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Environmental group 1Sky West Virginia is holding an INFORMATIVE MEETING/POT LUCK DINNER on Saturday, October 24 at 6:00PM at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation (520 Kanawha Blvd. W.)in Charleston in support of a strong clean energy jobs bill in the U.S. Senate and to discuss the ever controversial subject, climate change. Bring a dish and/or softdrinks.
The group will also screen a few short films at the event.
This is the first global campaign ever organized around a scientific data point: 350 parts per million (ppm) CO2 is the safe upper limit for the atmosphere according to the latest scientific data. Already the Earth's atmosphere is at 387 ppm and the levels are rapidly rising. The 1Sky network will be calling for strong action in the U.S Senate and more engagement from President Obama to push toward the 350 ppm goal.
The environment, food, movies- Saturday, October 24 at 6PM at the UUC in Charleston. Be there!
For more info, contact Andrew Porter at andrew@greencorps.org.
After the 1Sky event, stick around for the Anne Feeney and David Rovics concert at 7:30PM. Suggested admission price $15. No one will be turned away for their ability to pay.
Anne Feeney and David Rovics: Accomplished singer-songwriters 'Union has made us Strong' Midwest Tour, supporting environmental, labor, women's and anti-war movements. Both regularly tour throughout North America, Europe, and Australia.
Wow, Gov. Manchin comes across looking even worse than I expected in this video. Major kudos to the activists who handled themselves so well in this exchange.
"We want to do everything. We're committed to attracting wind farms and attracting solar farms. We're looking at all of that."
Gov. Manchin, let me humbly suggest that reading up just a wee little bit on the Coal River Mountain project might just help "trying (to) find a balance."
It's quite worrisome that Gov. Manchin views West Virginia as an "extractive state." If he widened his view just a little, at least thinking of W.Va. as an energy producing state--that would open up avenues.
Otherwise, you might want to read up on the resource curse some more, Gov. Manchin. If you are going to define our economy on the basis of extraction, there's a lot of negative consequences.
And, really, there's nothing wrong with being the Mountain State. There's a lot of great things you can do with Mountains. You can generate wind power, distributed small scale hydro, create beautiful tourism opportunities (including white-water rafting), and provide a wild, wonderful place to live.
Update: See below the fold for a statement from Climate Ground Zero on today's action.
This diary is my contribution to Blog Action Day: '09 Climate Change. "Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance."
Our planet is faced with a grave and serious danger: global climate change. How we go about addressing this issue will say as much about humanity as what we do to address it.
Unfortunately, here in Appalachia the fear of change is stoking divisions. Instead of coming together to face a common foe, man-made climate change, strong vested issues are stoking neighbors in fever-pitched disputes with one another.
The friends of coal may feel they made some tactical gains this week--they certainly showed they know how to shout down a speaker. But no matter how loud your cheering section is, it won't overcome being outmatched on the playing field.
In fact, if you listen carefully to the words of state Sen. H. Truman Chafin (D-Mingo) on the Youtube video above, you'll start to realize he not only stuck his foot in his mouth... he then proceeded to shoot himself in the foot.
Sen. Chafin completely ignored what the purpose of the hearing was. He failed to provide the Army Corp of Engineers with any useful information regarding rules changes they are required by recent court rulings to make. Instead, State Sen. Chafin decided to rile up the crowd to score cheap political points. That's grandstanding, not responsible leadership.
A National Backlash
Right now Big Coal has hat in hand in front of Congress asking for a huge new regulatory structure required in order for carbon capture and storage to have any chance of success.
To get that new regulatory structure enacted, Congress will need confidence that new enforcement mechanisms will favor long-term environmental concerns over short-term industry profit considerations. (CCS is a lot like nuclear waste... a toxic item to be stored forever.)
Pulling stunts like turning a deliberative public hearing into a political rally hurts Big Coal's lobbying efforts in Congress. Proving that the Army Corp of Engineers is unable to do something as simple as run a public hearing does nothing to inspire confidence they can handle permitting processes.
