In a powerful example of cross-movement solidarity, a large delegation of Appalachians who have been fighting mountaintop removal coal mining participated in the sit-in. They joined a delegation of pipeline landowners from all along the pipeline route at the action:

Photo by Shadia Fayne Wood

In front row, from left to right: East Texas landowner David Daniel is joined by longtime RAN friends and allies Larry Gibson of Kayford Mountain, WV and Teri Blanton of Harlan, KY at the sit-in.

David has been leading the Stop the Pipeline tour that traveled from Texas up through Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska and east to Washington D.C.

Mountaintop Removal Damage via RAMPS

I love the smell of direct action in the morning.

Last week, I was part of Earth First! and Northern Rockies Rising Tide taking over the governor of Montana’s offices in protest of tar sands development, and this morning, the RAMPS Campaign put a couple of tree-sitters up on Coal River Mountain to stop mountaintop removal coal mining.

The tree-sit has stopped Alpha Natural Resources strip mining operations on Coal River Mountain. Catherine-Ann MacDougal and Becks Kolins currently are sitting in trees 80 feet off the ground about 300 feet from active blasting operations.

Their banners read “STOP STRIP MINING” and “FOR JUDY BONDS.”

via americanswhotellthetruth.org

Judy Bonds was an Appalachian leader in the anti-mountaintop removal fight who died of cancer earlier this year.

Judy’s daughter, Lisa Henderson, said in support of the tree-sit, “I hope that today’s actions serve as a symbol that the struggle to live peacefully and pollution-free in the Coal River Valley did not end when my mother’s life did.  My mother and I often compared the fight to survive here on Coal River to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.  I am sure that generations from now, our children will look back on this movement also and the actions of the people involved, and ask the question of their elders, ‘Whose side were you on?’”

————————————-

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 20th, 2011
Contact: Mathew Louis-Rosenberg, 304-924-1836

Activists Block Mining Operations on Coal River Mountain Call for end to strip mining in the Coal River Watershed

MARFORK, W.Va. – Two protesters associated with the RAMPS Campaign halted blasting on a portion of Alpha Natural Resources’ Bee Tree mountaintop removal mine on Coal River Mountain today by ascending two trees.  Catherine-Ann MacDougal, 24, and Becks Kolins, 21, are on platforms approximately 80 feet off the ground within 300 feet of active blasting on the mine.  The banners hanging from their platforms read “Stop Strip Mining” and “For Judy Bonds” in honor of strip mining activist Julia “Judy” Bonds of Packsville, W.Va. who died of cancer earlier this year.  The activists demand that Alpha Natural Resources stop strip mining on Coal River Mountain and that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection prohibit future strip mining in the Coal River Watershed.

“I feel, with the keen urgency of extinction, that Alpha Natural Resources cannot be allowed to tear apart Coal River Mountain and allow all those living below it to suffer for their profits. The Coal River watershed cannot tolerate any more damage. There is no way that I can begin to detail the comprehensive destruction that surface mining and mountaintop removal wreak on the forest ecosystem of the southern Appalachian mountains,” said Catherine-Ann MacDougal.

Coal River Mountain is the last major intact mountain in the watershed, which encompasses roughly 570,000 acres in the heart of the southern WV coalfields.  Nearly a quarter of total land area in the watershed is being mined or permitted to be mined in the future, including over 5,000 acres of Coal River Mountain.  As of January 2011, Marfork Coal Company, a subsidiary of Alpha, has destroyed about 75 acres of Coal River Mountain on the Bee Tree permit, the only active mountaintop removal permit on the mountain.  Activists say they are determined to prevent further strip-mining.

Elias Schewel, 27, and Junior Walk, 21, are supporting the sitters from the base of their trees.   Walk, who grew up in Eunice W.Va. at the foot of Coal River Mountain says that he was inspired to take action, in part, by his lifelong relationship with Judy Bonds.

“The last two families to be driven out of this holler we’re in today were Judy Bonds and my great uncle and they both died of lung cancer. Judy spoke often about how hard it was to leave, but black water spill after black water spill, the blasting dust clouds, and fears for the health of her family forced her out. Packsville is gone. We’re not just losing our clean air and clean water. We’re losing our communities, our history, and our culture.”

Judy Bonds’ fears of the health impacts from coal operations have been increasingly backed up by research from WVU.  A recent public health study found a correlation between residence in a mountaintop removal area and higher rates of birth defects, even accounting for other socio-economic factors(i).  Public health research has linked residence in coal-impacted regions to increased rates of cancer, kidney disease, and some chronic illnesses, confirming long-held community concerns.(ii)(iii)

“Those who are drinking tainted water, breathing coal dust, and watching the mountains fall around them don’t need a scientific study to tell them what’s wrong,” noted MacDougal. Fellow tree sitter Becks Kolins remembers their first visit to the home of a Coal River Valley resident last year.

“He showed me his yearbook and pointed out everyone that had gotten cancer. The only teachers that hadn’t gotten cancer had made a point of not drinking the water.”

Lisa Henderson, Judy Bonds’ daughter and Coal River Valley resident, sees this action as a continuation of her mother’s work.

“I hope that today’s actions serve as a symbol that the struggle to live peacefully and pollution-free in the Coal River Valley did not end when my mother’s life did.  My mother and I often compared the fight to survive here on Coal River to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.  I am sure that generations from now, our children will look back on this movement also and the actions of the people involved, and ask the question of their elders, ‘Whose side were you on?’”

RAMPS (Radical Action for Mountain People’s Survival) is a non-violent direct action campaign based in southern West Virginia dedicated to ending all forms of strip-mining in Appalachia.  Ongoing updates about this action will be available at www.rampscampaign.org.

