News
A day to shine on Capitol Hill

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Hearing chambersNews coverage of yesterdays Senate hearing on mountaintop removal coal mining:

The best headline thus far was printed before the hearing even started:
Washington City Paper – Mountaintop Coal Mining Face Off Starts Now!

As always, Ken Ward’s Coal Tattoo blog provided the most comprehensive coverage and analysis:
Mountaintop Removal: Jobs vs. Mayflies? NOT

Here’s a preliminary roundup of hearing coverage:

* McClatchy Newspapers – Lawmakers, activists battle over mountaintop removal coal mining
* Clear Skies TV – Mountaintop Removal Hearing
* CBS 13 WOWK, West Virginia – Mountaintop Mining Debate Reaches Capitol Hill
* CBS 59 WVNS – Debate Continues in Washington on Mountaintop Removal Mining
* ABC 3 WHSV – Environmental Official Testifies on Mountaintop Mining and Water Quality
* WV Metronews – Can We Really Keep Doing This?

And a few photos from the event. More can be found on our Flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmemorialforthemountains/sets/72157620455714735/

Talking across the issue part 2
Citizens for Coal discuss the mountaintop removal coal mining issue with Cody Simpkins of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.

Senator Ben Cardin
Senator Ben Cardin, co-founder of the Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696) and chair of the Committee on Environment and Public Works’ subcommittee on Water and Wildlife, speaks to the media about the bill.

Maria Gunnoe and Senator Lamar Alexandar
West Virginia native Maria Gunnoe, winner of this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize, explains to Senator Lamar Alexander how mountaintop removal coal mining devastates her home.

Hearing chambers
Close to two hundred people lined up for the Senate hearing on the Appalachia Restoration Act, from both sides of the mountaintop removal coal mining issue. Only about sixty were able to fit into the main Senate Committee chamber in Dirkson Senate Building; the rest were directed to an overflow room in a nearby senate building.

Waiting in Line
Close to two hundred people lined up for the Senate hearing on the Appalachia Restoration Act, from both sides of the mountaintop removal coal mining issue. The hearing was held in the Committee on Environment and Public Works’ subcommittee on Water and Wildlife. Some individuals waited in line for over three hours to secure a seat in the hearing.

Coalfield citizen statements about mountaintop removal mining:

Mickey McCoy, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
Inez, KY – I am a 53 year old retired high school English teacher who was born and raised in Inez, Kentucky. Twenty five percent of my counties land area has been striped mined.

Our public water system in Martin County is polluted and our 100 year flood comes every 18 months. These problems are due to the coal industry and the greed of their corporate owners.

Mountain top removal continues to bomb the hell out of our mountains, our culture, and our future.

I’m here in DC to see if anybody gives a damn about the death of my land. I’m here to see if any elected officials care to stand for us against the destruction of the Appalachian Mountains. I am here for the last hope.

Cody Simpkins, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
Morehead, KY – The people of Appalachia have struggled to find their voice for generations. Yet time after time we have been silenced buy our poverty and the overwhelming influence of the industrial forces that bring this poverty to our communities. For the first time our government is opening an ear to a main factor in the plight of Appalachia. Whether or not our voices will be heard is still left to be determined, but at least now we have a chance to open our mouths.

Matt Howard, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
McGoffin County, KY – As a young person, born and raised in eastern Kentucky, I have many hopes and aspirations for my family and neighbors. I would like to see my people prosper, living long into their old age. In recent decades there has been an explosion in cancer rates among the human population the world over. It is obvious that we have brought this problem on ourselves. What we put into the land, air, and water, we unavoidably put into our own bodies. With Mountain Top Removal we are poisoning our water, and losing the rich soil that nourished our bodies for so long. We our selling the thing that truly sustains us, and funneling our wealth out of the region. What we are selling can never be replaced. This is the great tragedy of our time and region. I hope to see people embrace logic, and develop a thirst for knowledge. We should strive improve ourselves as individuals and as a society. This is what I want for our people.

Lorelei Scarbro—Coal River Mountain Watch
Rock Creek, WV – I am WV born and raised; in my family has been four generation of underground coal miners, including my husband who died of black lung. My home is threatened by a proposed mountaintop removal behind my home. Everything I have, including the cemetery where my husband is buried, is at risk. It’s my prayer that this committee learns the truth about how mountaintop removal is impacting the water in Appalachian communities. My biggest concern as a mother of four and as a grandmother is safe drinking water. I’m so concerned about the quality of water my granddaughter will have when she’s my age. People I know are already sick, dead, and dying because of mountaintop removal has on our water.

There is an alternative. In my community, the Coal River Valley in southwestern West Virginia, there is a 6,600 acre mountaintop removal site proposed for the mountain behind my home. Instead of this destruction, we are proposing a wind farm. Studies have shown that this would provide more jobs, more revenue for the county, and more electricity in the long run that the mountaintop removal project. 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 alternatives like the Coal River Wind project, and other investments in green jobs in communities that have been impacted by mountaintop removal.

David Beatty—Save Our Cumberland Mountains
Cumberland County, TN What I’ve been saying all along is that where I come from, so many jobs are pretty well gone, but you can still depend on tourism. If the water is messed up and the mountains are gone, we’ll lose that too. I see this mountaintop removal another threat to the economy, more than any other economic threat we face. The lawmakers need to respond, because while they may not care about our health, I know they care about the economy.

I was elected to the position of County Executive from 1998 to 2002. We focused on developing tourism because we saw that as the best economic option for our community. I see hope in this new green economy as an alternative we’ve never had before.

We used to have many jobs in underground mining – and a lot of our retired miners gave their health to the pollution inside the mine. They never dreamed they would now have to give up their land, their mountains and their lifestyle, to mountaintop removal mining.

The well water on my property was ruined by strip mining, and it is threatened by a new mountaintop removal site they are trying to put in. You used to be able to lean down and drink out of any stream, but now you don’t dare. People depend on their well water, because many don’t have access to city water. Bad water doesn’t just affect the tourist economy; it’s our health; it’s our life.

