STOP
COAL'S EXPANSION
Take Action: Your voice is needed!
A few weeks ago two staff members Erin Cox and Stephanie Dernek of 8th
Day
Center for Justicewere part of a delegation to West Virginia. We
visited with
communities and activists fighting mountain top removal and the
coalindustry.
There has been much activity in the area of West Virginia wewere in,
please read
more below. Two bills are in congress and muchdebate on coal and
climate will
continue in the near future. We are inurgent times with lives on
the line. Please
make a call today!
On June 23rd actions were stepped up and a protest took place at
Marshfork
Elementary schoolwhich is located in a river valley 400 yards below
Shumate
Dam, a leaky2.8 billion-gallon coal sludge impoundment used by Goals
Coal,
aprocessing plant owned by Massey. The mountain above the school is
alsothe
site of a mountaintop removal mining operation, where ongoingblasting
threatens
the sludge impoundment. Local activists havelaunched the Pennies of
Promise
campaign to raise money to get the school relocated, something West
Virginia
Gov. Joe Manchin (D) has refused to do.
The protest ended with more than 30 people being arrested and
theprotest
turned violent at moments. Jeff Biggers at Huffington Post reported
that a
Massey supporter assaulted activist and Goldman
Environmental Prize winner
Julia "Judy" Bonds with Coal
River Mountain Watch and also tried to attack
protester Lorelei Scarbro, a coal miner'swidow and community organizer.
The
perpetrator was arrested and chargedwith battery.
Waxman/Markey Climate Bill is a failure! TheAmerican Clean Energy
and
Security Act (H.R. 2454) is ready to be votedon by the House of
Representatives
on Friday, June 26, 2009. So why would anyone be concerned over
this
legislation? Why do many environmental organizations have severe
reservations
about the bill? Isn't any bill better than no bill at all? The
answers to these questions
lie in the need for urgency and effectiveness. If you believe as
scientists such as
James Hansen, Head of the NASAGoddard Institute for Space Studies does,
that
we must put an immediate moratorium on the construction of new
coal-fired power
plants that emit CO2and completely end the use of coal within the next
two to three
decadesif we do not want profound and irreversible climate change, then
anylegislation
that permits and encourages the development of new coalfacilities is
fatally flawed.
ACTIONS
Call your Representatives (congressional switchboard at 202-225-3121)
and urge them
to do the following:
1. Cosponsor of the Clean Water Protection Act, H.R. 1310. The
Clean Water
Protection Act is necessary to protect clean drinkingwater and to rein
in mountaintop
removal coal mining. Congress needs to hear loud and clear that people
across the U.S.
are demanding protection for clean water and mountain
communities.
(http://www.iLoveMountains.org)
2. Don't pass Waxman/Markey we need a better Climate Bill, H.R.
2454. We need a better
bill. Waxman-Markey Bill hasbeen compromised by special interests to
the point that, if
passed, it will commit the U.S. to policies and mechanisms that will
have no chance of
achieving the CO2 emission reductions called for by current scientific
consensus. No
new Coal (Shut them down Now)! Real investment in renewables! Cap and
Trade will fail
(we cannot put the fate of our futures with the market).
More on the June 23rd events:
http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/06/the-battle-in-appalachias-coalfields-are-the-
politicians-listening.html
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2009/06/23/about-that-big-debate/
http://www.commondreams.org/further/2009/06/23-2
Mountain Top/Coal/Appalachia Resources:
http://mountainjustice.org/events.php?id=154--
http://www.mountainkeeper.org/
http://www.appvoices.org/index.php?/frontporch/blogposts/from_weak_to_worse_
time_for_a_do_over_on_us_energy_and_climate_legislation/
More of the Waxman/Markey:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/06/waxman-markey-good-bad-and-ugly