, said the issue was one of industry competitiveness in the face of “environmental extremism.”

Blankenship also challenged Kennedy on the cost of renewable energy, asking why more was not being developed. “If windmills are the thing to do, it will happen naturally.”

Wind is cheaper than coal power, Kennedy responded. “I’m stunned that Mr Blankenship doesn’t know that this is going on.”

The debate, a Forum on the Future of Energy, was sponsored by the University of Charleston in Charleston, WV on Thursday evening, Jan. 21.

Although the debate developed little common ground, its civil tone contrasted with the rancor of hearings and other public events in recent years.

“Its sadly rare in our society to have a serious conversation between people with opposing opinions on a sensitive issue,” said debate moderator Edwin Welch, President of the University of Charleston WV.

This great story was in SOCM’s new E-newsletter!

Campbell/Anderson Chapter Members Fight to Stop Mountain Top Removal

Several Campbell/Anderson chapter members are very active in the fight to stop Mountaintop Removal coal mining (MTR) in Tennessee. Vickie Terry, a member in Eagan, recently attended a meeting in West Virginia with Joseph Pizarchik, the Director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. The meeting was sponsored by The Alliance for Appalachia, a coalition of 14 organizations in central Appalachia working to abolish MTR and work towards just and sustainable communities in Appalachia. SOCM is a founding member of the Alliance. Vickie told Director Pizarchik about water quality problems in her community and the concern she has for her granddaughters growing up in an area suffering from the pollution and devastation of destructive strip mining. Vickie and one of her granddaughters will be traveling to Washington, DC in March with other SOCM members to lobby for the Clean Water Protection Act and the Appalachian Restoration Act.

The  Campbell/Anderson chapter is also very excited about working for good green jobs in their counties and are working on a project to map assets in their communities and a job-income survey to try and help pinpoint what people want to focus on for a bright sustainable future for the places they call home. For more information on the Chapter, click here.

You can see more photos from 2009in our Flickr album.

Can you come to Washington, D.C., March 6-10 for our 5th Annual End Mountaintop Removal Week — and help make 2010 the year that we put an end to mountaintop removal coal mining?

Click here for more information and to sign up.

In 2010, we have a real opportunity to pass the Clean Water Protection Act (H.R. 1310) and the Appalachia Restoration Act (S. 696) — bills that would significantly advance our goal of ending mountaintop removal coal mining.

But for these bills to pass, Congress needs to hear from ordinary citizens like you — and that’s what the Week in Washington is all about.

Last year’s Week in Washington was a tremendous success. More than 150 people from over 20 states came to Washington, holding more than 150 meetings with Congressional offices.

The result? We now have a record 160 co-sponsors in the House and 10 co-sponsors in the Senate.

Can you join us this year in Washington? You’ll get to meet and work with other passionate Appalachian activists from around the country; learn to engage decision-makers and others in your community about the issue; and meet face to face with legislators to help inspire and educate them to end mountaintop removal coal mining in 2010.

Full and partial scholarships are available on a needs-basis. To learn more and register for the Week in Washington, click here:

http://www.ilovemountains.org/wiw

If you can’t make it to Washington, please mark your calendars for Tuesday, March 9 — that’s the day we’ll be holding a national call-in day that you can participate in from anywhere.

Please also consider sponsoring a participant by donating here.

We hope to see you in Washington!

We need your help!

The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) is charged with enforcing the law on mountaintop removal. Unfortunately, decades of rollbacks and giving in to coal industry corruption have left coalfield communities virtually undefended. Exceptions to the surface mine law have become the rule, and problems with dust, blasting, toxic water and giant wastelands remaining unreclaimed are impacting the lives of thousands across the coalfields.

The OSMRE is asking for advice on how to enforce the law - and we need you to offer it. (link to website) Comments are due by January 19th - please click here to send  in sample comments or offer your own. Many of you have had personal experiences with the OSMRE - and we encourage you to write about them.

When the OSMRE doesn’t hear from citizens, they assume you have nothing to say - please let them know we are paying attention and we expect the laws to be enforced.

Thanks for your help!

The Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition is co-sponsoring a lobby day event this Monday, January 18.

Groups across all four states will be busy this winter advocating for positive change at the state level - it’s a great way to get involved and really make a difference.  Learn more about these issues in Virginia here.

And stay tuned to learn more about similar efforts in Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee - or follow the links to the right to visit our partners websites.

Jeff Biggers’ frequent and excellent posts on The Huffington Post and Grist.org are a must read for anyone following the struggle against mountaintop removal and working for justice on coal issues nationwide.

Needless to say, his new book is sure to be an important addition to the national conversation on coal and coalfield justice.  Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland is now out on Nation/Basic Books. Watch the book trailer here www.jeffbiggers.com and the Facebook page here.

Here are a few of the man, many impressive recommendations coming out in favor of this exciting new book:

“Nobody writes about Appalachia like Jeff Biggers. His voice is a swirl of history and memory, of fact and analysis, of hillbilly wisdom and journalistic outrage. Reckoning at Eagle Creek is bigger and brawnier than a memoir or cultural chronicle—it’s a passionate howl from the dark heart of American coal country.”—Jeff Goodell, author, Big Coal

“Part historical narrative, part family memoir, part pastoral paean, and part jeremiad against the abuse of the land and of the men who gave and continue to give their lives to (and often for) the mines, [Reckoning at Eagle Creek] puts a human face on the industry that supplies nearly half of America’s energy…it offers a rare historical perspective on the vital yet little considered industry, along with a devastating critique of the myth of ‘clean coal.’ ”—Publishers Weekly