I see such an opportunity and such a serious threat. Investment in a green economy is our best opportunity to get Appalachia out of poverty, but we’ll never have that chance if we destroy our water and our health with mountaintop removal.

Jean Chealy –Save Our Cumberland Mountains
Cumberland County, TN – I am a retired school teacher and volunteer as the chair of our local chapter of SOCM. I have been to Washington to lobby against mountaintop removal before. Mountaintop removal is such an abomination, and we shouldn’t have to spend this much time and energy fighting it. The problems should be obvious to lawmakers, and they need to act to end mountaintop removal today.

In Tennessee, we now also have to fight the terrible impacts of TVA’s coal ash spill. TVA is hoping to dump huge amounts of the toxic coal ash waste onto a strip mine near my home in Cumberland County, TN. They bulldozed through our county commission and got the permits with out listening to citizen concerns. I got involved years ago because of the terrible blasting damages from this same strip mine they are now trying to dump their toxic coal ash into. So, now our health and our water are being threatened by the mining of coal and by the disposal of the toxic ash they make when they burn it.

Kathy Selvage, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards
Wise, VA – We have so much to share with the people who might visit us. If we could only stop blasting away our mountains and dumping them into valleys and streambeds. Mountaintop removal is destroying the land, the people, and our cultural heritage. We could make it if only our elected leaders shared our vision, one that doesn’t concentrate on destruction, but instead on construction.
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US Senate Subcommittee Holds Hearing on the Impacts of Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining on Water Quality in Appalachia

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

US Senate Subcommittee Holds Hearing on the Impacts of Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining on Water Quality in Appalachia

On Thursday, July 25, over seventy supporters of the Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696) lined up outside the door of Dirksen Senate Building for a hearing on the bill. The hearing, held by the Committee on Environment and Public Works’ Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife, was conducted by subcommittee chair Senator Ben Cardin, also a co-founder of the bill.

The Appalachian Restoration Act (S 696) is a Senate-sponsored bill to amend the Clean Water Act, outlawing the dumping of mining waste into streams. A 2002 change to the Clean Water Act by the Bush administration made it legal to dump mining waste into streams.

The bill would effectively eliminate the mountaintop removal coal mining practice of valley fills.

“Coal is important to America,” said Senator Cardin. “It is important to recognize the importance of energy needs in America. But we are talking about one type of coal mining here – mountaintop removal coal mining – and its impact on the water quality of America.”

“Saving our mountains is important to me, whether we are talking about cleaning up our streams, or ending the practice of blowing up mountaintops and dumping the waste into streams,” he said.

Two panels of witnesses provided testimony for the hearing, including EPA Region 3 Director Jon Pomponio, water quality expert Dr. Margaret Palmer from the University of Maryland, and West Virginia resident Maria Gunnoe, winner of this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize, Paul Sloane, Deputy Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and Randy Huffman, Cabinet Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

During Dr. Palmer’s testimony, she indicated that there is “irrefutable evidence that impacts to streams from mountaintop removal [coal mining] is devastating. As headwaters are lost, cumulative effects in streams and rivers below are devastating.” When asked by the Senate panel if how effective remedial programs would be to mitigate the damage, Palmer noted that there is no knowledge of an effective way to reverse the damage caused to streams, and that known impacts have been in continuance in some places for close to 50 years.

“When you take the top of a mountain off, you have fundamentally altered the hydrology of that mountain,” she said.

Paul Sloane, Deputy Commissioner of TDEC, claimed that “nearly 70% of post mining land uses “is*” forestry reclamation.” Senator Cardin commented that he was told by a Virginia Tech professor that there were currently 5800 valley fills in West Virginia and Kentucky. The professor estimated that less than 1% of those sites have been reclaimed.

After the hearing, West Virginia Coal Association vice president Chris Hamilton spoke with media in attendance, saying that he was “disappointed in the way this was set up and organized. Those opposing [mountaintop mining] had four witnesses, and supporters [of coal] were virtually shut out of the process.”

“This bill [will impose] significant restrictions not only on mountaintop mining, but on surface and underground mining as well. I don’t think the answer is to abolish surface mining,” he added.

“The very concept of mountaintop removal is repugnant to me,” Senator Cardin said in an interview after the hearing. “This bill is about water quality. I’m not sure the mining companies are in the position to tell us about water quality.”

The next steps for the bill include a vote in Subcommittee. If the bill passes subcommittee, it will proceed to review by the full Environment and Public Works committee.

To view an archived webcast of the entire hearing, visit the Senate website or click here to watch it now!

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Supreme Court Ruling Has Implications for Mountaintop Removal

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

This just in. Rob Perks of NRDC provides commentary on their blog, the Switchboard.

It does not bode well that the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday ruled 6-3 in favor of treating America’s waterways like dumps. Specifically, the Court decided that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can legally permit the disposal of polluted wastewater from a gold mine into an Alaskan lake. The proposed Kensington Gold Mine, in the Berners Bay region near Juneau, would discharge 210,000 gallons per day of ‘treated’ mine tailings directly into Lower Slate Lake. Over the course of the mine’s 10-15 years of operations, that adds up to about 4.5 million tons of toxic waste that will kill all the fish and nearly all other aquatic life.
[Photo by J. Henry Fair]
(Photo by J. Henry Fair)

I’m no lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, so feel free to analyze the gory details of this legal travesty in this article on the decision. You can also read the New York Times coverage of the case here.

Now, the reason the Court sided with the Corps — and contrary to the purpose of the Clean Water Act — is because of a rule change invoked by the Bush administration back in 2002 that expanded the definition of the term ‘fill material’ to include mining waste. This is the very same regulatory dirty trick that the Corps relies on to permit massive stream ‘valley fills’ in Appalachia associated with mountaintop removal coal mining.

But this disappointing Supreme Court ruling doesn’t have to be the end of the issue. You see, the Obama administration can save that Alaskan lake from irrevocably pollution — and all the mountains and valleys in Appalachia from destruction — simply be reversing the bad Bush ‘fill’ rule. Recent actions by the Obama administration to crack down on mountaintop removal fall far short of actually ending mountaintop removal, which is the only solution to this abomination.

