Remember my last couple of posts where I said that the coal fights are stepping up and people are putting their bodies on the line? I wasn’t kidding.
We’re starting to see a trend. Last week in Richmond, a dozen were arrested blockading Dominion Resources’ HQ on the day they began construction at the Wise County coal plant.
Well, we have another Monday morning and we have another direct action at the HQ of people proposing new coal fired power plants. After this week’s rendezvous, Earth First! held a demo at American Municipal Power’s HQ in Columbus OH and five entered the building and chained themselves inside. Police, in typical fashion, responded by using mace to force them out.
Meigs County is an environmental sacrifice zone and the location of FOUR proposed plants. The only thing that doesn’t make sense is that only eight were arrested and not eighty.
Radical environmentalists from Earth First! and Rising Tide are leading the way in this struggle against the coal plants. We must support them in every way possible, including joining them.
Please donate to their jail support here.
Contributor’s Note: I had used the word “fight” in the title to describe the overall struggles in Ohio against coal plants, but now think that people thought “fight” was being used to describe the action. So I changed “fight” to “action” to avoid any confusion. As my comrades in Earth First! posted below there was no violence or fighting on the part of the activists and I want to avoid any insinuation that there was.
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According to the news, the only ones being violent were the police who went in and maced non-violent protesters chained down.
Thanks for the attempt at misinformation!
“Police, in typical fashion, responded by using mace to force them out.”
Typical fashion? How else would you suggest removing someone who is trespassing, has been given the right to speak at all the public forums, public hearings, and via the due process (which has been going on for a number of YEARS). How do these protestors/terrorists suggest we maintain the electric grid? Wind? Hydro? CHECK YOUR FACTS – AMP-Ohio already DOES these! They lead the STATE in alternative power – the IOU’s and Co-ops cannot say that!
How would YOU feel if someone came into your work place, someplace you feel safe and secure, and threatened you? Handcuffing multiple people together, using air horns, banging on pots, etc to disrupt the people at this business is NOT the answer.
Make a difference – use the process that has been set-up. Vote. Lobby. “Non-violence” just makes people react – not enact. Go use your education to INVENT, to Educate the masses on how to save electricity, not require more and more.-
r.s.
Thanks for the passionate post, Sparki. I think it’s appropriate to report news on IGHIH, but not so appropriate to include a “Donate Now” link. Just something to consider for the future. Thanks!
So here’s the spill from an Earth Firster! who got sprayed directly in the eyes point blank as I (and others) tried to exit the lobby:
A bunch of people – between 25 and 40 – occupied the lobby, 5 or 6 joined in a lock down, meanwhile 2 hoised themselves up the flagpoles outside of AMP while many more rallied outside of the headquarters.
As far as I know – through all the stories I heard after the action – no fights were started. We were completely non-violent. No one as much as touched any employees or police officers. Some trigger-happy cop just rushed into the lobby with one of those fire-extinguishers full of mace and started hosing people down. I was shot in the face by a different cop who had liquid mace. On top of that, a camera person was tazed twice(!) after trying to take pictures. Her camera was then stolen. The badasses who scaled the flagpoles were threated with being tazed but were suprizingly allowed to come down and at least one avoided arrest.
Luckily we had amazing medics (and by that I mean EF! medics) who were able to help those who were not arrested. I didn’t see any actual first responders even though we had around 15 to 20 people who were blinded and/or seriously assaulted by police officers.
And that’s how it went down!
NO COMPROMISE!!
(If I were a moderator I would delete Stark’s response, as they are simply incorrect and purposely provocative)
Coming to someone’s place of work and occupying the lobby to dance on furniture and bang pots and pans IS A VIOLENT ACT.
Hi Alex– Funny post. A bit hysterical though. I think that blowing the tops off of mountains to fuel community poisoning coal plants is a much more VIOLENT act than dancing on office furniture and baning on pots and pans.
You should really check out ilovemountains.org and see what i am talking about.
And Robert– Are we supposed to lobby a corrupted political system dominated by the coal industry lobbyists? I also take issue with your use of the word “terrorist.” Please refer to ilovemountains.org and see what parties are using bombing in coal country. It’s not Earth First! It’s the coal industry.
Sparki
Hey Youth Climate Movement!
