In the letter, Kucinich says to AMP CEO Marc Gerken:

As you gather for your annual conference, I strongly urge you to defer any final decision which would commit AMP to moving forward with large-scale coal-fired power generation and place your member municipalities at risk. At a time when the need for legislative action on climate change has never been greater and Congress and the EPA are more poised than ever to take action, the regulatory landscape remains in flux. Now is not the time to put cities, and the people who live there, in greater financial straits. I urge you to not issue a final notice to proceed.

Full text available here.

Athens, OH- Local residents dropped a banner with the words: “Dear A.R.C; New Energy, New Jobs, New Opportunities for Appalachia= NO NEW COAL” from the Richland Avenue bridge this morning to guide the Appalachian Regional Commissions’ discussion in the right direction: new energy and new jobs for Appalachia does not include new coal.

“By making ‘new energy, new jobs, new opportunities for Appalachia’ the theme of this years conference, the A.R.C. is recognizing the importance of a sustainable energy economy in our region. And don’t get me wrong, that’s great, but I really hope they’re not sitting in that room thinking of ways to keep enabling the same thing they’ve been doing (blowing up mountains, putting massive sludge dams next to elementary schools, and constructing coal-fired power plants at an alarming rate) and calling it green, and sustainable, and a new opportunity. I want to believe that the A.R.C. is going to be a catalyst for making Appalachia a green-collar economic role model, but that is definitely not going to happen if coal stays in the picture.” Said a spokeswoman for Rising Tide Athens at this mornings’ event.

The annual Appalachian Regional Commission conference being hosted by the state of Ohio, is in attendance this week in Athens, discussing alternative energy and jobs throughout Appalachia.

The Rising Tide North America Athens Chapter took action today to make it clear that coal in its entire cycle is not a clean energy solution.

By sinking funding into carbon capture and sequestration or other “clean coal” technologies, the core issues of coal industry dependence fail to be addressed. Mountain top removal extraction, coal processing and washing practices resulting in sludge impoundments, and the consumption of coal-fired power continue to be issues that impact Appalachia.

Local citizens want the Appalachian Regional Commission to think critically about the effects that the coal industry has had on the Appalachian land, people and culture. The perpetuation of this dirty energy cycle will not revitalize the region, rather we need to focus on real, and truly clean energy opportunities for Appalachia.

Clay Graham, a junior at Hiram College and member of OSEC, spoke about health impacts in the area near the coal plant, saying “it’s ironic that AMP is meeting in the Cleveland Clinic when Meigs County has few hospitals, the lowest life expectancy in the state, and where 18.6% of children don’t have health insurance”.

Kristen Arnold, an OSU sophomore and OSEC member, said “This is the latest action in an ongoing campaign by young people across the state to oppose the proposed coal plant, in favor of a clean energy economy.” OSEC is hosting a statewide conference for several hundred students called Power Shift Ohio, which will take place November 6-8 at Oberlin College, just west of Cleveland.

Now, Miami is back on track! At a forum this past Thursday, the student body Vice President and others unveiled a bold new plan to offer a $50,000 revolving fund for “cost saving, feasible, environmentally impactful and well-researched” projects. Money saved will then be put back into the pot, increasing the amount available for new projects.

Geography professor and chair of the new sustainability committee David Prytherch said “We really, in a certain sense, are only in the beginning. I think the people who will be at Miami in the next century will face a challenge that the people in the past couldn’t have contemplated.”

The first wave of proposals, open to students, faculty, and staff, are due in November. Whoever writes the winning proposals, this will surely be a landmark program that helps to set the future course of Miami University. Read the full story in the Miami Student.

This year, I want you to work smarter, not harder for my birthday, for the good of us all. I want you to invest in something that will benefit your pocketbook, the earth, and future generations. I want you to do any or all of these things:


1) Purchase a bunch of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), and plug them in ASAP! Don’t worry about letting the old clunkers burn out, by the time they do they’ll have used way more energy than you will save by tossing them. The best place to find good deals is on eBay – in stores CFLs sell for as much as $5/bulb, but on eBay you can get them for like $1.25 a piece if you order at least a few dozen. Tip: Don’t bother with skinny light bulbs or especially dimmers. We’ll leave that for another adventure.

2) Get your home energy audited to find out how to make your house comfortable for less. Auditors help you figure out where you’re using and losing energy, like where air is leaking in or out of your walls, ceilings, floors, doors, windows, etc. A good auditing service will provide you with a report on suggested ways to improve your energy efficiency, and how much energy and money you can save. Tip: If your appliances, windows & doors, or insulation turn out to be weak spots, you can get tax credits on new stuff – check out www.EnergyStar.gov.

3) Make a meal with friends one night a week instead of going out to dinner. We have potlucks at my house every Tuesday (at 8PM if you’re interested). It’s more fun than going out, and costs a heck of a lot less. 10 people means 10 dishes to choose from (well, probably more like 7 or 8 cuz there’s always a couple people who just show up…) which is pretty tough to beat. This is a great way to eat healthy, have fun, and save bucks.