In addition, legislation pending in both houses of Congress would also effectively put a stop to mountaintop removal by overruling the 2002 fill rule — thereby preventing the Corps from permitting waste dumps in America’s waterways. This Thursday, the Senate will hold a hearing on one of those bills, the bi-partisan Appalachia Restoration Act (S. 696), co-sponsored by Sens. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN).

I’ll be live blogging the Senate hearing. Meantime, you can help by urging your Senators to support this bill.
[Photo by J. Henry Fair]
(Photo by J. Henry Fair)

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News for the Marsh Fork Elementary School Rally of June 23rd, 2009

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

On Tuesday, June 23, hundreds of people gathered at an anti-mountaintop removal coal mining rally at Marsh Fork Elementary School in West Virginia to protest the continuation of the destructive practice. The local and regional residents were joined by NASA climatologist James Hansen, who spoke about the contributions of mountaintop removal coal mining and coal-fired power plants to the problem of global warming.

Activist and actress Daryl Hannah, Rainforest Action Network Executive Director Michael Brune and renowned novelist Diane Giardina also spoke during the rally.

According to Hansen, 24,000 people die each year from illnesses caused by coal-fired power plants.

Novelist Denise Giardina, author of the book “Storming Heaven” about the battle of Blair Mountain, said during her speech, “We had coal mining for 70 years before mountaintop removal mining, and blowing up the top of a mountain is not coal mining.”

Protestors were met at the scene by employees of Massey Energy – who according to one source had been given the day off with pay to attend the rally and counter the protest – and their wives. The miners were dressed in work clothes with orange “Massey stripes” and carrying signs that said “Tree Huggers Go Home” and “We Love Mountains That Produce Coal.” Some miners shouted obsenities and taunts at protestors.

“The coal that is burned here [in West Virginia] is mined somewhere else, and the coal that is mind here is burned somewhere else,” said Rock Creek, WVa native Judy Bonds. “This is America. This is everyone’s problem.”

Rally attendees then marched half of a mile down the main road to the Massey coal processing plant entrance, singing “Amazing Grace” and other gospel songs. They were met by the line of Massey workers and wives chanting “Massey, Massey” and shouting at the protestors. Twenty-nine individuals who had chosen to risk arrest then sat down in the middle of the road, and climatologist Hansen read a request to Massey Energy asking the company to help with the climate change problem by ending mountaintop removal coal mining.

The activists were subsequently arrested for obstructing traffic. “Stop mountaintop removal and create a clean energy future,” said actress Daryl Hannah as she was lead away in handcuffs.

Among the arrested included 94-year-old Ken Heckler, former U.S. congressman and Secretary of State for West Virginia; James Hansen; Michael Brune, and numerous West Virginia residents including Lorelei Scarboro, Dana Kuhnline and Larry Gibson.

In the end result, the rally was peaceful, violence was avoided, and the majority of Massey’s coal production on the mountaintop removal site above the school was shut down for a day.

Quotes from the day:

“The blood of Native Americans and West Virginians is in these hills. The spirit of Native Americans and West Virginians is in these hills. We need to honor the Scotch Irish, honor the Germans and English, honor the Native Americans and Africans whose people are buried in these mountains. This is a war of the spirit.” Matt Charmin, Dakota Blackfoot Sioux

“We think there is a way to create long-term, sustainable jobs so you can feed your families.” Steve Owen, Executive Director, Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy, speaking directly to the Massey Energy counter-protestors

“People went to jail so we wouldn’t have to work on weekends. People went to jail so women could have the right to vote…. [some of you are risking arrest today…] You have the right to remain silent, but now is the time to stand up for what you believe is right.” Steve Owen, Executive Director, Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy

“Don Blankenship invited me here today, when he started blowing up mountains.” Michael Brune, Executive Director, Rainforest Action Network

Flickr Photostream available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/appvoices/sets/72157620592562274/

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Rally at the Marsh Fork Elementary School a Peaceful Success

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
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On Tuesday, June 23, a team from Appalachian Voices joined hundreds of people gathered at an anti-mountaintop removal coal mining rally at Marsh Fork Elementary School in West Virginia to protest the continuation of the destructive practice. The local and regional residents were joined by NASA climatologist James Hansen, who spoke about the contributions of mountaintop removal coal mining and coal-fired power plants to the problem of global warming.

Activist and actress Daryl Hannah, Rainforest Action Network Executive Director Michael Brune and renowned novelist Diane Giardina also spoke during the rally.

According to Hansen, 24,000 people die each year from illnesses caused by coal-fired power plants.

Novelist Denise Giardina, author of the book “Storming Heaven” about the battle of Blair Mountain, said during her speech, “We had coal mining for 70 years before mountaintop removal mining, and blowing up the top of a mountain is not coal mining.”

Protestors were met at the scene by employees of Massey Energy – who according to one source had been given the day off with pay to attend the rally and counter the protest – and their wives. The miners were dressed in work clothes with orange “Massey stripes” and carrying signs that said “Tree Huggers Go Home” and “We Love Mountains That Produce Coal.” Some miners shouted obsenities and taunts at protestors.

“The coal that is burned here [in West Virginia] is mined somewhere else, and the coal that is mind here is burned somewhere else,” said Rock Creek, WVa native Judy Bonds. “This is America. This is everyone’s problem.”

Rally attendees then marched half of a mile down the main road to the Massey coal processing plant entrance, singing “Amazing Grace” and other gospel songs. They were met by the line of Massey workers and wives chanting “Massey, Massey” and shouting at the protestors. Twenty-nine individuals who had chosen to risk arrest then sat down in the middle of the road, and climatologist Hansen read a request to Massey Energy asking the company to help with the climate change problem by ending mountaintop removal coal mining.

The activists were subsequently arrested for obstructing traffic. “Stop mountaintop removal and create a clean energy future,” said actress Daryl Hannah as she was lead away in handcuffs.

Among the arrested included 94-year-old Ken Heckler, former U.S. congressman and Secretary of State for West Virginia; James Hansen; Michael Brune, and numerous West Virginia residents including Lorelei Scarboro, Dana Kuhnline and Larry Gibson.