Thanks for the support. I was one of the people who participated in Mondays protest, and thought I would share what really happened
The protest was completely nonviolent until the police showed up. Until the police showed up there were 2 people who had climbed and secured themselves on a flag pole with signs, 5 who locked down*, and about 75 people chanting things such as “Clean coal its a trick, they make money we get sick”, “Clean coal its a lie, how many people have to die”, “King Cole, off with his head!”, “hell no, no new coal in O-hio”, and many other fun chants in the lobby around the people chained in a circle.
We were being completely nonviolent
Then the police came. As they entered the lobby they told everyone they had to get out now or all be arrested. As people started to leave, the police advanced on them and started beating people and pepper spraying them. Once outside, the police were still running after everyone beating them when they could and spraying pepper spray everywhere. In one case an officer chased one of the protesters threatening him with a tazer back behind a shed where no one else could see, beat him, pepper sprayed him directly in his eyes and then arrested him. About 10 minutes later, when a protester was taking a picture, an officer came up, threw her on the ground, twisted her arms behind her back until she was screaming in agony, and then tazed her before arresting her. 2 others female protesters were arrested during the police instigated riot, but Im unclear as to what happened exactly with them.
After leaving the lobby the protesters where allowed to stay in a long narrow drainage ditch where a side walk wouldve been, as that was the only public space in the area, and continue to protest. A group of about 20 of the people who had been sprayed tried to walk back to the cars to get more water to wash it off of them, but were not allowed to leave by the police.
As for the lock down people, they were drug out of the lobby very painfully, suffering many injuries and pepper sprayed multiple times. 4 out of 5 of them went to jail, with their biggest charge being rioting, even though they were sitting down the whole time chained together.
The two women on the flag poles were unable to be forcibly taken down by the police, and after about 3 hours had the option that if they came down they wouldnt be arrested, which they took.
Overall it was a freaking awesome protest. The protesters with the bruises display them with pride, and most of the people peppersprayed still havent taken a shower (its only been 24 hours), to display the very slight lingering smell. The protesters not connected with the lockdown have been bailed out of jail and are safe now. The people in the lock down are still in jail, many with bad injuries. We’re trying to get them out now as hard as we can and are raising money in any ways we can. Look up above in the article for the link if you wish to donate money.
*Lock down- when people chain themselves to other people by making a long tube with 2 bars in it. They handcuff themselves to the bars with carabiners on the end of the cuffs attached to the bars. The tube is usually covered in tar mixed with glass so theyre virtually impossible for someone else (cops) to remove them. The people whose arms are inside however can just unclip at anytime. These are used often at protests.
“The coal plants own the rights to those mountains. And actually they are always up for release or acquisition.
Wouldn’t it make sense that instead of using the energy they produce yourself – that you should step up and buy the lease and rights to that land and build a cabin and live there in your cabin without electricity.
That way the mountain top is safe – and you are also safe from this evil evil thing called energy.”
This is an interesting post. Stark, what exactly do you want your world to look like? A barren concrete moonscape as long as people have their property rights. Poisoned drinking water? All forms of life wiped out for cheap electricity? I guess killing the land and poisoning people is ok as long as a corporation does it.
Haha, I love this guy! As if the individualized responses of turning off your lights (which, I can assure you, 90% of IGHIH posters do out of habit anyway) can compare with direct action to stop new coal plants from being built. What fossil fuel corporation are you working for?
If you think that the youth are not looking for solutions, you’re wrong. there have been tons of posts on here about youth starting energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, community organizing, training, developing sweet conferences and outreach efforts and a ton of other jazz.
Wow, wow, wow. I can’t get over the audacity that ripples though some posts. We seem to be standing on some common ground here, why the hell do we continue to attack with this profound sense of righteousness. I for one cannot image our world with out the “terrorist” acts of the 50’s and 60’s of sitting at a cafe counter while being forcefully removed 9to put it lightly) because of skin color. Or not we soon forget forget the “terrorism” that ran rapid as sit-down strikes organized by the IWW, and CIO led to the eradication of child labor and improved working conditions, and established the 40-hour work week.
