West Virginia Blue
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I don't know about you, but I'm pretty frustrated by the pace of change in West Virginia. I get angry when state politicians say they'll speak with 'one voice' for coal interests while ignoring the rest of us. I'm ready to send a signal that even here in Appalachia we are committed to addressing the deteriorating atmosphere.
So many of the debates going on today are remote and distant, sometimes it feels hard to impact what's going on in Charleston, Washington, or Copenhagen. I've spent a lot of time thinking about what we can do today, something that can have an positive immediate impact and I've finally found something.
Contribute today to Sustainable Economic and Energy Diversification in Coal River valley.
We've talked many times about the importance and difficulties of developing sustainable diverse economic opportunities in West Virginia. Thankfully, there are committed grass-roots activists working hard at these efforts.
Blasts have reverberated off the top of Coal River Mountain since mid-October. Each boom is a reminder of how much is at stake in the Coal River Valley. For two years, residents of the Coal River Valley campaigned for the mountain's preservation for development as an industrial-scale wind farm. A wind farm in the Coal River Valley would chart a new course for the region and pose a true threat to those who seek to demolish West Virginia's natural resources and heritage for short term profit. Though blasting has begun, the battle for Coal River Mountain is far from over, and in the valley below, residents are increasingly taking sustainable development into their own hands as part of Coal River Mountain Watch's Sustainable Economic and Energy Diversification (SEED) project.
SEED is a community organizing project designed to connect residents of the Coal River Valley to one another and the outside resources they need to make their small business and renewable energy ventures a reality. We began by meeting with twelve families in the valley over the summer and fall, and identified three inspiring projects to pursue. Two families are in the beginning stages of a community owned wind development project. One group of woodworkers are building a wood kiln to dry and increase the value of sustainably forested lumber. The SEED Community Team formed as a group of locals generating new ideas for community revival and economic diversification in monthly meetings. In their latest meeting, they resolved to build a community owned greenhouse and plan to break ground on the project in the winter. The entrepreneurial spirit is spreading!
SEED volunteers help with construction of a community center building in Rock Creek, WV
SEED is structured to ensure accountability to community members. It begins with listening to community members, and the Community Team ensures that project organizers do not veer off course in the collaborative process of small business development.
Judy Gunnoe lives at the head of Lick Creek Hollow, nestled between two toes of Coal River Mountain. "I think there are other options beyond coal because coal's not gonna be here forever - our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, what are they gonna do when coal's not here? There needs to be some kind of other jobs besides coal. I think there's a lot of smaller businesses that would like to be in this area, but they're scared off because of the mining. If you can get a few things started, you can get a few people to work - you can even employ these high school graduates. There's not a lot of young people; what ones are here, they leave or they go in the mines because that's the only thing to do, and by the time they're 30, they're half-dead." The Gunnoes are SEED community leaders and are building a community center and hope to put wind turbines on the ridge above their home.
Organizers are working on two wind development projects in the the valley. They need to start raising funds today to be able to purchase and install a 100 kilowatt wind turbines as soon as possible and stake the community's claim on the toe of Coal River Mountain. This single-turbine installation lays the groundwork for larger wind development in the future.
Like any volunteer effort, the SEED project cannot be sustained by sweat equity alone. It needs your help. There is an immediate need for anemometers to measure wind feasibility, then there are additional costs associated with the purchase and installation of wind turbines in the Coal River Valley.
Community members visit a wind farm in April, 2009
Contribute $17, $34, or even $170 today to safe, clean, homegrown Sustainable Energy and Environmental Development for West Virginia Coal River valley. Send a clear signal that you want to that target to be at least 17%.
When we all work together, we can change our climate for good.
In Greenbrier County WV, the Beech Ridge Wind Farm is a $300 million, 119-wind turbine wind farm presently under construction. The 400 feet (120 m) tall wind turbines, each of which will generate 1.5 megawatts of electricity, will be scattered for 15 miles (24 km) along Shellcamp, Smokehouse, Beech, Rockcamp and Big ridges and Cold Knob, Old Field, Blue Knob and Nunly mountains. Total output for the project will be 186 megawatts.