In the end result, the rally was peaceful, violence was avoided, and the majority of Massey’s coal production on the mountaintop removal site above the school was shut down for a day.

Quotes from the day:

“The blood of Native Americans and West Virginians is in these hills. The spirit of Native Americans and West Virginians is in these hills. We need to honor the Scotch Irish, honor the Germans and English, honor the Native Americans and Africans whose people are buried in these mountains. This is a war of the spirit.” Matt Charmin, Dakota Blackfoot Sioux

“We think there is a way to create long-term, sustainable jobs so you can feed your families.” Steve Owen, Executive Director, Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy, speaking directly to the Massey Energy counter-protestors

“People went to jail so we wouldn’t have to work on weekends. People went to jail so women could have the right to vote…. [some of you are risking arrest today…] You have the right to remain silent, but now is the time to stand up for what you believe is right.” Steve Owen, Executive Director, Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy

“Don Blankenship invited me here today, when he started blowing up mountains.” Michael Brune, Executive Director, Rainforest Action Network

Flickr Photostream available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/appvoices/sets/72157620592562274/

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A Growing Urgency to End Mountaintop Removal

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

The following email was sent to the 36,000+ supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.

The pressure on the Obama administration to stop mountaintop removal coal mining is building across the country.

Last week, we asked you to call the White House and tell the administration that it was time to reverse the devastating 2002 Bush Administration “fill rule,” which allows coal companies to dump their toxic mining waste into our nation’s streams.

And next week, on June 23rd, climate scientist Dr. James Hansen will join community members and activists from around the country in Coal River Valley, West Virginia to launch a year of activism to end mountaintop removal coal mining.

Hansen and others will gather at Marsh Fork Elementary — the elementary school that is next to a mountaintop removal mine operated by Massey Energy and just 400 yards downslope from a 2.8 billion gallon coal sludge impoundment that threatens the school.

The activists will then march a short distance to Massey Energy’s office of operations and risk arrest in a line crossing civil disobedience, in order to raise awareness of the devastation that mountaintop removal coal mining is causing to the mountains and communities of Appalachia.

Can you take a moment to stand with them, and help put pressure on the Obama administration to take immediate action to end mountaintop removal coal mining today?

We’re asking every member of iLoveMountains.org to take just three minutes to email the White House to ask President Obama to immediately begin the process of overturning the Bush-era “fill rule,” which allows coal companies to dump their toxic mining waste into our nation’s streams.

Please, click here to email President Obama now.

The Obama administration needs to hear that simply enforcing Bush-era rules and laws is not enough. The administration must overturn the Bush-era rules to begin the process of building a sustainable future for Appalachia.

That’s why the activists gathering at Coal River Valley next week are risking arrest — to send the message that impact on the mountains, communities and waterways of central Appalachia have been ignored for too long.

Please, take a moment to make sure President Obama hears that message:

Email President Obama today.

Thank you for taking action.

Matt Wasson

iLoveMountains.org

PS Contact Annie Sartor at Rainforest Action Network if you are interested in coming to Coal River Mountain on June 23rd.

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Activists scale 20-story tall machinery to call attention to nation’s worst form of coal mining

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

This just dropped into our email box:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday June 18th, 2009

CONTACTS:
Nell Greenberg, 510-847-9777
Celia Alario, 310-721-6517
Vivian Stockman, 304-927-3265

Hi-Res Photos, B-roll and Video will be available, www.mountaintaction.org.

Activists Risk Arrest to Stop Mountaintop Removal – Scale 20-story tall machinery to call attention to nation’s worst form of coal mining; This is the first time a dragline has been scaled on a mountaintop removal site

COAL RIVER VALLEY, W. VA.—Moments ago, four concerned citizens entered onto Massey Energy’s mountaintop removal mine site near Twilight WV and have begun to scale a150-foot dragline machine to drop a banner that says, ‘stop mountaintop removal mining.’ The climbers plan to stay on the enormous dragline, a massive piece of equipment that removes house-sized chunks of blasted rock and earth to expose coal, until police arrest them. Equipped with satellites phones and a web camera, the climbers will be available for interviews.

This is the first time a dragline has been scaled on a mountaintop removal site, and marks the latest in a string of increasingly dramatic protests in West Virginia by residents and allies from across the country. This act of protest against mountaintop removal comes just days after the Obama Administration announced a plan to reform, but not abolish, the aggressive strip mining practice.

“It’s way past time for civil disobedience to stop mountaintop removal and move quickly toward clean, renewable energy sources,” said Judy Bonds, Goldman Environmental Prize winner and co-director of Coal River Mountain Watch of West Virginia. “For over a century, Appalachian communities have been crushed, flooded, and poisoned as a result of the country’s dangerous and outdated reliance on coal. How could the country care so little about our American mountains, our culture and our lives?”

Read the entire press release at www.mountaintaction.org

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Maybe a new director of the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement…

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Rumor has it that Secretary Salazar is looking to appoint another director of the OSMRE with history of bowing to coal companies at the expense of communities across Pennsylvania.

If we act now, we can prevent this terrible nomination – Use these letter-writing tools demand an ethical new OSMRE Director who will enforce the law.

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Green Jobs Show More Growth In Past Ten Years Than Traditional Jobs

Monday, June 15th, 2009

According to a report released today by The Pew Charitable Trusts, green jobs—Pew dubs these “clean energy jobs”— across the country grew at a national rate of 9.1 percent between 1998 and 2007, while traditional jobs grew by only 3.7 percent, a difference of nearly two and a half times. State levels also showed growth in clean energy outperformed overall job growth in 38 states and the District of Columbia during the same time period.

And this growth has happened despite a lack of sustained government support for clean energy jobs. According to the report, by 2007 more than 68,200 businesses across the nation accounted for about 770,000 jobs.

By comparison, fossil-fuel industries—including utilities, coal mining and oil and gas extraction—comprised about 1.27 million workers in 2007.