So Stark, I don’t have a solution for you today sorry (it’s pretty obvious you work in absolutes) what I do have is a starting point for you, for me, everyone. You said yourself we’re the problem…agreed, but not the only problem. I propose your take misguided impassioned critique to (as you suggested) address the problem. Find value in your tactics your passions. Robert mentioned that public hearing have been happening for years, Go to these (I may incorrectly assume your not, if so great) use your voice, pound your fist. Write a letter to the editor condemning king coals unabated human rights crimes and environmental destruction, or sit at your computer with you lights off. But don’t sit in your dark room and belittle the actions of 100 folks who are acting in the urgency,that even you seem to write with.
Last night every community within 60mi of Columbus sat down in front on the local news (trust me they love their local news. I’m from OH) and saw “protesters” outside of AMP and asked why? Last night families, many likely for the first time realized that there are coal plants being built all around them. They realized they are not as isolated as they think in their sense urgency to transition from coal.They may have realized the amount of $ Gov. Strickland has taken from AMP, and maybe decided to do something about it.
But most importantly they talked about coal! (I wonder if the public hearing had the same effect? seriously). Not because they wanted to, or because they work for or against coal, but because 100 people took the message of communities throughout the Appalachia, the Southeast, communities in the Southwest, and folks in WY and MT, and made it an issue that people could not ignore. Made it a project that people could not ignore.
So hop off your soapbox (it’s lonely on those things), turn off your terrorist radar (which certainly is malfunctioning due to operator error), and help stop these plants.
Because we’re still the problem if all we do is sit in a dark room, eat beef jerky, and pretend that’s enough.
@Stark
Speaking only for myself, I don’t have an issue with us using coal for our energy until the production of clean energy ramps up to a level that is able to sustain our needs. What I am against is the form of coal mining going on.
I have stated it before, the employees (whom I have no problem with, they have a right to live)of these operations, should not even be represented by the UMWA, as there is no mining going on. A coal miner doesn’t sit on a piece of heavy equipment to do his job. There are still plenty of deep mines producing coal in my area. Why can’t they do the same in KY and WV? Sure it costs more, but our prices are rising here anyway, so does it really matter?
Also, the companies that are responsible for mountaintop removal don’t abide by laws set to protect the environment. I weedwack a 300 yard section of creekbed here that is twisting and turning. For me to be able to make it run straight through my own property, do you have any idea what kind of money and permits I need to be able to do it? Yet these companies routinely bury miles of streams with the “overburden” left after the coal is removed.
great work EF! sorry i couldn’t make it. i got a job. very exciting times.
thanks for all y’all’s hardwork.
Hi Stark– I actually don’t think you are that concerned with solutions. I think when you propose people buying a mountaintop when they say we need to do something about mountaintop removal is not proposing a solution, it’s you being a patronizing ass.
Also equating non-violent activists to Al Qaeda terrorists is not really solving anything either, it’s just trying to be provocative and misleading.
I do however think you probably don’t work for the fossil fuel industry, probably only a Washington fossil fuel funded front group. But that’s because I saw your IP address.
Cheers.
In this conveniently contrived “post 9-11″ the world, “Terrorist” is such a useful term for those in power.
But you know what? Those in power have every reason to be scared. Those who profit from the exploitation of people and the planet are shaking in their space boots, because the gig is almost up. Those who want to stay on top, to keep affluent consumer society sailing along, keep people dumb and easy to control, are scared shitless, because WE ARE WAKING UP.
They are not worried about everyone rising up and shutting down the machines. They are worried that these actions will become legitimized in the public consciousness. Because at that very moment, they have lost control of the situation. That’s why they will use fear tactics to confuse and subdue the populace. That’s why they will label us terrorists and squash the rising tide of dissent with an unforgiving fist. Oh yes, we’re in for it. But the pending backlash will represent a final attempt to maintain power, the death throws of a failing empire.
It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better. But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
Violence is sure not the answer, but when talking and showing people that this is doing no good for our planer and people don’t seem to care, drastic actions need to be taken.
Its a shame that has to be this way.
Kudos to EF for getting good media coverage which, I assume, was the ultimate goal. I question some of the tactics used, however. I’ve heard that there was actually damage to the lobby at AMP-Ohio and that protesters threw shrimp? What’s the deal with shrimp…and the bags of dirt? I don’t get that piece. And, I’m sure you know that – unlike protesting at a public place, it’s well within AMP’s right to ask the police to use whatever means necessary to remove someone from private property. You had to know that mace would be used – so I have little sympathy there. And, I also question how “brutal” the police actually were. I’ve been to a lot of these and know that when these things escalate, both sides are usually partially at fault – so I don’t totally buy the whole “we were just sitting there peacefully” thing.