What Leadership Looks Like
Perhaps because they are there in D.C. negotiating on behalf of Big Coal, Rahall and Byrd seem to get this. The leaders here in W.Va. would do well to figure out this political calculus, too.
Just publicly going out and calling an agency names or beating up on an agency is not going to work when you go the next day or the next week to that agency and ask for their help. That's just human nature.
Coming Together
Trying to out-shout, rather than reason with, people with valid concerns does little to prove the coal industry is ready to be a partner in providing oversight for a complex new technology like carbon capture and storage. Plugging your ears and shouting yourself hoarse is a sure-fire way to get uninvited from a debate.
There are people who should know better--not just Internet commenters, but also people in charge of thing--equating the current non-violent protests with what I completely agree have been radical, extreme, violent actions in other parts of the country in the past.
Instead of making wild claims about threats to coal, we need honest brokers to negotiate a viable future for the West Virginia economy. If West Virginia coal companies want a place at the negotiating table for the future energy economy, they need to start acting responsibly. They owe that to their employees, they owe that the communities they claim to support, and, quite frankly, they owe it to their shareholders, too.
The suffering of those negatively effected by mountaintop removal is every bit as real as the fears of coal miners built up to an impassioned frenzy by friends of coal. Collaborating to find solutions, not confronting each other with yelling and screaming, will benefit us all.
We're all in this together. The sooner we can start working together to find solutions to the problems we all share, the better off we all are.
There are many ways to help change public policy. One of them is to show up to events like this and provide encouragement to those who share your views.
Those living near the Capital are blessed with multiple chances to get involved tonight. For those of us cheering you on from other corners of the state, make us proud by showing the power of showing up.
Update: If you plan to attend, be sure to read this and this.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is holding public hearings this evening on the streamlined permitted process they have been using for mountain top removal coal mining permits. One of the hearings will be held at the Charleston Civic Center, Little Theatre at 7:00 p.m.
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced today it will hold six public hearings on Oct. 13 and 15 to receive public comments on the two proposals related to the use of Nationwide Permit (NWP) 21 in the nation's Appalachian region. NWP 21 authorizes discharges of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States for surface coal mining activities.
The first proposal is to modify NWP 21 to prohibit its use in the Appalachian region. In the absence of NWP 21, an applicant would be required to obtain an individual permit for surface coal mining projects. An individual permit includes increased public and agency involvement in the permit review process, including an opportunity for public comment on individual projects.
The second proposal is to suspend NWP 21 while the Corps evaluates the comments received on the proposed modification of NWP 21, and reaches its decision. The decision on whether to suspend NWP 21 will be made after the public hearings are held and the comments received on the proposed suspension have been considered. If NWP 21 is suspended during this interim period, an applicant would be required to obtain an individual permit for surface coal mining projects.
Click here for a public notice to solicit comments on the proposals as published in the July 15, 2009 Federal Register. In response to that notice, the Corps received several requests to hold public hearings on the proposals. Based on these requests, the Corps determined that hearings would provide additional information to assist in reaching decisions on the two proposals. It was decided that one hearing will be held in each of the six states affected by the two proposals. The states include: West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia. The hearings will be open to the public and held on the following dates and at the following locations:
· West Virginia: A public hearing will be held Oct. 13, 2009, in Charleston, W.Va. at the Charleston Civic Center, Little Theatre. Hosted by the Huntington District, the public hearing will start at 7:00 p.m. Click here for additional information on this public hearing.
· Kentucky: A public hearing will be held Oct. 13, 2009, in Pikeville, Ky. at the East Kentucky Expo Center. Hosted by the Louisville District, the public hearing will start at 7:00 p.m. Click here for additional information on this public hearing.
· Tennessee: A public hearing will be held Oct. 13, 2009, in Knoxville, Tenn. Hosted by the Nashville District, the public hearing will start at 7:00 p.m. Click here for additional information on this public hearing.