Green industries are also creating well-paying jobs people of all skill levels and educational backgrounds, including engineers, plumbers, administrative assistants, construction workers, machine setters, marketing consultants, teachers and many others, with annual incomes ranging from $21,000 to $111,000.

Read the full press release on their website.

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BECKLEY REGISTER-HERALD: There has to be a better way in the Coal River Valley

Monday, June 15th, 2009

Op-ed published June 13th, 2009

There has to be a better way.

Sure, it’s all legal. The state Supreme Court said so last week when it rejected an appeal that sought to bar Massey Energy subsidiary Goals Coal Co. from constructing another coal storage silo less than the length of a football field from Marsh Fork Elementary School.

But there has to be a better way.

Coal River Mountain Watch, which for years has argued that even one silo so close to the school was one too many, was, obviously, upset with the court’s decision, saying that “placing a second coal silo within 300 feet of the school is a clear violation of the intent of the law, which is to protect the public.”

But Justice Menis Ketchum, who wrote the unanimous opinion, made it clear the court was not going to become embroiled in policy questions that should be decided by lawmakers.

“It is the duty of the Legislature to consider facts, establish policy and embody that policy in legislation,” he wrote. “It is the duty of the court to enforce legislation unless it runs afoul of state or federal constitutions.”

So there, you have it.

Not quite.

Coal silos and preparation facilities are a fact of life in the southern West Virginia coalfields, but locating them in direct proximity of public schools isn’t the best policy.

In this debate between environmentalists and a coal industry giant, the ones with the most at stake are the young students at Marsh Fork Elementary.

They didn’t ask for this. They don’t have a seat at the table.

Collectively, they’re an innocent party with the most to lose.

Having a coal silo, having any kind of industrial complex, so close to a school, especially an elementary school, can’t be conducive to learning.

We suggested a long time ago that Massey pony up the money to build a new elementary school at a location not in the direct shadow of its Goals coal operations. But now, with the economic downturn that has affected every industry, including coal, that seems like a distant dream.

We would encourage Massey officials and local school leaders to sit down and try to work out a solution to this problem.

The Coal River Valley has long felt like a red-haired stepchild in Raleigh County, that it has lost while other areas of the county have gained.

It has also yielded the coal that, as they say, keeps the lights on and provides a steady stream of tax revenue.

Maybe it’s time that area receives something in return.

For more information, visit:

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At a protest held June 23 at Marsh Fork Elementary school, miners were in full force to show their true colors, and I don’t mean their monkey stripe suits which they are often seen wearing. Weraring these stripped suits, is just another way of showing the control Massey Energy has over them. These workers are so ignorant to realize that once Massey is through with them, they are history. All they can see is the day that they wake up in each day. I was fortunate enough to get my time in to receive my UMWA health card, which is for life. That’s something these Massey miners will have to deal with when the time comes when Massey put them out to pasture, they’re done with them. Their services will have been used, then they are history. As I was talking to the crowd on that day, I was interrupted throughout my speech. I heard one say that I had been fired by Massey, that was a false statement, I quit Massey Energy, because I refuse to take the shit, that these employees take. I’m one who stand my ground, and take no shit from no one. This is something Massey Energy isn’t use to. They are use to always getting their way. I also heard someone say that Massey had built my house which I live in. I built my home in Sylvester, my hometown, on union money as a union miner. It was only the acts of Elk Run Coal Co., that destroyed everything that I had built on a union pay. So the house I had in Sylvester, was twice the house, than what I live in now. Another yelled that I didn’t have the balls to set in the road and get arrested. I’ve been arrested several times during demostrations against Massey. The real truth, was I had to travel to Washington the very next day to attend Senate hearings on mountaintop removal, which to say that the coal industry got their ass kick at these hearings. A far more satisfaction than going to jail. But I applaud the ones who choose to get arrested, and making the statement this practice has to stop, and it will. For the ones, and their brain-washed wives, that show your ass at the rally, I just want you to know that your days as a mountaintop destruction worker are nearing the end. It’s time you all start thinking about asking your elected officials, what’s next for us, and that you demand to be trained for a renewable job that will replace the fossil fuel industry. I just hope you have the knowledge to understand the history of the coal industry, and that you are only a number, and that’s all.

After numerous trips to Washington, to meet with Sen., Congress, Reps, EPA,CEQ, OSM, DOI, and wasting time in the state capitol talking with mostly dip shits there, I can say that I met at least a couple of reliable, honest, people, I have to say I haven’t been impressed by any and possibly all. I’ve been on supposely powerful Capitol Hill, but I didn’t see anything that resembled power to me. And the biggest farce of all is our state capitol in Charleston, I think it is the home of the weak and the SICK, because one couldn’t find impress if you looked it up in the dictionary in the capitol, the word would not be there. I’ve been to several hearings and listen to the so- called coal industry, and nope it’s not there either, they are nothing but fagots. but when I go into communities, as Prenter, and Rawl, when I travel up and down Boone, Raleigh, Mingo, Fayette, Lincoln, and McDowell counties, this is where I witness power, and the power comes in many voices and the look in peoples eyes. These are the people who have been pushed and kicked all their lives either by the coal industry, or by the bigots who make up our political and justice system. The politicians like the administration which was recently replaced, used this country, and our constitution as though it was a doormat, they haven’t a clue what democracy is, or what it suppose to look like. I want to stop a second and say that if you don’t like where this post is going, you have that right to direct yourself away from my site now. You will have a chance to comment on what I write, but you have NO right as to say what I will, or what I don’t write. If you are interested in sounding off, get your own blog. I’ve been all over this country talking about the abuses from an industry, who doesn’t give a shit about anything or anybody, and the employees of these companies need to evaluate how much do they mean to their company. I sure you will find, as I did, you don’t mean a damn thing to these barons, they are using you for all it’s worth, and when their done with you, the hammer falls, and that’s it. All you’ve did in the past, all those laws broken, and lives put in danger, just to make an impression, won’t be worth anything when it comes down to walking away. You will walk away angry, broke, and used up, just so these companies can grab any and all things which they can make a nickels profit from, and we will be left with nothing, just like many of our communities are experiencing today. And the industry, along with those politicians who are gloting to grab all the trickle down crumbs that the industry scatter like bird seed. There is about to rise-up the true meaning of power, and that’s the power in the people. Whether it be in-state, or out of-state, this is an important, and emotional issue for all civilized people. Since it’s the company who sells their product to every conner of the country. So don’t try and limit this to an in-state issue. When your product is consumed by the public, then that leaves you open to an assault by the public to who you sell your product to. You’ve dug yourself a hole by getting over greedy, and by short-cutting the laws, and by the total destruction of communities, and the poisoning of our streams, that hold the very power that can bring an industry, like the coal industry, down to their knees, and can also jerk big feeling politician to his feet. The real power is in the people. History has told us this all along, and I don’t ever see it changing for no one or no company, or no paid-for-politician. In the end, we will be standing strong. The people, that is what democracy is all about. Chuck wrote this blog: 4-27-09; 5:45 pm.