4) Revolve those funds into more projects. The money spent on these ideas was just sitting in the bank before, but now it’s doing something! Figure out how much money you save and turn it into what’s called a revolving fund, where you re-invest in bigger and more impactful projects over time. You can work up to a solar hot water heater, new Energy Star appliances, even solar panels. If you get several projects working at the same time, you can free up dozens of free dollars every month for more new ideas.

5) Donate those funds to organizations working for bigger changes. If this message saves you $20 a month, how about donating $10 a month? Two suggestions I have are:
-Ohio Student Environmental Coalition
-Energize Clinton County

Whatever you do, this hot August, work smarter, not harder. You’ll enjoy it, I’ll appreciate it, and future generations will thank you. Please let me know if you take me up on my request :0)

-sincerely, Mattie-

17 activists in southern West Virginia have committed civil disobedience to stop mountaintop removal, believing that it is bad for people, the economy, and the environment, and must be stopped. As of early this afternoon, all 17 are out of jail (but still need help – donate to the legal defense fund!).

Legally speaking, I agree with them. The Necessity Defense is a little known and rarely used approach to ‘crimes’ one was forced to commit. The required elements for a successful Necessity Defense are:

1. A defendant was faced with a choice of evils and chose the lesser evil.
2. A defendant reasonably anticipated a cause-and-effect relationship between his conduct and the harm avoided.
3. A defendant acted to prevent imminent harm.
4. There were no legal alternatives to violating the law.

Any legal experts or enthusiasts out there think there might be a case? Coming from Columbus, Ohio, I wonder what OSU President Gordon Gee would think, as he sits on the Board of the corporation responsible for much of this, Massey Energy.

A 25-person crew has been working hard to support 17 line crossers, lockdowners, and sludge canoers. We still need to bail out 4 people at $2,000 each, and have got over 40 mouths to feed. Shameless plea for money :0)

Be part of ending mountaintop removal: ban its combustion in your community, volunteer in Appalachia, and donate to Coal River 17′s legal fund.

Full updates at MountainJustice.org

COAL RIVER VALLEY, WV– Activists are engaged in two separate civil disobedience actions this morning as part of the continuing campaign to end mountaintop removal. 9 people have locked themselves to mining equipment on a Patriot Coal mountaintop removal mine on Kayford Mountain and another team of activists has spread a 20×60 foot banner on the surface of Massey Energy’s Brushy Fork coal slurry impoundment near Pettus, W.Va. The activists are part of a coalition that includes Mountain Justice, Climate Ground Zero and concerned individuals.

At noon today, more protesters are expected to converge at the gate to the Brushy Fork dam with hundreds of pairs of shoes to represent the number of immediate deaths should the dam fail.

More details to follow. Video, still images and breaking news will be posted continually to www.mountainjustice.org.

Wilmington hosted shipping company DHL’s national hub of operations, which began to close down last year after the economic downturn and is preparing to fully close its U.S. operations this summer. This makes for a total of 8,000 jobs lost from a 12,000 person town.

That’s where the story of Mark Rembert, Taylor Stuckert, and Energize Clinton County begins. Mark and Taylor postponed Peace Corps duties to save their hometown through community organizing and grassroots economic development. I entered their donated downtown office into a meeting with the only Clinton County energy auditor, amongst buy local banners and Green For All posters.

In the shadow of a mono-industry way of life, ECC is pioneering a new way. Mark spoke excitedly about Wilmington’s potential, saying “we’re only capitalizing on 10% of our potential, we have so much room to grow!”. However, having submitted the largest weatherization program in US history to mostly deaf ears, during a glut of money for such programs, it’s clear that their work is cut out for them.

Time shall tell whether ECC can pull Wilmington out of this crisis. The federal response is helping, but ultimately the solutions must be local. Taylor said the stimulus package is like “trying to fit a square peg through a round hole, or drinking out of a firehose”, that our organic community networks have eroded and it takes a lot of work to rebuild them. Things are about to get very interesting in Wilmington. To learn from ECC, you can check out their Energize Your Community toolkit, Energize Your Garden toolkit, and more at http://EnergizeCC.com.

The plan was to wash AMP’s windows to help them “See the Light” while holding murals depicting Ohio’s future with AMP’s proposed coal-fired power plant versus Ohio’s future with renewable energy. However, when the group arrived there were two police cars and a paddy wagon parked outside the headquarters.

After talking with the police officers, OSEC Steering Committee co-chairs Kristen Arnold (Freshman, OSU) and Leah Winnike (Sophomore, University of Dayton) were allowed a meeting with AMP spokespeople Jolene Thompson and Kent Carson.

During the meeting, Kristen and Leah explained why OSEC is against the new coal-fired power plant planned for Meigs County, and the need for renewable and sustainable sources of energy. They also delivered a letter declaring the beginning of a campaign called “Operation: Bad Deal,” where student groups across Ohio will do everything they can to help AMP find a better way than the dirty coal plant. OSEC feels the positive impacts of AMP’s current renewables would be far outweighed by the new plant, although Thompson claimed that coal is itself a clean and renewable energy.

Outside, the rest of the group held up the murals and banners and chanted to keep spirits up. After the meeting, the students continued chanting as they marched away, knowing this was merely the first action in a series.

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