- The problem with change is that, as it was once rightly said, power concedes nothing without a demand. Nonetheless, word your demand too politely and you will get exactly no response. Act like a bunch of violent anti-abortion, Operation Rescue-style terrorists, and the only kind of change you can guarantee is that you will shift the world by varying margins towards fearful authoritarianism, hatred and isolation along class, gender and/or ethnic lines - which makes violence a non-starter if you care about getting to a progressive end goal.
So what should we do? Peaceful protest won out for the abolition, women's suffrage, anti-colonialism and civil rights movements, yet they all required great masses of people to demonstrate over periods of years. Though unlike other countries with active national strike cultures, not only has a strike ethic diminished in stature as an option in the activist toolkit, the national media barely reports on such events unless they are violent, represent authoritarian ideologies, or can readily be mocked. People seeking peaceful change in the US are often effectively isolated from sympathetic peers around the world and at home and turn only rarely to collective action solutions to shared problems.
Maybe an idea like these Common Security Clubs, which try to gather small groups of neighbors to talk about economic issues face to face, could help. It's hard to say. But the injustices piling up in this world and this country have got to be addressed.
There's room for all sorts of tactics and I'm glad to see progressive individuals and organizations in West Virginia engaging in a full range, including: court and regulatory battles, advocacy, lobbying, petitions, marches, protests, and civil disobedience.
Whatever path it takes for me what is important is to get involved. Pay attention to what is going on in your community. Run for office. (Few things make me as proud as having two active bloggers at this site who are also local office-holders.) Read, comment, and post at local and state blogs. :-)
Democracy only works when we, the People, participate.
A few things lined up as the mountaintop removal issue continues to be front and center.
- The senior citizens march reaches its destination Monday
From a press release:
Protest Mountaintop Removal and Non-violent Civil Disobedience
When: Monday Oct. 12 4:00 PM
Where: Front Gate of Mammoth Coal on US-60 outside Cedar Grove
What: Come one come all, rise up to protest Mountaintop Removal! Those who so choose will take part in an act of non-violent civil disobedience. This will be the culmination of 25 miles of marching.
- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is holding a series of hearings across Appalachia on changes to the permit process for mountaintop removal.
West Virginia's is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 13 at the Charleston Civic Center's Little Theatre in Charleston. Both sides are pushing for a large turnout from supporters. The hearing begins at 7p.m.. Registration starts at 6p.m.
Youth Deploy Banner in Solidarity with Anti-MTR Senior March
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Email: news@climategroundzero.org
BELLE, W.Va. - Two young people unfurled a banner which read, "Yes, Coal is Killing West Virginia's Communities" off of the Walker CAT building in Belle, W.Va. at 12:55 p.m. this afternoon. The youth, who say they were acting in solidarity with the Senior Citizens March to End Mountaintop Removal, are affiliated with Climate Ground Zero. The March passed the Walker CAT building on today's route.
Gabe Schwartzman, 19, and David German, 18, were arrested by City of Belle Police and cited for trespassing on a structure or conveyance. They were taken to the Magistrate's Court in Charleston, where they were released at 3:00 p.m on $100 personal recognizance. Steve Walker, CEO of Walker Machinery Company, accompanied the arresting officers to the court.
At 3:20 p.m., the Senior Citizens March to End Mountaintop Removal was halted by the City of Belle Police Department. Officers took the IDs of three marchers who Walker CAT security claim walked onto the business' property.
Walker CAT's Earthmoving Division is one of the main suppliers of equipment to mountaintop removal sites in West Virginia. They are also at the forefront of pro-coal advertising campaigns. In addition to television, print, and billboard adds, Walker CAT produced "Mountaintop Mining Viewpoint," a brochure aimed at influencing public opinion in support of the practice. The twenty-eight page document makes claims that mountaintop removal coal mining is necessary, cheap and environmentally responsible.
While speaking to marchers and supporters at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Charleston last night, Larry Gibson of Kayford Mountain stated, "They keep saying coal is cheap. Ask someone who lost someone in the mining industry how cheap it is. We know better than that in the coal fields."