It’s been a very busy time, these last couple of months, and my time for posting on my blog has been very limited. So I want to start posting more of my views on MTR, and what all is happening in the coalfields on Coal River. Since early Feb., it’s been something to do daily. The Sludge Safety Project have been lobbying our state legislators, and trying to get a bill passed that would protect families who are on well water, from being contaminated with heavy metals of coal waste, and the abuses from the coal industry. We got a lot of support of the bill, and it was introduced on the Senate side, by our good Sen. Randy White, (D), Webster Co. It was doing well and gaining support, until it came before senate chair of the EIM committee,(energy, industry, and mining), Mike Green (D), Raleigh Co., where the bill died, because Sen. Green, after many request to put the bill on the agenda, refused to due so, because of his ties with the coal industry, and his dedication to our coal friendly governor, Joe Manchin. This bill would have put a moratorium on pending, and new permits on slurry injections, the process of injecting toxic waste from the cleaning coal at a preparation plants, into our mountains, into old abandon undergrounds mines. This process, which the DEP said , they are not sure that this process isn’t poisoning communities drinking supply, has been known to to inflict misery and death, on people living in the coalfields, who have depended on well water, to be their clean water source for many years. 90% of rural West Virginia’s depend on wells for their families drinking water. Once, the freshest water anywhere, are now destroyed forever, and now fill homes with heavy metals, some that exceed 100 times more than the safe drinking water standards. The bill also offered alternatives, such as the dry press method of cleaning coal, which would do away with slurry injections completely, and would cost the coal companies cents on the ton to install this type cleaning method to their preparation plants. This process would insure families health and safety from the extreme dangers from injections of toxic waste, just another way companies use our lands as a toxic waste dump. I, who have strongly supported Sen. Green, my constituent, in his last two elections, has gotten my last vote, and future support. I explained how important this bill was to communities where my friends and family live, and have been affected, and some who’s life have been taken, because of this process. Just another example how coal owns our politics here in WV. It’s really a shame that elected officials, continue to consider families expendable, when it comes to selling their deadly product. I’m sure the lines will be long, when one day they will have to be held accountable for the destruction they allowed, and supported, to happen to God’s creation. Unbelievable.

Obama mountaintop removal decision coming ‘very soon’

by Ken Ward Jr.

nancy-sutley.jpg

Nancy Sutley, who served as Deputy Mayor for Energy and Environment for the city of Los Angeles, California since 2005, is Barack Obama’s chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

President Barack Obama’s top aides will be making a decision “very soon” about what they will do about mountaintop removal, according to congressional testimony today from Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Sutley told lawmakers her staff have been meeting with EPA, the Corps of Engineers, the Department of Justice and the Office of Surface Mining, discussing the issue, reviewing the February decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and examining a flood of pending permits at the corps office in Huntington.

“We’re trying to get a handle on what’s out there and what we may be able to do about it,” Sutley told the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies.

chandler.jpgDuring a subcommittee hearing this morning, Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Ky., grilled Sutley about mountaintop removal and the Obama administration’s plans for dealing with it. Chandler has been a critics of mountaintop removal, and is among the sponsors of the Clean Water Protection Act, legislation to overturn Bush administration changes to the “fill rule” that benefited the mining industry.

According to a transcript kindly provided to me by Jonathan Strong at the publication Inside EPA (Subs Req’d), Sutley told Chandler that Obama officials are looking closely at pending permits, and haven’t decided whether they should go forward or not:

Whether all of the permits are created equal, do they all represent activities that will have significant environmental impact. So that we can focus on the ones that have the most significant environmental impacts and see what the options are for making sure that if they do go ahead that we are dealing with the environmental impacts.

Sutley indicated that CEQ is trying to arbitrate a dispute between EPA, which wants to block these permits, and the corps, which wants to allow mining to go forward.

Here’s the full transcript of the exchange:

mtr9.jpgChandler: I’d like to ask you a few questions about mountain top removal. It’s an issue I’m sure you’re familiar with and there are a number of people in the Appalachian mountain chain who are very concerned about the shearing off of the tops of mountains, an activity, as you obviously know, affects the landscape forever. Also the impact on drinking water that is a fairly strong impact. There is a lot of concern from a lot of people who live downstream about the quality of their drinking water. During the election President Obama expressed serious concerns about this. But since he’s been elected a fourth circuit decision came down in February which basically allowed this practice to carry on. It had been held in abeyance prior to that decision. There are some permits I think that are moving forward right now. Are you aware that mountain top removal mining is moving forward now into mines in West Virginia.

Sutley: We’ve had the opportunity since the fourth circuit decision to sit down with the agencies that are involved in this process, trying to, first of all understand the status of the permits that were the specific focus of the circuit court and the district court decisions, as well as the status of all the permits that were as you said, held in abeyance as those issues were going through the court. So trying to understand how many there were, where they are and where in the process they are. And we’ve had a number of discussions with the army corps of engineers and with EPA and with the department of justice and with the office of surface mining to understand where we are in the process and to try to now begin the process of identifying which permits are furthest along in the process and which permits represent projects with the most significant environmental impact. We’re trying to get a handle on what’s out there and what we may be able to do about it.

