It’s Getting Hot In Here

For the past six years, the community surrounding Marsh Fork Elementary has been fighting for a new, safe elementary school – in their community. The current elementary school sits below (say it with me, folks) a multi-billion gallon toxic coal sludge dam and within 300 feet of a pollution spewing coal preparation plant owned by notorious Massey Energy.

Today – after a long week of wondering, a long month of heartbreak, and over half a decade of hard work, we found out that there will be a new, safe Marsh Fork Elementary – built in the community. Planning for the new school starts on Monday. Three potential sites have been picked out. Ground will break in the next year – and in another year after that – a new school!

Today was an incredible day – as Judy Bonds said at the press conference today, it was a victory for the entire movement for clean energy and good, local schools – it was a victory won by little kids collecting pennies all across the country, by hundreds of people – it was a victory for everyone – but especially for the kids at Marsh Fork. As Debbie Jarrell said, “The sunshine is a little brighter today in the Coal River Valley.”

During the press conference, listening to Bo Webb tell the briefest version of the work that he and others from Coal River Valley have done to get a new school, I wondered how many hundreds of people have been inspired to tell the story of Marsh Fork – via blogs, over coffee, on the Today Show, with little kids in classrooms, in documentaries, in churches, while sitting in jail, at rotary clubs, at groundhogs day luncheons, at Senators’s offices, via signs held at rallies, via t-shirts, buttons flags, and while walking briskly alongside important people.

Lots of amazing people have been sharing incredible words today. I liked what Bill Price said:

Led by the residents of the Coal River Valley, supported by environmental, community and human rights groups and celebrities, the “powers that be” were no match against dedicated and persistent people.
WAY TO GO EVERYONE. When the history of the movement against mountaintop removal is written, the victory at Marsh Fork will be remembered as a key moment. Celebrate….celebrate….power to the people!

Everyone is invited to the party at Ed and Debbie’s tonight – pork butt and wild turkey roasting right now and lots of potato salad.

And as Ed Wiley told the Governor: “Next time you need something done – you know to call me!”

Here are a few photos of the press release event:

And after the link is a highlight of some of the (just a few) of the important stops along the way to building this new school – put together by Danny Chiotos.

Continue reading ‘Victory: New School For Marsh Fork Elementary’

 As the youth-led climate movement becomes more and more important to the national debate over energy policy, fossil fuel industries and utilities are realizing it’s no longer enough for them to saturate our political system with campaign contributions.  Indeed, with students at the forefront of local and regional efforts to oust Big Coal and Big Oil, we’ve seen more and more cases where the fossil fuel giants and have attempted to hijack student initiatives and diffuse our movement’s momentum.  In this post, I want to draw attention to just such a case in my home state of Oregon.

This spring we’ve seen the likes of Peabody Energy try to undermine student activism at Washington University in Missouri, while coal barons in Montana try to bribe high school students to stop protesting coal in their communities.  But in the last couple weeks I encountered the first instance I’m aware of in which a coal-dependent utility has moved to undermine campus activism in Oregon.  In response to growing momentum around a statewide campaign to have student governments pass resolutions calling for an early transition away from the Boardman Coal Plant, individuals with ties to the plant’s owner worked to sway a student senate vote at Linfield College without making public their connection to the utility.  Read on for the full story beneath the fold. Continue reading ‘Conflict of Interest Exposed as Oregon Utility Attempts to Undermine Student Activism’

(An ode to Minister Beverley Oda on the issue of Official Development Assistance)

The G8 International Development Ministers’ meeting in Halifax, Canada happened this week with little talk of climate change. The issue of climate change is set to be on the G8 agenda, yet no ministers’ meetings to date have raised the issue. This ministerial was the last of a series of meetings leading up to the G8 Summit in Muskoka this June.

Germany’s representative Dirk Niebel, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, was the first to bring up climate change in a general context, as he noted that Development Ministers had a responsibility to include climate change in their planning and projects.

WWF (World Wildlife Fund) put out a statement with clear criteria expectations: “G8 International Development Ministers play a key role in ensuring climate financing are in fact new and additional to Official Development Assistance, and that they are not just robbing Peter to pay Paul. They should establish clear criteria and standards for ensuring that funds are additional,” said Mark Lutes, Finance Policy Coordinator at WWF International. Continue reading ‘An Ode to Oda on ODA’

Posted on behalf of Linnea Palmer Paton, Worcester Outreach Coordinator for Students for a Just and Stable Future.

Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar approved Cape Wind in an announcement with MA Governor Deval Patrick, a strong supporter of the project. The nation’s first offshore wind farm, Cape Wind is a victory for renewable energy production in Massachusetts and in the United States.  It shows the true potential the Commonwealth possesses, and gives us a glimpse of our clean energy future. Yet while Cape Wind is a step forward towards a just and stable future, it is only a baby step. If we truly intend to prevent rapid climate change, we need to do much more.