(With Climate Ground Zero tree sitters back in the news, this is a good time to revisit how the last tree sit went. Here's an exclusive interview that Heath Harrison did with Laura Steepleton. There's also an essential video with two of the contractor security guards that provides a real sense of how Blankenship was saying one thing in public while doing another thing in private. - promoted by Clem Guttata)
by heath_harrison
This is the first installment in a series of interviews planned on the topic of mountaintop removal.
On Aug. 31, Laura Steepleton and Nick Stocks, activists with environmental group Climate Ground Zero, were arrested following a tree-sit at Massey Energy's Edward mine, a mountaintop removal mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia.
The two spent six days in platforms 90 feet from the ground in an effort to halt the blasting endangering the nearby community of Petry Bottom. In addition to drawing national attention to the destructive effects of mountaintop removal, the protesters demanded Massey pay heath care and home repair costs for residents affected by the blasting.
The protest was part a larger campaign of civil disobedience and direct action events occurring in Appalachia, as local and national pressure to end mountaintop removal has grown.
The following is an excerpt of a conversation I had with Steepleton a few weeks after her release (adapted for print):
Q - How long did you originally intend to remain in the tree?
L.S. - I intended to stay until I was out of food and water.
Nick had to be back home by the 1st, so he made plans to get down by Monday. We had a rope connecting both the trees, called a traverse, and I went over the night before and talked to him. I told him I was fine to be up there by myself. I took all of his extra water and food, which left me with enough for a week.
My plan was to be up there for as long as possible. Our support had been arrested already, so I knew there was no chance of resupply.
After Nick got down Monday morning, they upped the harassment - which I totally expected -and brought the chainsaws out and put them at the bottom of the tree.
I kind of turned it into a game whenever they would do some sort of harassment. The first couple of nights, they would be banging on buckets - and whatever they could bang on. I just turned it into entertainment. We had a drum circle, just to show them it wasn't going to bother me.
On Monday, they brought these obnoxious sirens out, and that lasted for a couple of hours. By then, Sergeant Smith had already come out and arrested Nick and left.
They realized the sirens weren't affecting me, so two loggers walked up on the berm. One miner kept saying, "They're going to come down and start chopping down trees."
I said, " You're not really going to do that you wouldn't endanger me like that."
And they were like, 'That's what you think.'
So I said, "Well, if the state trooper was here, you couldn't do this."
And they made the comment, "Oh, we know the trooper's not
here right now and he's not on his way. We came in through the back entrance and Massey's ordered us to be here. It's their property we can do what we want."
Both of the loggers had come down and most of the security had gone up to the berm out of the way. One logger started spiking up the tree that Nick was in.
At that point, I thought I needed to get out onto the traverse. That way, he couldn't cut that tree down, because I would be on the rope connecting the two trees.
I went to do that and, as I was setting it up, a miner said, "You better hurry up and cut that line, or she's going to get out on that line."
He looked at me and said, "I don't care if she's on that line. She's got a harness on. She's not going to fall."
It's true I wouldn't have fallen. I would've swung a little bit. Being that the line is a dynamic rope and stretched quite a bit, it probably would have snapped and then hit the tree.
At that point, I thought, "Well, maybe this guy's not bluffing. If I go out on this rope, he's going to cut it and not care if I swing a little bit."
And, at that point, trees started coming down around me, so I just said, "OK, I'll get down.
Q - Did you have any interaction with any major Massey officials or objectives during your time there?
L.S. - No, there was a Massey helicopter that flew over on the first day and the last day. I was told - but I still haven't verified it - that [Massey CEO] Don Blankenship was in the helicopter the last day.
It wouldn't surprise me that he would want to be there to see all the different tactics they were employing when I was the only one up there, and that he'd want to see trees falling down beside me.
Q - Do you think Blankenship wanted to have you down before his big Labor Day bash?