Chandler: What is the administration’s attitude toward this? Does the administration have a position on the going forward of these permits?

Sutley: Whether all of the permits are created equal, do they all represent activities that will have significant environmental impact. So that we can focus on the ones that have the most significant environmental impacts and see what the options are for making sure that if they do go ahead that we are dealing with the environmental impacts.

Chandler: Well its my understanding that the EPA is in favor of them not going ahead and there’s a dispute there with the corps of engineers may be in favor of them going ahead. And isn’t it the role of the CEQ to arbitrate when there is some dispute amongst the agencies?

Sutley: It is.

Chandler: Are you going to arbitrate?

Sutley: Yes that’s what we’re doing right now.

Chandler: Do you know that there is a bit of an urgency to this?

Sutley: Yes, we recognize there is an urgency and we’ve had several meetings with both the corps and the epa already and we met this week with some representatives from the communities affected by that and have had some other meetings as well. So we are aware of the urgency and we are trying to get to a solution very quickly.

Chandler: And you know that every day that passes things are put in place that cannot be reversed?

Sutley: Yes sir.

Chandler: Do we expect some decision from the CEQ soon

Sutley: Yes, very soon

Chandler: I suppose you can’t be more specific than that right now.

March 20, 2009

Underground Injection of Coal Slurry Not Meeting Public Health Standards

Special to Huntingtonnews.net

Charleston, WV (HNN) – The Sludge Safety Project on Thursday, March 19, 2009 released a report that reveals slurry injected underground is not meeting Safe Drinking Water Act standards, the guidelines for any substance injected into groundwater in West Virginia.

The findings in the Citizens’ Report on Underground Sludge Injection are based on data from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, the United States Geological Survey and the US Environmental Protection Agency.

According to SSP coordinator Patricia Feeney, “There’s enough data here, now to say – ‘Enough. We are done pumping waste and poison into groundwater. We are done making people sick unnecessarily’.”

“The bottom line is that people are living near these injection sites,” said Chuck Nelson, a retired coal miner from Raleigh County and board member of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. “The DEP’s own records show that there are over 600 injection sites in the state. This is not about one county or one community. This is about our health and our future as West Virginians.”

“What we are doing today impacts every generation that follows us,” said Senator Randy White (D –Webster), who last week introduced SB528, legislation that would place a moratorium on underground coal slurry injection until it is proven safe.

“We need to have safe drinking water now and in the future,” White said. “Hopefully, we can take a reasonable course here in the Legislature by providing for a moratorium on slurry injection until the final word is given out by the Public Health Department that our waters are or are not safe.”

“Our Legislature has to hear this issue. In the Book that I read most often it says, ‘Like a tree standing by the water, we shall not be moved’,” said Rev. Dennis Sparks, Executive Director of the West Virginia Council of Churches, which endorses the bill.

“And folks in this room – and around the state – will not be moved away from this issue. We will stand fast and continue to challenge the Legislature on this whole issue of clean water.”

Nelson added, “We have an obligation to inform our fellow West Virginians and to protect our neighbors.”

Nelson called on Senator Greene (D-Raleigh), Chair of the Energy, Industry and Mining Committee to put Senate Bill 568 on the committee’s agenda.

The Sludge Safety Project is an effort of the Huntington-based Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, the Whitesville-based Coal River Mountain Watch, Concerned Citizens of Mingo County and Concerned Citizens of Prenter Road.

Concerned Citizens of Giles County hosts community meeting

Posted: Feb 21, 2009 07:37 PM

The Concerned Citizens of Giles County continue their crusade to stop fly ash dumping near the New River.

Saturday, they hosted a community meeting to voice their concern and hear from experts on the effects of fly ash dumping.

“As concerned citizens, we are still adamantly fighting to stop the Cumberland Park Project.” says Carleena Blankenship with the CCGC.

“We’re hopeful that this will be an idea that catches on not just in the community but in the legislature locally and federally.” adds John Robertson, attorney for the concerned citizens.

Chuck Nelson is a volunteer with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.

He’s seen the effects of contamination from sources similar to fly ash.

“These people are sick people. There is a high rate of brain tumors. There is a lot of kidney and liver failure. And some of the water the kids are exposed to actually eats the enamel off their teeth.” explains Chuck Nelson.

It’s environmental and health concerns like these that have the Concerned Citizens of Giles County so upset.

“It is the safety of the environment of the New River. Not only will it affect people who live in Giles County but people that are down stream. Our sister counties like Mercer, Monroe, and Summers, they need to take note.” says Blankenship.

AEP and the concerned citizens are both testing the water for heavy metal, something Nelson says is highly dangerous.

“You’re seeing the same heavy metals and stuff from fly ash that comes out of coal. And the coal ash may have some more chemicals added into the cleaning process but the by product of coal itself, it’s loaded will all kind of heavy metals. It’s basically the same identical thing.” Nelson adds.

Last Thursday the group asked Howard Spencer to step down from the Board of Supervisors.

They say there is a conflict of interest with Spencer on the Board of Supervisors and also serving as Executive Director for the Giles County Partnership for Excellence.

That’s the foundation that owns the land where fly ash is being used as a structural fill.

Concerned Citizens of Giles County hosts community meeting

Community raises concerns over W. Va. school by coal waste pond

Posted: Feb 12, 2009 05:29 PM
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Community raises concerns over W. Va. school by coal waste pond
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There are hundreds of these ponds in West Virginia. One is in Naoma, behind Marsh Fork Elementary School, which sits by a coal preparation plant.
There are hundreds of these ponds in West Virginia. One is in Naoma, behind Marsh Fork Elementary School, which sits by a coal preparation plant.
This is the plant that sits beside the school.
This is the plant that sits beside the school.
“These kids are getting exposed to this dust when it goes up in the silo so they’re breathing coal dust that has been washed in all these chemicals,” says Chuck Nelson, an ex-miner turned environmentalist.
“These kids are getting exposed to this dust when it goes up in the silo so they’re breathing coal dust that has been washed in all these chemicals,” says Chuck Nelson, an ex-miner turned environmentalist.
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By ANN KEIL
6 News Reporter

NAOMA, WVa. (WATE) — Since the ash spill at TVA’s Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, concerns about similar ash ponds continue throughout the U.S.