That having been said, you’re right in that the political process and the EPA public hearings are largely a waste of time. If the law says a coal plant can be built in Ohio there’s nothing the EPA can legally do to stop it. I don’t know how effective a protest like this is either, but at least you’re going out and doing something about it and making people pay attention and wake up, and I commend you for that.
Whos is this Stark guy to be throwing around the term “terrorist?” How dare you! You should be ashamed of yourself, though I know people like you never are. If you were in front of me speaking like that I’d knock you out. How can you possibly compare a peaceful protest to terrorists who murder innocent people? You’re just like the idiots who call Sea Shepherds terrorists. Perhaps you need a real experience with actual terrorism to shut you the hell up.
As for the people who work at that place, I don’t feel sorry for them at all. If they don’t know what their company is doing, then now they do. If they did know what their company was doing then they shouldn’t be surprised. And if they feel “terrorized” then they should be committed, because they do not have a grasp on reality.
I agree with a lot of what you are saying (reducing energy usage) but you show no responsiblity or understanding of the real world when you insult activists like this. You honestly seem to think that coal companies have no responsibility or fault, and that shows how naive and ignorant you are.
We should have never even started generating electricity using coal in the first place, but thanks to bastards like Edison and JP Morgan thats what we’ve been stuck with for the last hundred years.
“We” the people didn’t choose coal, it was chosen for us – and it still is. The people you label “terrorists” and condemn recognize the way this system works and are fighting against it – as non-violently as they can while still employing direct action.
Ugg… I’m done.
according to an eye witness account from the other post:
“FYI – No shrimp was thrown, no doors were broken, and definitely no fire alarms were pulled!
Straight up misinformation from the company…
The only ones being violent were the employees and the police. An AMP employee injured one climber while on the flagpole, the police maced 20 people including medics, and they threatened to taze the flagpoles to force our climbers down.”
please don’t rely on info from sources not on the scene.
In reply to Sparki (and everyone else..),
“FYI – No shrimp was thrown, no doors were broken, and definitely no fire alarms were pulled!
Straight up misinformation from the company…
The only ones being violent were the employees and the police. An AMP employee injured one climber while on the flagpole, the police maced 20 people including medics, and they threatened to taze the flagpoles to force our climbers down.”
The doors were not broken (although some picture frames and other odds and ends were), and no fire alarms were pulled. Where this quote came from is correct. The terrified secretary hit the panic button which sets off an alarm and alerts the police.
There were no violent AMP employees. They would have been fired on the spot for acting in ANY way towards your group. AMP employees stood their ground and behaved in a very peaceful manner compared to EF!. The police may have used force, but it was in no way excessive. Police asked for a ladder, that was what we gave them. They wanted the ladder for the option to tase the climbers, not the poles. Tasing the pole would have done nothing, as the pole is grounded. There’s not enough current supplied from a taser to go up the pole. No AMP employees injured any climbers, nor were they even close. (Sorry, if there’s some 20ft tall AMP employee I was not informed about.)
As for previous responses, I’ve read -one- good reply from someone that has both sides in good sight. Kudos to you, Monkey.
And calling Edison a bastard is about the dumbest thing I’ve heard in a while. Without him, you would be without your precious internet to spread your ‘good word.’ Granted, he probably was a bastard for the things he and his employees did to animals trying to prove to the masses that AC power is more deadly than DC. Another topic for another radical group to address. =P
The truth is sad but true. Coal is the most cost effective option to fill the growing needs of the people until something more advanced/clean/substantial is developed. If AMP were to propose a nuclear plant, there would be just as much, if not more protesting. If they tried to build a large Hydro, someone would protest fish being killed. If they tried to build a large wind farm, smoeone would protest that it kills too many birds. If they did NOTHING AT ALL, the people would be paying outrageous electricity bills trying to get what little power is available from the old and filthy decaying power plants; more than they already are, and people would protest.