L.S. - Probably. The one thing I definitely wanted was to still be in that tree for that big Labor Day bash.
I think that 's why they were stepping it up. He knew he had to go and do this.
We watched it live on Internet, and he mentioned "the crazy enviro-nuts" that strap themselves to machines and hang out in trees - and how we're the real threats to America and giving more jobs to China, which is increasing pollution.
Q - What sort of reaction have you received after getting back?
L.S. - It's really great how it's drawn a lot of local support. We've had a lot of locals come out because of it. They were really excited by the fact that we were actually able to hold ground and stop them for a week. It's been creating more locals to speak out, which is great.
And those two security guards coming out and doing that interview - that made me really, really happy. I couldn't believe that amount of support. Those guys were my heroes.
More people walked off the job because they were getting overworked. They were pulling 17-hour shifts and not getting briefed on what was going on until they got there.
A lot of them lived two hours away, so they'd get on these 17-hour shifts and had to be back in six hours. A lot of them didn't even have time to go home. They were pulling over on the side of the road, sleeping and coming back.
Q - What was the interaction like between you and the Massey employees?
L.S. - I had conversations with miners every night. They'd go on break around two in the morning and come out and harass us.
The first night, I came out after they kept saying, "We know you're awake."
So I pulled over my tarp and said, "I'm here. Let's have a conversation."
It was kind of funny, because for a couple minutes there was dead silence. They couldn't say the nasty things to my face, that they were saying when I had the tarp pulled in front of me. But then it eventually stepped up.
By the third night, I was actually able to have somewhat of a conversation.
They kept mentioning how their side of the story never gets told, and how we're just full of propaganda and get all of this media attention.
At that point, I asked, "OK, what is your story? I am talking to media. What do you want to say? Just let me know. "
Q - And how did they respond to that?
L.S. - Basically their response was, "There is nothing here but coal. You are taking away our jobs by doing this and causing our kids to not have food on their plates."
My response to them was, "It's going to take time and, believe it or not, I don't want to come in and take your jobs way from you. I don't want to see a lot of people laid off."
I asked, "Don't you want a safer future for your children - a healthy future and to be able to stay in West Virginia? And what are you going to do anyway in 20 years when there's no more coal left?"
Q- Was it hard to discuss a long-time scenario with them?
L.S. - That was totally it. Their response is, " By them I'll be retired." I think the mentality is that they'll be able to send their kids somewhere else to have a better future.
But some of them did ask, "Where are these jobs? We would be willing to transfer, but they're not here. "
That's the frustrating part. I can't sit there and say, "If there were windmills, you could go right to work." It's not going to happen overnight, with a great windmill farm up on Coal River Mountain.
You could still have jobs. There's tons of real reclamation that could be done on these mountains. If mountaintop removal ended tomorrow, you've still got all of the heavy machinery. Let's start actually doing a better job reclaiming.
But where does that funding come from? It should come from the coal companies, in my opinion. Massey's making a ton of money. They should be able to spend a couple million dollars in actual reclamation.
They asked, "Do you think we should just live off of welfare?" I think they should get government should support them until there's a transition into different jobs here.
And I let them know that there people working on that. We're not just a bunch of people getting arrested. There are other people here doing so many things to help bring different forms of economy and alternative energy into this area.
I didn't make a lot of leeway. It was kind of like talking to a brick wall, for the most part. In their mind, Massey treats them fine.
They're making 20-something dollars an hour, and that's the best paying job you can get in this area, just coming out of high school.
They've been fed a bunch of information from their side, which they believe to be legit. I think, even if they don't believe it, they just want to believe it so bad.
Q - It's going to require such a paradigm shift in this state, from the political leaders - and everyone - to change this mentality.
They're just not thinking long-term about any of this stuff.
L.S. - And that's what I kept trying to tell them. I don't hate you I want to have a conversation with you. I want you to help end this, too. And help find yourselves better jobs, and make it so your children can stay in West Virginia and enjoy this beautiful place.