But many people don’t know some power plants keep similar ponds where coal waste is kept after it’s cleaned and before it’s burned so they can make energy.

There are hundreds of these ponds in West Virginia. One is in Naoma, behind Marsh Fork Elementary School, which sits by a coal preparation plant.

“These kids are getting exposed to this dust when it goes up in the silo so they’re breathing coal dust that has been washed in all these chemicals,” says Chuck Nelson, an ex-miner turned environmentalist.

Nelson knows first-hand how the process works. Chemicals are used to separate sulphur, ash and rock from the coal which contains various heavy metals.

A 2006 study by Marshall University geology professor Dr. Dewey Sanderson supports Nelson’s argument regarding the coal dust particles with known health hazards.

Sanderson found these particles on Marsh Fork Elementary grounds.

“What’s bad is, they have to do something with the water, with the chemicals, with all the waste and stuff that is leftover from washing the coal,” Nelson says.

Marsh Fork also sits below a dam that carries more than 2 billion gallons of slurry.

The slurry impoundment or pond, which is secured by a 385 foot tall earthen dam, is one of the state’s largest.

It sits in front of a strip mining site and has received a series of violations between 1999 and 2001, according to West Virginia’s Department of Environmental Protection.

But Department of Environmental Protection officials add that there are no major recent violations, so they’re not concerned.

“These dams have failed before and that’s why were concerned. We want these kids put in a different environment so they don’t have to put up with it,” Nelson says.

There have been dozens of spills recorded across the country. In 1972, a slurry pond collapsed in West Virginia, killing 125 people and sweeping away hundreds of homes.

Then in 2000, enough coal waste spilled from a strip mining site in Kentucky for EPA to classify it as one of the worst environmental disasters in the history of the Southeastern U.S.

“A lot of kids come home with blisters on their mouths, inside their mouths. A lot have asthma. They are sick a lot and it’s not one or two. It’s most of them,” Nelson explains.

Raleigh County Schools Superintendent Dr. Charlotte Hutchens says there;s no evidence to support increased health-related illnesses at Marsh Fork.

Nelson isn’t convinced and he wants the DEP to step in. For now, the community is raising money in a fundraising campaign called “Pennies of Promise” in hopes of building a new school.

There are approximately 150 slurry ponds in West Virginia and hundreds more across the U.S., including three in Tennessee.

That number doesn’t include the number of fly ash ponds similar to the one that spilled at the TVA plant in Tennessee.

Millions of tons of fly ash is stored at about 300 power plants in 32 states, including Tennessee.

Tennessee ranks 13 among states with the most coal ash ponds with 600,000 tons at five TVA plants.

None of this coal waste is regulated as a hazardous waste by EPA, despite the presence of known toxins that include arsenic and lead.
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Effects of coal industry on W. Va. communities hotly debated

Posted: Feb 13, 2009 03:39 PM
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Effects of coal industry on W. Va. communities hotly debated
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“You think life would be pretty good around here, but why is it we rank dead last as the poorest counties in the nation?” Chuck Nelson says.
“You think life would be pretty good around here, but why is it we rank dead last as the poorest counties in the nation?” Chuck Nelson says.
“Most of the effects of mountain top mining, surface mining, generally, are very temporary. We like to use the example of a new housing development,” says Chris Hamilton, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association.
“Most of the effects of mountain top mining, surface mining, generally, are very temporary. We like to use the example of a new housing development,” says Chris Hamilton, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association.
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By ANN KEIL
6 News Reporter

NAOMA, WVa. (WATE) — Coal is a depleting resource that some people claim is no longer worth using when factoring its true cost, but for many others, the industry is a way of life.

Chuck Nelson was six months shy of spending 30 years underground in the West Virginia coalfields when he retired.

“I think coal mining, it’s a job that you took a lot of pride in,” Nelson says.

He also says it made him proud to supply coal that furnished American families with electricity, but now he feels differently.

“I see communities that I was raised in that have just turned into ghost towns. I see the people I grew up with that are in bad health because they have been contaminated with the water from coal waste,” Nelson says.

He believes the coal industry is devastating the communities it once brought to life, as it relies more heavily on strip mining techniques such as mountain top removal.

Nelson says there’s an underlying cost that’s rarely mentioned. Communities are being sacrificed along with the air, water and land. It’s a hotly debated argument.

“Most of the effects of mountain top mining, surface mining, generally, are very temporary. We like to use the example of a new housing development,” says Chris Hamilton, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association.

Hamilton believes West Virginia is a shining example of a state that can profit from its mines and natural environment, even as the economy has taken a nose dive.

“We’re competing on an international marketplace with third world countries that don’t have the social costs nor nearly the environmental standards we have,” Hamilton says.

Appalachian coal has fueled the nation for more than a century, but it will eventually run out.

Until then, Hamilton is ready to defend the state’s largest industry that pulls in close to $7 billion a year and provides jobs to thousands.

“It’s about protecting our jobs, protecting a strong front center in America’s middle class as part of our industrialized nation, and these are church-attending, God-fearing people who are trying to support their families,” Hamilton says.

“We sit here and watch million and millions of dollars of coal go down the railroad tracks in trucks,” Chuck Nelson says. “You think life would be pretty good around here, but why is it we rank dead last as the poorest counties in the nation?”

In recent years, the coal industry has shed thousands of jobs, thanks to modern technology.

Nelson, who now suffers from black lung, believes a focus on developing alternative energy sources and creating “green” jobs is the only safe solution to America’s energy crisis.

According to the West Virginia Coal Forum, more than half of American electricity, and nearly all of West Virginia’s power is generated by coal.

Thirty-three states and Washington, D.C., rely on West Virginia coal for their electric needs.

The state also provides 50 percent of all American coal exports, shipping to 25 counties around the globe.

At today’s consumption rates, there are only 250 years worth of coal left. That might change as U.S. energy demands are expected to increase by 33 percent over the next 20 years.
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