Take a look at the map below to compare Greenbrier's existing power transmission lines to those where the Coal River Mountain project in Raleigh County has been proposed.
It's pretty obvious that while Raleigh County has some hefty lines crisscrossing right through it (intersecting at Beckley), most of Greenbrier County is pretty power-line free. Apparently that's why there's a new power line a new 13.8 miles (22.2 km), 138 kilovolt power transmission line, to be located in Greenbrier and Nicholas counties. The construction of those lines are already injecting revenue into the local economy.
Note that there's a really hefty power transmission line crisscrossing Grant and Tucker because Grant County's Mount Storm Wind Energy Center has a 66 megawatt plant with 44 1.5 megawatt turbines that generate enough electricity to power 22,000 homes. It's 132 wind turbines stretch along 12 miles of the Allegheny Front, and can generate up to 264 megawatts. That's enough electricity to serve about 66,000 homes and businesses. And Tucker County's wind farm consists of 44 NEG Micon 1.5 megawatt (MW) wind turbines that produce 66 MW of electricity. Tucker county's Mountaineer Wind Energy Center generates enough electricity to power approximately 20,000 homes.
The reason I delineated Kanawha county in red is because the transmission lines coming from its polluting coal-fired John Amos power plant are far fewer and less impressive than those running through Tucker and Grant county, which lead me to suspect that someone from our "extraction" state may well have over specified the power line right-of-way requirements from non-coal producing power generating systems. BTW I found the above power line grid map on the U.S. Dept. of Energy website, so it should be fairly accurate.
Anyway, since Tucker County has had its wind farm on line since 2003, it may be useful to know what its done for the county. Resident Robert Burns worked for the Tucker County Development Authority during the planning and construction of the wind farm, and recently spoke with a southern WV coalfield delegation about some bottom line incentives for wind in West Virginia.
"Our local government was looking for two things when deciding about the economic development of Mountaineer Wind Energy - taxes and jobs."
The project created local jobs, and the county tax revenues increased significantly from the onset of the project. And although school districts across our southern coalfield are failing due to lack of funds, 60-70% of tax payments to Tucker county from Mountaineer Wind Energy are reinvested into schools. source
One last item regarding the ability of "extraction states" to fund wind farm projects
Chinese banks put up $1.5 billion for a 36,000-acre wind farm in Texas with the power to light up 180,000 homes. CBSnews, Oct. 29, 2009
"The project is a joint venture with U.S. Renewable Energy Group, a private equity firm, Austin, Texas-based Cielo Wind Power LP and Shenyang Power Group of China
"The joint venture also plans to tap into U.S. stimulus funding for alternative energy, said Cappy McGarr, managing partner of U.S. Renewable Energy.
"Armed with nearly $1 billion in federal grants, wind farm developers installed 1,649 megawatts of capacity from July through September - enough to serve the equivalent of 480,000 average households and about 18 percent more than the year-ago quarter, the American Wind Energy Association said last week.
"That suggests the industry is doing better than might be expected, easing fears that a lack of lending would stall new wind capacity". source
Check this out
"Now is a great time to be investing [in renewable energy] because of all of the advantages of the stimulus package money," said McGarr, managing partner of U.S. Renewable Energy Group."And this is an opportunity to create something that will last a long, long time."
"The $1.5 billion project is an opportunity for China, which has been aggressively expanding its wind power, to get a toehold in the U.S. renewable energy market. The deal was announced on the same day U.S. trade negotiators said China agreed to drop a restriction that has insulated Chinese wind turbines from import competition."
"Hornaday said the Chinese investment helped to make up for the impact of low energy prices. Wind farms have looked less attractive to investors as the price of natural gas, which heavily influences the price for power in Texas, remains low.
"...To qualify for the stimulus grant, the project must begin construction by 2010.source
Anyone wondering how much of the stimulus money Governor Manchin hasn't spent developing "renewable" alternative energy sources in WV can follow the money at this link
There's a shovel-ready wind project in Raleigh County for which the residents have been petitioning the state to save for quite some time now. But due monumental acts of bad faith by agents of the WV Department of Environmental Protection and the WV Department of Energy, it may never come to pass.