The company doesn't care about them. I'm not pro-coal in any way, but you if want to talk job loss, look at the jobs that were lost - 80,000 jobs - when they started to do mountaintop removal.
It only takes about 25 to 30 people for a mountaintop removal site, site because of all the heavy machinery - so more profit for the company; they use more machines and less people.
That cut a lot of jobs when they shipped it over to mountaintop removal from underground mining.
Q - In addition to civil disobedience and direct action, what sort of work have you been doing as part of your community organizing?
L.S. - I've been photo documenting the damages to people's homes, talking to them about how the blasting has impacted them. They've been blasting this area for the past three or four years, but it's really moved on top of this community in the past year.
We have this great community that's addressing this problem from all different kinds of angles - every legal route from lobbying, writing letters and talking with community members and then direct civil disobedience action.
Climate Ground Zero's campaign is ongoing. For more information on how to get involved and what you can do to help, visit www.climategroundzero.com.
Get the word out. If you know a current high school senior who is good on civil liberties issues and looking to go to college next fall, please make sure they know about the ACLU's Youth Activist Scholarship Program.
The requirements are pretty modest.
A demonstrated commitment to civil liberties issues through some sort of activism
You have to be a high school senior
You have to be enrolled in, or planning to enroll in an accredited college or university as a full time, degree seeking student
So, if you know anyone that you feel falls into this category, please get word to them. The process of evaluatiing applications takes a little time, and the deadline is the end of November.
You may remember how, when Don Blankenship tried to buy the West Virginia Legislature for the GOP in 2006, one of the issues he used his phony children's advocacy group, "For the Sake of the Kids" to advance was a concern over so-called "frivolous lawsuits"
(Translation: Your right to seek protection from companies like Massey through the courts needs to go.)
The cause has long been a favorite of Blankenship's. I wouldn't be too surprised to learn that a speaker or two at Don-a-Pollute-za brought it up among the hodge-podge of conservative issues raised at that gathering.
It also should be of no surprise that Blankenship and Massey have decided to file a civil suit against Climate Ground Zero activists Laura Steepleton and Nick Stocks (and two others) for the Edwight tree-sit a few weeks ago.
An excerpt of my interview with Steepleton (the rest of which is coming soon)
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L.S. - Massey has slapped a civil suit on the four of us - the basis of that being that we stopped business and endangered security, and also for the expense of hiring additional security.
Q- And Massey has also filed a similar suit for those who took part in the dragline protest earlier this year?
L.S. - Yes, and those people - I haven't received a letter yet, but I'm sure there will probably be a follow up - have been put on an injunction to not be allowed on their property.
It's interesting that Blankenship told Hoppy Kercheval of Metro News that the tree-sits weren't interfering with his operations (at about 1:12 in this clip).
Climate Ground Zero co-founder Mike Roselle discussed the suit involving the dragline activists with me.
M.R. - Massey has filed a civil action against us in Boone County. We have another against us here in Raleigh County. [...] They're asking for damages for the 4 hours that the dragline was out of commission.
They filed it shortly after [June] 19th, when the action happened. So I think, within a week, we got a temporary restraining order and that was replaced by a permanent injunction. And here in Raleigh County we have another injunction.
Q - Is this a new legal tactic for a company in response to direct action? Or has this occurred before with tree-sits and direct action in the Pacific Northwest?
M.R. - No. We haven't had too many injunctions in logging protests. Generally, we're dealing with different timber companies in the same region, so we're not always hitting the same logging company every time.
We have been sued for damages before. In terms of being enjoined for trespassing, there have been a couple cases of that, but it's not something we normally have to deal with.
RALEIGH COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Actress Daryl Hannah could go to trial as early as November for her role in an environmental protest at a Raleigh County coal mine earlier this summer. The county's assistant prosecutor said most of the people arrested that day have already pleaded guilty to the charges against them, but not Hannah, who reportedly wants a fight.