My suggestion to you is this. Instead of beating down the doors of a company headquarters who is trying to meet their members needs, it would do you just as much good to beat down the doors of 1 million homes and tie yourselves to their stair cases until they turn off their lights and their appliances. You would open the eyes of the PEOPLE that can DO something about this problem, by showing up at THEIR doorstep, instead of the companies that supply the power that YOU demand.
Sparki,
I agree that the coal companies are committing the most severe acts of violence, followed by police state protecting them. Further more, I SUPPORT the tactics used by the protesters arrested. That said, I think its time for activists to stop claiming the moral purity of non-violence. The fact is, our foes are wreaking such havoc that some violence (though not physical violence against human beings) may be justified.
Coming in to someone’s work place and making a ruckus is an act of intimidation – it instills fear in the employees. Indeed, I’d be interested to hear someone make the case that wasn’t the purpose.
Strictly speaking, an act directed against “civilians” – in this case low level employees as opposed to executives, who could be considered legitimate “military” targets – intended to instill fear to achieve a political objective, is terrorism.
Terrorism is a loaded word, and I agree that to an extent it is meaningless these days, but in a plain, non-loaded way, that’s what this kind of direct action is. I’m not judging it, again, I support it, but let’s call a spade a spade.
So Alex, using that same logic:
-Rosa Parks was a “terrorist” by causing a ruckus at a low level bus drivers place of work
-African-American students sitting in at segregated Woolworth’s lunch counters were “terrorists” by engaging in “an act directed against “civilians” – in this case low level employees as opposed to executives”
-The labor movement’s frequent use of slowdowns and strikes makes them “terrorists” as it targets non-union workers in the same building?
I just don’t buy it. I think your analogy of direct action=terrorism is wrong. Being strategic and using direct action tactics that non-violently upsets business as usual doesn’t make one a ‘terrorist,” it makes you effective. Being effective is what leads to the state, the corporations and their agents to try and label you a “terrorist.”
Gandhi once said: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” The power-holders in the current struggle around climate use police violence and intimidation and media misinformation to fight us, and right about now I’d say we’re into that stage.
As far as this statement goes: “That said, I think its time for activists to stop claiming the moral purity of non-violence. The fact is, our foes are wreaking such havoc that some violence (though not physical violence against human beings) may be justified.”
I’m on the fence and you have my mind going back and forth.
It drives me nuts that police use that kind of force when it is a peaceful crowd….
You guys know it is going to happen! Why dont you have one guy stand on the sidelines with a good camera and hide somewhere to video tape what is going on?
Then they have no way to defend themselves against what they wrongfully did, if they indeed did something they shouldn’t have.
alex, i don’t think the point was to intimidate employees.
i think disruptive actions have several positive outcomes and one of them is to make shareholders, board members and executives feel that their oh so precious money may not be in the best place. but i don’t see it as benefiting the movement to intimidate the receptionist and i don’t think any or many other sincere direct action activists do either.
in fact EF! and other direct action groups often have specific people whose role it is in actions to discuss what’s going on with workers, provide materials and basically clarify that “we don’t have a problem with you. with a problem with your boss and your boss’ policy. We feel that taking this action today is a necessary tactic to pressure your boss to change their policy. we’re very sorry that we’re causing trouble for you personally.”
Every DA training I’ve ever had from Mountain Justice, Earth First! or Rainforest Action Network folks have stressed deescalation and active listening as a way to deal with irate workers too.
sometimes we even bring coffee and donuts for the cops.
Sometimes all these efforts help, sometimes not so much.
For the Southeast Convergence for Climate Action (climateconvergence.org), we’re encouraging folks to take autonomous direct actions and we’re requesting that in so doing they respect a few wishes of the local organizers. one of these requests goes something like this, “Please only take actions where the tangible impact on the intended target outweighs the “pissing off the general public” factor.” The EF! actions in Virginia, Ohio and Indiana (stopi69.wordpress.com) recently all pissed off some people who we really don’t want to piss off. that’s unfortunate. we do our best not to go around pissing people off for no reason. but at the end of the day, these actions were necessary to hit their intended targets and they sure as hell did hit their intended targets.
wellness
Sparki -
Rosa Parks’ refusal to move may have caused a problem for the low-level bus driver, but she wasn’t jumping around on the bus intimidating the driver, she was making a point by doing something SHE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO DO. Similarly, lunch counter sit-in participants SAT in, they didn’t do anything more than assert their (yet to be realized) rights.