The problem is that their state agents have decided to contravene the The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) and issue permits to Massey subsidiary Marple Coal without properly reviewing the woefully inadequate post-mining land use master plan which calls for the mountains to be restored to support "forest, wildlife, and fish". So the blasting away of a natural, non-polluting solid and reliable source of income for Raleigh County has begun, and along with it the hopes and dreams of that community.
Please call President Obama today at 202-456-1414 and implore him to use his agencies and influence with West Virginia politicians to stop the destruction of Coal River Mountain immediately.
"Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue." --Martin Luther King, Jr., to the eight fellow clergymen who opposed the civil rights action, "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Why We Can't Wait, 1960
The nation watched yesterday as fourteen Coal River Mountain residents were arrested and charged with trespassing at a mountaintop removal mine site in West Virginia, in their attempt to draw attention to a possible coal waste dam disaster several times the size of last December's TVA coal ash pond disaster.
But an even bigger question arose: Given that the blasting for the proposed 6,600 acre mountaintop removal site on Coal River Mountain, which rests beside a 6 billion-gallon toxic coal waste sludge dam above underground mines, could be catastrophic for the communities downstream, where was Gov. Joe Manchin?
After the TVA coal pond disaster, and the eastern Kentucky coal sludge disaster in 2000, how could the West Virginia governor simply sit quietly on the sidelines and do nothing?
In Pettus, West Virginia this morning, five Coal River Mountain activists were arrested and charged with trespassing after locking themselves to a bulldozer and a backhoe at a Massey Energy mountaintop-removal mine site.
In the face of an impending 6,600 acre mountaintop removal strip mine, they planted a banner for the Coal River Wind Project, a nationally acclaimed proposal that would create 200 local construction jobs and 50 permanent jobs, enough energy for 150,000 homes, and allow for sustainable forestry and mountain tourism projects, as well as a limited amount of underground mining.
After the TVA coal ash disaster in December, when a billion gallons of coal ash poured out of a pond and deluged 400 acres of land in six feet of sludge, the Coal River Mountain activists fear blasting for the proposed mountaintop removal site on Coal River Mountain, which rests beside a 6 billion-gallon toxic coal waste sludge dam above underground mines, could be catastrophic for the communities downstream.
"Massey could flood the towns of Pettus, Whitesville and Sylvester with toxic coal sludge," said Julia Bonds, of Rock Creek, W.Va. "Blasting at a multi-billion-gallon sludge lake over underground mines could cause the sludge to burst through and kill thousands of people."
Yeah, but those lives are a small price to pay for Massey's profits.
Please help save Coal River Mountain! Call Governor Manchin at 1-888-438-2731 and / or use our simple web form to e-mail the governor.
This morning five activists were arrested after locking down to a bulldozer and excavator on Coal River Mountain. They had giant banners that read "Save Coal River Mountain" and "Wind Mills NOT Toxic Spills."
This afternoon, local residents, friends and allies from across Appalachia will gather to demonstrate against Massey Energy's preparation for blasting on Coal River Mountain. Massey's bulldozers have razed a huge mud pit and torn down trees on the mountain, and the first blasts permitted would be next to the world's largest toxic coal slurry impoundment.
That's right, not only is Massey planning to blow up an ideal site for a wind farm, but they will risk destabilizing a nine-billion-gallon toxic coal slurry dam.
Coal River Mountain is slated for a 6,600-acre mountaintop removal site, but local residents have developed plans for a wind farm there instead. The wind farm would provide over a million dollars more in tax revenue per year than the mountaintop removal site, and would provide jobs and clean energy forever. Citizens have been working to convince West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin to support their plan for their community, but they're running out of time.
That's why we need your help! You can join us by calling Gov. Manchin at 1-888-438-2731 and / or using our simple web form to email the governor. Tell him that West Virginia and the nation are ready for a clean energy future, and that he MUST Stop the Blasting! on Coal River Mountain. E-mails are great, but calls are better! http://www.coalriverwind.org/?...
There are times I suspect Don Blankenship wants to destroy Coal River Mountain just to stop it from being used to harness wind energy. Afterall, he doesn't make money off wind and the clean energy jobs created in West Virginia will be good jobs belonging to workers not under his thumb.
