It’s Getting Hot In Here

Who benefits most from the coal-fired electricity produced in West Virginia?

For more than a century, West Virginia coal miners have sacrificed their backs, lungs, and health to put food on their families table. For more than fifty years, West Virginia communities have seen not only massive job loss, but an escalating loss of our mountains to strip mining. For more than twenty years, West Virginia miners have had their most powerful voice, the United Mine Workers of America, broken by aggressive coal companies – with Don Blankenship & Massey Energy leading the union-busting charge. For more than ten years, West Virginians have seen the ultimate taking – the taking of our homes – to Mountaintop Removal and the Valley Fills it creates.

Right now, the same people who have been responsible for all of the above are pushing for a giant power line to ship electricity from the Charleston (WV) area to the Eastern Seaboard. The Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline (PATH) starts in Putnam County, WV then cuts its way across the mountains and valleys of 17 West Virginia Communities on its way out of state.

Continue reading ‘Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline: Eight New Coal Plants is the Wrong Choice’

We have seen unprecedented support for the Wind Power and Green Jobs that are threatened by Mountaintop Removal.  I am damn proud to be a part of this historic effort and to stand with all of you.

Since the launch of the Coal River Wind Campaign in August, more than 8,500 of you have shown your support.  Since the alert went out earlier this week that Massey Energy is moving blasting rigs onto Coal River Mountain, more than 2,500 letters have been sent to WV Governor Manchin demanding that he hold Massey accountable.  We have never before seen such grassroots support for a concrete & positive alternative to Mountaintop Removal, but the amazing showing we’ve had so far is not enough.
Continue reading ‘Update on Coal River Mountain Wind: We’ve Gotta Keep the Pressure On’

This is copy & pasted from a post on SEAC’s Threshold blog by Aramie.

Indigenous Call for Action Answered by Youth/Environmental Groups
Black Mesa Project permitting process re-opened! Deadline for comments: July 7, 2008
Diné elder Pauline Whitesinger faces threats from government officials

Black Mesa, Arizona, home to the Diné (Navajo) and Hopi tribal reservations, is also home to massive mining operations run by Peabody Coal. In the past 30 years the mine at Black Mesa has contributed 325 million tons of carbon dioxide to atmospheric levels. Mining officials, with backing from the U.S. government, are responsible for capping local water supply (to supply mines) and harassing, threatening and in some cases assaulting Black Mesa residents, many who are elders resisting being driven from the land their ancestors have occupied for hundreds of years.

Peabody Coal now wants to expand the mining operation at a potential environmental cost of 290 million tons of CO2 and an unfathomable personal cost to all who continue to live and fight for their lives on Black Mesa. In related news, area residents continue to face threats and intimidation at the hands of the U.S. government, and it is no coincidence that the afflicted live on what Peabody Coal clearly sees as “their profit”.

Continue reading ‘Indigenous Call for Action Answered by Youth/Environmental Groups — act now!’

The youth organization of the most powerful political party in West Virginia passed a multi-pronged resolution on coal & green jobs that included a call for No New Mountaintop Removal Permits. Our generation knows that Mountaintop Removal takes mining coal too far and we have safer ways to mine it as we transition to renewable energies & energy efficiency. This resolution passed in the midst of an above-the-fold article in the Washington Post, the Presidential Campaigns closing in on the May 13th WV Democratic Primary, and a record showing of grassroots involvement in the WV Democratic County Conventions. The political machine in West Virginia is getting scared of what true grassroots organizers are building here in West Virginia and we are in the year of a lifetime to build our movement for justice here!

The February 10th “Young Dems on Kayford” event that brought more than 35 Young Dems onto Kayford Mountain to see the effects of Mountaintop Removal was a crucial event in the organization learning about the issue and taking a stand.

This resolution on Mountaintop Removal was passed as a result of years of building awareness and involvement on the issue. This resolution passed with the solid margin of 32 votes in favor and only 10 votes against (with 2 abstaining votes). The WV Young Democrats have been a focus of education throughout the past year as we organized events to show both the leadership and the membership what Mountaintop Removal is doing to the people and land of Southern (and increasingly Central) WV. The resolution was formed and revised to its final content by a room of high schoolers, college students, deep miners, organizers, and concerned citizens to its final form. This resolution is causing reverberations through the WV Democratic Party and WV politicians (who have long been kinder to the coal industry than citizens) are taking notice.

Continue reading ‘WV Young Democrats Say “No New Mountaintop Removal Permits!”’