I commend the people who carried out this action, and I support a broad diversity of tactics in all activism. But as Willie put it in the previous comment, it is ideal if direct actions have positive effects which outweigh the “pissing off the general public factor.” If this action had been a sit in at the office, there would be much less room for activist-bashing/dismissing accounts the general public will read and feel alienated by.
On several posts there are comments on the relative importance of the coal mining industry for jobs and the viability of communities. I would encourage such realists to go to these communities. The counties in Kentucky facing the worst of area mining have been the poorest counties in the nation for well over half a century and constantly told that coal would make it better. Mountain top removal has also drastically decreased the work force needed to mine coal, increasing unemployment further and providing the supposedly lucrative flat land. Big Coal will in fact brag that it only takes 9 people or so to move mountains. Furthermore, many of these workers face intimidation if they complain or act to help their neighbors whose homes and property are being destroyed. The poverty of the area is also used against residents as they are often tricked into selling their land or even have their contracts rewritten without their knowledge, extending their leases so that coal companies have additional time to mine and use illegal amounts of explosives that crack their foundations and poison hundreds of miles of streams.
As far as those families living in fear of higher prices and now activists, they also live in Kentucky. Yet, they are turning their fear into resolve after decades of mistreatment. Visit Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (http://www.kftc.org/our-work/canary-project)(I am in no way associated with them). It is not just a bunch of rich liberals who care. They are families taking a stand against the lies that are ruining their communities.Appalchia is the most diverse forest ecosystem in the United States and also home to some of the most caring and downtrodden citizens in the nation. Maybe climbing flagpoles doesn’t seem like it will fix it, but it draws attention to the issue so that when the amendment to EPA laws changed by appointed coal executives allowing blasting closer to homes and changing the word “waste” to “fill” so that whole mountains could be pushed over into streams comes up for a vote there will be enough pressure to change it.
On a historical note, those letters Martin Luther King wrote from jail occurred because he had broken unjust laws. So if legality is the measure now being used to determine if an activists should be labeled a terrorist then maybe we we have some rewriting of history to do. I would also dispute whether the actions taken at the coal plant were not also for a cause.
Stark- Methinks doth protest too much. It’s pretty obvious you are a provocateur seeking to stir environmentalists ire and not really contribute anything other than a fossil fuel laden agenda. I hope most others on this blog ignore you as I am going to starting right now.
Alex– You are right that she broke an unjust law, BUT I am suspect that if “terrorist” had been in the lexicon the way it is today, that Rosa Parks and lunch counter folks sitting in would have been called “terrorists.”
I think calling Earth Firsters occupying a corp. lobby, whether they were dancing around or making a bunch a noise, “terrorists” is a tactic used by the right to marginalize dissent.
Alex said
“If this action had been a sit in at the office, there would be much less room for activist-bashing/dismissing accounts the general public will read and feel alienated by.”
Well, there was in fact a sit in at this office in March:
http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2008/03/29/mountain-justice-takes-on-king-coal-in-columbus/
Our demand was an opportunity to meet with the AMP Board of Trustees. The company agree, but then later refused to meet with us, so people felt an escalation of tactics was in order.
I think the action organizers met their goals, which included putting a wrench in AMP’s day, garnering media attention, gaining direct action experience, and expanding the realm of what’s possible.
Alan,
I am a realist; I go to these Kentucky communities. Coal miners are by far the best paid people in the area, making the equivalent of several hundred thousand dollars in a metro area or city. These communities are some of the wealthiest areas, relative to similar sized towns throughout the US. The people who don’t have the wealth (the “caring and downtrodden citizens in the nation” as you characterized them) are the unemployed families who live up the hollows who depend on selling drugs, making meth, and welfare to make ends meet.
“Enjoy your weekend being a waste to society and thinking of ways to hurt the lower and middle income.”
Stark, you sound like a good Christian, what church do you go to? Do you talk to your minister when you disagree with him like this?
