Guest blogger- Kate Rooth, Greenpeace USA
On President Obama’s 100th day in office, presentations to Congress, EPAand CEQ highlight coal injustices and alternatives.
To celebrate the 100th day of the new presidency, six grassroots delegates from communities disadvantaged by coal mining, processing, and burning testified in front of representatives of Congress, the EPA, and CEQ to tell their personal stories of how coal impacts their daily lives.
The delegates represent tens of thousands of citizens, who, since January 21st have organized over 300 actions in fifty states as part of a project called Power Past Coal. They are demanding a swift, just transition away from coal, beginning with a moratorium on new coal plants, an end to dangerous and destructive mining practices, and a reinvestment in the communities impacted by coal with green jobs and clean energy development.
As Jeff Biggers wrote in his Huffington Post blog on these events, “if Washington, DC doesn’t have time to journey to the coalfield neighborhoods and toxic corridors of coal-fired plants, then the coalfield neighbors and coal-fired plant residents have journeyed to Washington, DC to bring a bit of truth and clarity to the clean energy debate.”
Speaking on behalf of their communities are delegates from Indigenous communities of Michigan, Chicago’s inner city, Wyoming’s strip mining region, Navajo from Black Mesa, those fighting the construction of new plants in the Southeast, and those impacted by mountaintop removal in Appalachia.
“Everyone in my region has some type of health issue that is impacted or caused by coal burning. You cannot eat the fish in our steams and rivers anymore because of mercury poisoning. We have some of the highest particulate air pollution near our elementary schools as reported by USA Today. The rate of lung and heart disease is high and getting higher.” said Mike Cherin, who lives in Rutherford County just 16 miles from Duke Energy’s Cliffside Coal plant which is currently under a major expansion project.
But they are not only educating leaders on the impacts of coal, they are demanding a transition to a clean, just future. “We are calling on the Obama administration and our nation’s Congress to not to dump any more money into the myth of clean coal, because clean coal doesn’t exist. All available revenue needs to be invested in renewables, green jobs and job diversity in Appalachia, and other communities that have been impacted by the cycle of coal,” said Lorelei Scarbro of Coal River Mountain Watch in West Virginia.
Instead of the 6,600 acre mountaintop removal site proposed for the mountain behind Lorelei’s home, her group is proposing a wind farm. “This project would allow us to start re-building our community, and create safe, permanent jobs and clean energy forever. We need our government to step forward and support the Coal River Wind project”, she said.
Sam Villasenor, of Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, a group that recently organized the Coal Olympics explained the importance of community–led change- “we teach students about conservation and efficiency. Young people are trained to do energy audits for elderly residents in the community to help them weatherize and insulate the homes of elder residents in their community. We want our community and our nation to start thinking of the alternatives and solutions to our energy issues.”
While these events culminate the 100 days of action to power past coal, the fight has clearly not been won. “In truth, it’s time for top level public servants–like Nancy Sutley, Lisa Jackson and Ken Salazar–who are slowly determining the fate of our nation’s oldest and most diverse mountain range and its abuse by one of the most scandalous human rights and environmental violations, to actually see firsthand the horrific impact of mountaintop removal on our nation’s citizens in Appalachia, and strip mining operations and coal-fired plants in other parts of the country,” said Biggers.
They may have not seen it first-hand today, but many of them have now heard it- and they will continue to until the battle is won, and we are phasing out dirty destructive coal with a clean energy future.