Speaking against Cape Wind, the Barnstable Land Trust says that “there is no other part of our community that offers more sweeping vistas, wildlife diversity, and a place of refuge from the steady march of development.” Yet, at the same time, it is our energy consumption here in Massachusetts that has driven coal, natural gas, and other energy development in other regions of the United States.  And it is our consumption – the burning of fossil fuels to drive our single-passenger cars and heat our homes – that is setting the world up for rapid climate change. It seems that we, as Americans, are willing to reap the benefits of development as long as the side effects are ‘elsewhere.’ It is easier to ignore the consequences of our consumption than it is to acknowledge that these fossil fuel power plants are usually located in low-income, minority areas and that these people that are the least empowered to stop pollution in their community suffer the most. It is easier to conveniently forget that it is our energy consumption that is causing climate change that will lead to more droughts and extreme weather events, not only in poor countries where people depend on agriculture to sustain themselves, but here in the United States as well, than it is to take responsibility and act.

When natural disasters struck Louisiana, Indonesia, and Haiti, the world poured their hearts out to help these people in need. But what if the disaster didn’t happen all at once? What if it happened over several decades? What if the changes were slow and insidious? What if by the time it became obvious that something was very wrong it was too late to stop it? That’s climate change: a silent, creeping cancer. What if we knew that with early detection (which we have) and prevention (which we could have) we could avoid the worst? Wouldn’t everyone do all they could to lead the effort? After all, a little prevention goes a long way.

Continue reading ‘MA takes first step to clean energy future with Cape Wind’

Post and images by Jameson Hubbard

My work has always inhabited the environmental realm. Due to the natural world’s ever-changing constitution, how necessary natural systems are to a healthy planet and the lives living on it, and the continued degradation of those systems due to human intervention, I have found it impossible to focus my attention on anything else for both innate and acquired reasons. Lately I’ve recognized the underlying theme within my work of the continued displacement of both animals and humans to fuel the economic machine.

"The Bison's Bread and Bitter Root" four-color woodblock print. Dealing with the symbiotic evolution of North American bison and native flora, the loss of that relationship once cattle, in huge numbers with extreme impacts on soils and wildlife, were moved in, and the recent movement of reseeding the plains

Continue reading ‘Create Our Climate: Fuel’

Last Thursday, Jacqueline  Quimby got 60 days for blocking a Massey coal  haul road back in Oct (see below.)

You’d think the criminal justice system in West Virginia would have better things to do (maybe like investigating criminal safety violations by outlaw coal companies) than seeking retribution against non-violent protesters for standing up to their corrupt legal system.

Activist Sentenced to 60 Days; Three Contempt Charges for Roselle
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 4/28/10

Kanawha County Magistrate Tim Halloran sentenced Jacqueline Quimby to 60 days in jail after a jury found her guilty of trespass, conspiracy and obstruction on Thursday, April 22. This sentence is nearly three times longer than the longest of the campaign so far. This was two days after Raleigh County Circuit Court Judge Robert Burnside, Jr., found Climate Ground Zero co-founder Mike Roselle in contempt of court for violating a June 2009 preliminary injunction for his part in the Feb. 18, Marfork Mining Office occupation, while his two companions were both acquitted of contempt.

“Once again the West Virginia judicial system is stepping up its pressure to discourage people from taking nonviolent direct action to shut down criminal mining practices. This campaign has not been stopped by jail sentences or injunctions, and we will not stop until mountaintop removal ends,” said Roselle.

Massey claimed and the court agreed that Roselle broke the civil injunction which added civil penalties for breaking trespassing laws against andinterfering with the business of Massey Energy on its subsidiary properties of Alex Energy, Marfork Mining Co., Goals Coal Co. and Performance Coal Co. Roselle was also found guilty of recruiting both Hamsher and Smyth for the Marfork occupation. Roselle was assessed a $3,000 fine payable to Massey for his three counts of civil contempt. Continue reading ‘Climate Ground Zero Activist Sentenced to 60 Days’

For the past year and a half or so, I have been largely neutral towards federal climate legislation.  I have recognized that in their various forms, the federal bills have fallen far short of what we need to achieve in order to prevent catastrophe.  At the same time, the consensus among policy experts in D.C. was that this was the best we could accomplish at the time, and we needed to pass something so that the framework was in place, and we can later amend it.

The latest draft of Kerry-Graham-Lieberman has crossed the line.

It’s morally reprehensible to have caps that are below what scientists say are needed to prevent major death and destruction (which all of the bills discussed have had).  Let’s be clear – weaker caps mean more human hearts will stop beating.  People will die.  But the argument was, if we can pass this now, we can guarantee that some human (and non-human animals and plants) will be saved, and we can hopefully amend it later on with tighter caps, and save even more of them; we don’t have enough power to pass science-based caps.  This argument is perfectly sound.

It’s financially unsound to be handing out subsidies to false solutions like ‘less-dirty’ coal, natural gas for transportation, and nuclear.  We are in a deficit and we have limited resources.  We should not be handing out subsidies left and right to industries that are going to make air dirtier and our communities sicker, while further destabilizing our climate and our world.  But, the experts say that if giving out these subsidies is the only way we can pass this, it needs to be done.  We get the framework in place, we build more power, we can roll back the subsidies.