Jeff Biggers, Rory McIlmoil, our own faithfull and others have worked hard at trying to save Coal River Mountain.
In the face of this massive mountaintop removal plan, drawing on the ingenuity of their community and national energy experts, local residents in the Coal River Mountain area have drawn up a Coal River Wind Project to create jobs, generate energy, and preserve the mountains and mountaineer heritage. Awarded Co-Op America's national award for "Building Economic Alternatives" in 2008, the Coal River Wind Project would place West Virginia in the forefront of the clean energy revolution in the United States.
Extensive research has shown that Coal River Mountain has enough wind potential to provide permanent electricity for between 100,000 and 150,000 homes, while creating 50 well-paying, permanent jobs in an area long beholden to temporary coal mining jobs. According to Rory McIlmoil of the Coal River Mountain Watch, "The wind farm would also generate as over ten times more county revenue than the mountaintop removal operations would, and in a county with a poverty rate of 18.5%, this additional income would help to stimulate new economic development projects and the creation of new and lasting jobs for the county."
The blasting of Coal River Mountain will not only strip the range of its resources, its tributaries and forests, its history and meaning; it will rob West Virginians of the possibility of creating long-lasting jobs and clean energy. Governor Joe Manchin has it within his power to issue a stay of execution of the Bee Tree Branch area, and all of Coal River Mountain, by rescinding and rejecting the remaining permits; and to call for a thorough investigation of the necessary questions regarding the Bee Tree Branch and valley fills, sediment ponds, the maintenance of sediment ditches, and the impact on the Brushy Fork Impoundment; and to set up a commission to study the Coal River Wind Project and its implications for the state's energy plan.
Before Blankenship destroys the mountain, Manchin, who has spoken of the need to move to a clean energy based economy for the state, needs to step in and make sure the permit process was followed to the letter.
Let the governor know you are following this issue. Call 1-888-438-2731 to let your voice be heard.
We're watching.
"The governor is not taking sides on this matter," is the response I got when calling.
It's not about taking sides. It's about protecting the law and protecting our future.
Update:
Here's a message from the Coal River wind team:
Call Gov. Manchin: Stop Massey From Blasting Coal River Mountain
What a way to say Happy Thanksgiving West Virginia! The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has approved Massey Energy's revision of one of the mountaintop removal coal mining permits for Coal River Mountain.
That means Massey Energy may begin blasting at any time - but only on a small potion of the mountain, so far. Governor Manchin can still stop Massey Energy from ruining Coal River Mountain's wind energy potential.
In September, your calls and e-mails helped stall the blasting. The Governor has yet to heed the thousands of calls and e-mails he received calling for a "stay of execution" for Coal River Mountain. If he doesn't act soon, then the clean wind and permanent, safe jobs potential of Coal River Mountain will be in jeopardy.
So we need your help once again to keep the pressure on the Governor.
Call Governor Manchin today at 1-888-438-2731.
Or, e-mail the governor at Governor@WVGov.org
and let him know that you are still paying attention.
For ideas of what message to leave, here area few talking points:
-- Mountaintop Removal at Coal River Mountain would destroy all of the wonderful potential of the wind project.
-- Wind is the better economic option for Coal River Mountain, but that depends on the mountain being left intact. Coal River Mountain has enough wind potential to provide electricity for between 100,000 and 150,000 homes, forever, while creating approximately 50 well-paying, permanent jobs in an area long dependent upon sparse, temporary coal mining jobs.
-- The wind farm would also generate over ten times more county revenue than the mountaintop removal operation would, and this money could be used to stimulate further economic development and to create new, lasting jobs for county residents.
-- The DEP has repeatedly denied citizens' requests for public hearings related to the proposed mining.
-- Community members are again asking Governor Joe Manchin to halt the operation and act on his commitment to renewable energy and to the citizens of West Virginia.