In 1950, there were more than 150,000 coal miners in WV. Today there is less than 20,000. There are more florists than miners in WV. The coal companies using mountaintop removal over deep mining has led to mass downsizing of the industry. The coal companies regularly tell workers that their jobs are in jeopardy because of environmentalists and environmental regulations, but it’s more due to downsizing and profiteering by the coal companies.
while employees working at the companies are relatively affluent compared to their non-coal worker neighbors, they are few and far between.
I think Sparki was right in saying that Stark is paid by a front group, or maybe the coal industry. He obviously touts the coal industries’ line about how good the coal industry is for WV.
Hey Stark– you should be careful, you could end up like Steve Grover the Burger King exec who got shit-canned for posting anonymous online remarks about the Coalition of Immokalee workers on his daughter’s internet account. Burger King quickly gave into the CIW’s demands after that.
I would encourage everyone who is posting here to ignore stark — as sparki has already suggested and done. His inflammatory and provocative language is intended to divert from the real issues here.
As one of the local organizers of this year’s EF! Rendezvous, I am really proud of what happened on Monday. There has been tons of media coverage in central Ohio, as well as in other areas around Ohio and even in West Virginia. This was a major goal of HockHocking EF!’s NO NEW COAL IN OHIO campaign. Up until this week, most people in the state were unaware that coal was still an issue in Ohio. The regulatory process has been consistently inaccessible to people with jobs and to people whose lands are not directly effected (ie, being mined under and around). Even otherwise aware people in Meigs and Athens Counties living outside the village of Racine have been totally unaware of the coal monster breathing down their necks. The meetings and hearings intended for gathering “public comment”(negative or positive) have been planned in far away cities, at times when most people are working and/or have not been well publicized. In addition, the local paper around Racine has been unabashedly in the pockets of the coal and power companies, closing off the one inalienable right that is supposed to define this so called democracy — free speech/freedom of the press. It is also worth noting, along these lines, that Jolene Thompson — the spokesperson for AMP-Ohio has been allowed to continue providing misleading and wrong information regarding the protest — specifically the throwing of shrimp, the breaking of a door, and repeatedly using the word “terrorized” to describe employees of AMP.
The real take home points here, as far as I can see, are these:
* coal in Ohio is now on the map thanks to the efforts of many local organizers/activists acting with the support of friends from around the country
*asking corporations/energy non-profits nicely sometimes works but only if what you’re asking for already fits their agenda
*Columbus, Ohio cops are overly aggressive (The Longest Walk participants were brutalized by police in Columbus a little over a month ago — the only place in a walk that spanned the entire country where anything like this happened)
*stopping coal in the “heart of it all” is not only strategic but totally necessary for the future of the planet
*stopping coal in the “heart of it all” is also possible if we keep up the momentum gained this summer, demanding transparency, accountability, conservation, personal responsibility and the development of alternative technologies that will totally replace coal
*we can not continue on the current path, ranting at people to turn off their lights and drive less. We need a paradigm shift. We are on the verge of that shift. If we stop fighting, if we get quiet and complacent and assume that someone/something else will do it for us, then corporations and governments and bureacracies will continue to make decisions that will destroy our planet — not necessarily because they are run by bad people but because their momentum is too powerful and they (the people in charge and the bureacracies) can do nothing else but destroy themselves (and probably the rest of us) in the end. If we keep fighting and keep speaking hard truths and keep disobeying, the shift will come from the bottom up, like roots, like all things that come from the earth.
*the amount of media attention we got for Monday’s action may not be repeated. This kind of action has not been seen here in a long time. We in Ohio need to follow up last week’s events with a smart, sustained and strategic campaign. If you are in Ohio (or elsewhere) and interested in getting involved, email us at rondy2008@gmail.com
Thanks so much to everyone who came to Ohio and helped put our issues on the larger map of the current state of the world. We have to make the connections since the media will not do it for us. We have to share our stories — not only here in these faceless internet places but in the woods and on the streets and everywhere. See you soon!
Nick Magel said: “They may have realized the amount of $ Gov. Strickland has taken from AMP, and maybe decided to do something about it.”
Two words: Prove it.
All money donated to a politician by law must be recorded. Gov. Strickland is above board. While some don’t always believe in his politics, he is WAY better than his predecessor, Bob Graft (or was it Taft?).