And at the end of the day, from a cost-benefit-analysis, one can argue that these things are ‘allow-able’ in the grand trade-off.  If the only way we can ‘get the right framework’ is by having caps that are too low and subsidizing false solutions, then people can argue in good faith that these are trade-offs we have to give, and that for the sake of progress, we need to swallow our pride, shut off our hearts, and do what needs to get done for the sake of the planet and the people on it.

But pre-empting BOTH the EPA and the STATES is just wrong.  That would make this bill not just the floor of what we will achieve, but the ceiling of what we can achieve.  And that is just plain unacceptable.

Continue reading ‘Pre-empting Our Future: Why we MUST Defeat Kerry-(Graham)-Lieberman’

WASHINGTON, DC, APRIL 2010 — A group of more than 100 university and college student government presidents submitted a letter (PDF download) today urging Congress to launch a national program for clean energy science and engineering education. The presidents – representing more than one million American students –warned Congress that advanced energy education is critical for U.S. leadership in the global clean energy industry.

“The United States is rapidly falling behind in the burgeoning clean energy industry – especially in comparison to China – and our educational system and workforce is not prepared to compete,” declared the 107 presidents, including dozens of the country’s top universities. “American students are ready and willing to rise to this national challenge, and we need the federal government to support our education and training.”

The letter, organized by Americans for Energy Leadership and the Associated Students of Stanford University, calls on Congress to support the RE-ENERGYSE (“Regaining our Energy Science & Engineering Edge”) proposal, which would invest tens of millions of dollars annually in energy science and engineering education programs at universities, technical and community colleges, and K-12 schools. It was originally proposed by President Obama in April 2009 and is currently under consideration in Congress as part of the Department of Energy’s 2011 budget request.

Continue reading ‘Over 100 Student Body Presidents Urge Congress to Support Energy Education’

UPDATE: Everyone is out of jail charged with a misdemeanor trespass.

**Donate to legal support

Things are heating up in the Rockies!

**See the pictures here

Five Arrested at Valmont Power Plant in Colorado

Boulder Activists Unfurl Banner and Erect Wind Turbines on Top of Giant Coal Pile

Boulder, CO – At approximately 12:45 today, four activists climbed onto the massive coal pile in front of the Valmont Power Plant.  An enormous banner was deployed down the front of the coal pile reading “RENEWABLES NOW” and two large mock wind turbines were erected on top of the coal pile.  The activists reclaimed the coal pile to display their message for approximately 1.5 hours, before they were taken into custody.

Meanwhile a rally took place on outside of the Valmont Power Plant.  Bill McKibben, a leading climate change activist and founder of 350.org, who happened to be in Boulder for a speaking event, came out to the rally and expressed his support for those on the coal pile.

“Our leaders have been listening to the coal industry instead of the science and now people need to take the lead and that is what they are doing.  The action today is great and what is so great about it is that the same thing is happening all around the world. Everywhere people are showing the same kind of courage,” said Mr. McKibben.

The protest, which occurred less than one week after the 40thAnniversary of Earth Day, comes as Boulder is considering whether to renew a 20 year franchise agreement with Xcel.  Recently, the Boulder City Council and
City Manager suggested that Boulder should delay signing a new franchise agreement to allow more time to negotiate with Xcel about implementing a stronger renewable energy plan. Continue reading ‘Five Arrested at Valmont Power Plant in Colorado’

The short version of the story goes something like this: over the weekend, Senator Graham said he’d be removing his name from the draft US climate legislation, originally slated to be released this week, he was supposed to co-sponsor with Senator Lieberman and Senator Kerry. On its surface, his withdrawal stemmed from concerns that Democratic leadership wanted the Senate to move ahead on immigration before taking on the climate issue.  I won’t go into the situation in detail, in part because you can read about it elsewhere, and in part because the story’s changing minute-to-minute– surely even since I started this blog post.  In today’s press alone the mess has been blamed on any number of factors, from partisan bullying to media-fueled misunderstandings to the political calculations of re-election seeking Majority Leader Harry Reid.

In any case, the whole debacle was regarded as very bad news indeed for an already shaky Senate climate bill.  So upon hearing Saturday’s news, climate organizations and advocates here inside the Beltway did what most DC pros would do faced with the latest legislative melodrama: they scrapped their weekend plans (or pulled out the red pens to update their Earth Day Climate Rally speeches) and hopped back on the phones to their political strategists and Senate champions, whipped out their dial-ins and their drawing boards, tried to figure out how to break the news gently to their members, Facebooked and Tweeted their discontent, probably did a considerable amount of drowning their sorrows, and hunkered down to contemplate the maybes:

Maybe Graham’s name will go back on the bill. Maybe climate will come to the Senate floor before immigration, after all.  Maybe it was all just one big misunderstanding.  Maybe…

Maybe it’s irrelevant.

Continue reading ‘The choice that won’t change the world, and the one that might’