To learn more about Coal River Mountain Wind, go to: www.coalriverwind.org
Help us ask WV Governor Manchin for "stay of execution" for Coal River Mountain
Hey Folks,
The residents of the Coal River Valley in West Virginia urgently need your help. While we thought we had months to stop the proposed Mountaintop Removal coal mining operation for Coal River Mountain, the coal company - Massey Energy - circumvented the law and altered their permits, and are set to begin blasting the mountain for coal TOMORROW, September 10th. If they are allowed to proceed, the blasting will eliminate some of the potential for the production of clean wind energy and creation of good, green jobs on Coal River Mountain, and it will be harder for local residents to stop the continuation of the mining once it has started. So, we need your help.
Could you call Governor Manchin, today, and ask him to issue a "stay of execution" for Coal River Mountain? He already knows that there is a real alternative to Mountaintop Removal here, and he knows it is the better option, now he needs to hear it from you! He needs to know that the state and the nation are watching him, and that you know that the decision is HIS to make. The Coal River Mountain Wind Project is such a great alternative that it was awarded Co-Op America's "Building Economic Alternatives" Award, and is also being highlighted for the national Green Jobs Now! Day of Action on September 27th. But without your help, all of this will be lost for short-term, destructive coal mining.
Please pass this around to your friends, family, colleagues and email lists. The louder the voice, the better the chance of stopping the blasting. YOU can help by:
Watching the Online video to see what's is at stake. This home page and the rest of the website will also give you more information about the campaign, and presents a comparison between the benefits of Wind Power versus Mountaintop Removal coal mining.
Sign the Petition!
Pass Around the Press Release to your local media - Available on our media page.
Come to the Rally on September 16th - Information about the rally is available on the website. Please come support the residents of the Coal River Valley, and the creation of a new, clean economy and Green Jobs for West Virginia and the nation.
Calling Governor Manchin Today!! His phone number is 1-888-438-2731, and an example call message is available below.
Email Governor Manchin! It's easy. Just go to www.CoalRiverWind.org and let him know how you feel
Governor Manchin,
I am asking you to support the Coal River Wind Farm and halt blasting until you can look into this opportunity further. Massey Energy has issued notice for blasting at the site to begin tomorrow (Wednesday, September 10). Community members have requested for weeks that you put a freeze on the mountaintop removal mine and give citizens of West Virginia a chance to save Coal River Mountain.
Many people across southern West Virginia and across the United States were excited to learn recently that you are planning to make your case for renewable energy development in your upcoming "State of the State" speech, and that you have been publicly supporting the development of renewable energy in West Virginia in various speeches. During your 2008 State of the State address you pointed out "that the main ingredient to a successful energy future is sustainability" and encouraged the development of renewable energy like wind and solar. For this reason we hope you will be supportive of this landmark opportunity to put West Virginia on the renewable energy map.
Coal River Mountain in West Virginia has enough wind potential to provide electricity for over 150,000 homes and create 50 well-paying, good jobs, forever. The proposed wind farm would also help diversify the local economy in an area historically dependent upon sparse, temporary coal mining jobs. This opportunity depends upon the mountain being left intact.
We feel you could do no better than to highlight Coal River Mountain, and to lend your full support for the development of a utility-scale wind farm as an economically viable alternative to Massey's proposed 6,000+ acre mountaintop removal operation that is currently planned for the mountain.
By supporting this project, you will show both the state and the nation that you are truly committed to diversifying West Virginia's energy portfolio, and that you are willing to make tough choices in order to ensure the future of energy production and strong economy for the state and nation.
Citizens everywhere are concerned about the state of our economy and rising energy prices. Recent estimates produced by the U.S. Geologic Survey show that West Virginia has only 20-30 more years at which current levels of coal production in West Virginia can be maintained, so the time to begin developing these alternative energy sources is now, for as remaining coal runs out, the price of electricity will skyrocket.
However, we have a new and better option, and we are asking that you lend your full support for this project based on its long-term economic, social and environmental benefits, especially as they compare positively to the short-term benefits and long-term costs that will result from proposed strip-mining operations.
Governor Manchin, the choice is yours, and we hope that you make the right one - for the residents of Coal River Mountain, for West Virginia, and for the nation.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Hometown, State]
Thank you for all of your help and support,
With Great Appreciation,
Lorelei Scarbro, Rory McIlmoil and the rest of the Coal River Mountain Wind Team
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