How cynical of the political system are you? Big Business – whether it is a utility, or not, runs the commerce, industry, and the world. Would you rather be in China and have the oppression of their government on you? IMO, you got off too easy – in other countries, you wouldn’t have the rights that you do have: Due process; Bail; Your time in court. The police that protect me also protect you. In this day and age, post-9/11, Homeland Security, local police/sheriff departments, and federal officials are much less likely to look at disruption of business as a “peaceful demonstration” or whatever you are calling (non-violent – ok, so bashing pots & pans and firing air-horns inside confined spaces can create dB’s of close to 120-140dB – the equivalent to an airplane taking off – I’d call that violent to my ears!) and more as something that will disrupt the American Way.
Use your education – it is obvious that you have one. I like the historical references regarding others who have protested. But to liken yourselves to people who were oppressed as a race and as opponents to political upheaval is a disgrace to those who got you the rights you now enjoy.
What powers your Internet, your computer, your phone, your lights… And what are you doing to reduce your draw on the electric grid? What are you doing to educate others on WHY they need to do this? I am all for reducing our need to expand the electric grid – and for an expansion of alternative energies and methods. But the bottom line is that until this message gets out to ALL Americans, ALL users of electricity, ALL our kids, we will continue to have a need for an expansion of the base power supply. I am all for nuclear – how about you? No carbon. but other issues. Wind? All for it – but look at the issues companies are having getting the turbines sited. NIMBY is alive and well. When will you use your actions for educating the masses – not causing upheaval in a small place. Your tactics are not going to cause a multi-billion dollar project to stop. Educate the masses and make the plants unnecessary, and you will truly be SUCCESSFUL and have something to be proud of.
r.s.
A concern troll is a false flag pseudonym created by a user whose point of view is opposed to the one that the user’s sockpuppet claims to hold. The concern troll posts in web forums devoted to its declared point of view and attempts to sway the group’s actions or opinions while claiming to share their goals, but with professed “concerns”. The goal is to sow fear, uncertainty and doubt within the group
Stark
Please cite the sources of your MTR research. Mine are http://www.appvoices.org/ and ilovemountains.org.
They site sources like the EPA and the Appalachian Regional Commission (A federal-state partnership established by Congress to support economic development in the Appalachian Region.)
I think you either don’t know what you are talking about or pushing coal industry propaganda.
Hey Stark,
it is the people living in the coal extraction communities about 30 miles from the privledged town of Beckley that are suffering for their and your convenience–I know because I live in the sacrificec zone there down stream of Beckley.
We are blasted by 3 and 1/2 million pounds of explosives daily and our water is being poisoned with sludge–our air poisoned with coal dust and silica dust. Even if the industry owned the mountain tops that doesn’t give the absentee land owners the right to blast and poison those us us that live downstream–not to mention that Every one lives down stream.
I am a coal miners daughter and grand daughter —my father died of black lung and I know about the evils of the coal industry—Don’t you or any city slicker from Beckley dare tell us about coal or coal mining.
The answer is to switch to renewables NOW! And it is your job to make our government make the switch
Why do you keep assuming that we’re not disrupting our own lives as well? Or does it only count as disrupting when we, youth and college students with not a wealth of money, spend $20,000-40,000 of dollars on a personal renewable energy system?
Stark– you are presuming a lot, accusing a lot and don’t know what you are talking about.
your accusations against the youth climate movement are ludicrous. it’s a right wing ploy to say we don’t practice what we preach when you don’t know any of us or our current lifestyle habits.
i’ve yet to see you post any sort of sources or real research that backs up anything you say. please cite sources for your presumptions and accusations.
otherwise you are just part of the right wing noise machine.
hey Stark– When are you going to cite your research on mountaintop removal. When are you going to cite facts on how we don’t live eco-friendly lives? I mean you obviously have some insight that we don’t.
Put up or shut up.
Uh, you work for the coal industry that’s pretty obvious. And you want us to buy coal powered electricity, so why are you making these outher arguments about sacrifice and alternatives?
Post the link to the EIA site.
I love mountains and the App voices website get their info from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Appalachian Regional Commission (A federal-state partnership established by Congress to support economic development in the Appalachian Region.)
What is EIA? Where do they get their info.
Is there a reason you are so belligerent? Maybe you should get off the internet, this is obviously getting to you