81 Year Old Military Veteran Announces 25 Mile Senior Citizen's March to End Mountaintop Removal
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Roland Micklem is an 81-year-old military veteran from Richmond, VA. State police arrested Micklem and three others for blockading Massey Energy's regional headquarters in an act of non-violent civil disobedience on the morning of Wednesday September 9.
In his statement, Micklem announced his intent to lead a five day, 25 mile march for senior citizens, ages 55 and older, in a protest against mountaintop removal (MTR). Micklem and other participants will depart on the morning of Thursday October 8 from the state capital in Charleston, W.Va.. The march will conclude at the gates of the Massey-owned Mammoth MTR site in Kanawha County on Monday October 12, where those who choose to will engage in an act of non-violent civil disobedience against mountaintop removal.
In Micklem's open letter, he states, "No substantial gain in our efforts to continually evolve into a more humane and caring society has been made without the willingness of individuals-with non violence as both a creed and a strategy--to step outside the framework of law and tradition in order to correct wrongs when conventional measures had failed. The abolition of slavery, the enactment of civil rights legislation, the right of women to vote, the termination of the Vietnam war could not have come about without the help of the same kind of non violent, direct, and sometime unlawful action that we are using here to stop mountaintop removal. And as a Christian as well as one who basically respects the laws of the land, I see the growth and maturing of my Faith to be in direct proportion to my readiness to stand for truth, and to embrace causes that will contribute to our moral and spiritual uplift as the dominant species on the planet."
Micklem's march is a collaborative project between Climate Ground Zero, Mountain Justice, Intergenerational Justice, and Christians for the Mountains, and is part of an ongoing campaign of non-violent civil disobedience against mountaintop removal. Micklem and march co-organizer, Andrew Munn, age 23, are planning evening activites and speaking events to conclude each day's walk and educated the public about MTR and related issues.
[...]
According to Micklem, five people, including clergy men and women, are committed to the full march, and at least ten others will join for stretches. He expects more will join as word spreads.
Massey subsidiary Mammoth coal operates a mountaintop removal site and coal processing plant next to Route 60 east of Charleston. In 2004, Massey bought out Cannelton Coal, which formerly operated that site, cut the United Mine Workers contract, and reopened it as the non-union Mammoth Coal Company despite a union organized picket and lawsuits.
1Sky launches West Virginia campaign for bold clean energy job and climate legislation this fall
West Virginia, WV. As health care heats up in the U.S. senate, the planet is heating up too, as is the buzz around the senate climate legislation. The five hottest years in the last century all occurred in the last decade, and without immediate action to cut down on global warming pollution, it could be too late.
The exciting news is we can jumpstart our economy with millions of clean energy jobs and transition us away from coal and other dirty fuels of the past and towards a clean energy future. Moreover, we can save families in West Virginia hundreds of dollars through insulating homes and increasing energy efficiency.
This fall is a watershed moment in the fight on global warming. The U.S. senate will take up what must be the most far reaching global warming legislation ever voted on in congress. In addition, the international community will meet for the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen this December to chart up long term global targets for taking on global warming. Oil and coal interests have well-heeled lobbyists in Washington, D.C. that contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to political campaigns and millions on advertising and without strong and deep grassroots organizing neither of these, a strong senate bill or a global accord will be realized.
A handful of key senators like Jay Rockefeller and Robert Byrd will play a key role in this tight vote. 1Sky is building the buzz in the national and state media to put our senators in the spotlight. The best way to get involved to voice bold support for climate solutions to our senators is to come to 1Sky's kick off meeting Thursday September 24th at the Charleston Public Library (123 Capitol Street, Charleston, WV) from 7:30-8:30 PM.
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Environmental group 1Sky West Virginia is holding an INFORMATIVE MEETING/POT LUCK DINNER on Saturday, October 24 at 6:00PM at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation (520 Kanawha Blvd. W.)in Charleston in support of a strong clean energy jobs bill in the U.S. Senate and to discuss the ever controversial subject, climate change. Bring a dish and/or softdrinks.