###

i M. Ahern, M. Hendryx, J. Conley, E. Fedorko, A. Ducatman, and K. Zullig, “The association between mountaintop mining and birth defects among live births in central Appalachia, 1996-2003” Environmental Research in press, 2011 ii N.P. Hitt, M. Hendryx, “Ecological integrity of streams related to human cancer mortality rates.” Ecohealth. 2010 Aug;7(1):91-104.
iii M. Ahern, M. Hendryx, ““Relations between Health Indicators and Residential Proximity to Coal Mining in West Virginia.” American Journal of Public Health, 2008.

via RAMPS

–

The film has gotten a lot of attention, to the point where the coal industry has created a public relations “war room” to combat it. Nice to see we’re getting under their skin.

Here’s where it’s opening and showing.

Here’s the trailer and movie poster:

via TheLastMountainmovie.com/

via MarchOnBlairMountain.org

“The corporations take advantage of people in Appalachia, and this is happening all over Appalachia, not just West Virginia… We have to save one mountain at a time.”
-Psera Newman, Lexington KY

Billy Bragg sings about there being power in a union. But after the past week, I see that there is power not just in unions, but in unity.

Over the past week, some amazing friends of mine organized one of the largest anti-mountaintop removal actions in the history of Appalachia. The March on Blair Mountain brought together a march and mobile convergence that not only brought out Appalachian community residents, students, and environmentalists that have been fighting mountaintop removal for the past few years, but also built alliances with rank and file labor.

Coal companies are not only seeking to “remove” Blair Mountain’s pristine forests, destroy it’s wildlife and poison the neighboring communities, but they are also seeking to “remove” the actual history of the place. In 1921, 7,000-10,000 miners organizing southern West Virginia’s coal mines had a five-day battle with coal thugs, private security forces and federal troops on the top of Blair Mountain. The corporations literally had airplanes drop surplus World War One bombs on the union miners.

On Saturday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., speaking at the rally, aptly described the Battle of Blair Mountain as “labor’s Gettysburg.” It was a turning point for the legitimization of labor unions in this country. You can see why Corporate America wants to erase it from the history books.

Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources (which includes recently acquired Massey Energy operations) have had Blair Mountain’s historical preservation status revoked, have started mining operations on the mountain and are seeking further permitting for strip mining. Alpha is trying to put a kinder, gentler face on coal mining, both underground and on the mountaintops. Their response to the March on Blair Mountain was to put out a statement saying they had no intention of blasting the battleground. But do we really trust one of the many corporations that have contributed to the destruction of 500 Appalachian mountains, poisoned it’s waters and waged war on it’s population?

via MarchOnBlairMountain.org

Last week, a multi-generational, multi-racial, multi-issue group of over 200 marched 50 miles from Marmet, WV to Blair Mountain, WV to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Blair Mountain and call for an end to mountaintop removal. I had friends that joined the march from Texas, Utah, Wyoming, Chicago, Australia and all up and down the East Coast and the Mid-West.

It wasn’t without it’s challenges. The coal companies used intimidation tactics to have six six campsite reservations canceled during the week and a half-long march. And through much of the march, counter-protesters screamed obscenities and shot the finger at marchers. But despite these hardships, they reached the foot of Blair Mountain for a 1,000-person rally and march to the top of Blair Mountain.

The other highlight of the March on Blair Mountain was the direct action. Organizers and participants felt it important that something happen on the actual battlefield itself. The battlefield is now company property and the entrance was protected by private security, locked gates and state police. An action on the battlefield meant a trespass on company property.

While much of the march was organized using “leadership models,” the action planning quickly turned to horizontal organizing. Much like the anti-nuclear movement and the global justice movement, planning used affinity groups and an impromptu spokescouncil meeting to sort out details and make decisions about what the action would do and look like. More than ten affinity groups formed to anchor a breakaway march that went to commemorate the history of Blair Mountain. Some 150 people went onto the battlefield site to set up memorials.

They were eventually evicted by state police and one person was arrested.

via marchonblairmountain.org

Despite threats and intimidation by King Coal’s supporters, 600 courageous marchers kicked off a five-day march from Marmet, WV to Blair Mountain.

Blair Mountain was the site of the second largest armed insurrection (after the Civil War) in U.S. history when, in 1921, 8,000-10,000 miners fighting for union rights took up arms against hired coal thugs. Blair Mountain has been an iconic symbol for both the U.S. labor movement and West Virginia itself ever since. And now coal companies want to strip mine Blair Mountain. They’ve already stripped it of its historical preservation status and are now seeking permitting to strip mine it.

In fact, they’ve already begun strip mining on parts of it, or so I hear.

You can tell the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection “Don’t let big coal destroy our history” by sending a comment to tell them to protect Blair Mountain.

While the 1921 marchers faced hardship and armed opposition (including armed private security, bombs from planes, and federal troops), the 2011 marchers are facing harassment by pro-coal supporters along the way. A tweet this morning from @marchonblairmt reported “Road has scattered clusters of opposition as honking coal trucks hug the the shoulder – marchers squeeze to fit on.”

But this march is also seeing new alliances between United Mine Workers locals and environmentalists. Blair Mountain organizer and archaeologist Brandon Nida said at this morning’s press conference as the march kicked off, “The unions protect [workers] in the workplace and environmentalist protect them at home. They’re the same.”

via SAMS

Here’s the press release:

Local Residents March in Downtown Appalachia to Celebrate Ison Rock Ridge and Protest Mountain’s Pending Demise

Appalachia, VA – Over 50 people marched through downtown Appalachia, calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to deny the proposed surface mine permit for Ison Rock Ridge and keep the ridge standing. People marched with puppets of Ison Rock Ridge, King Coal holding Governor McDonnell and Representative Morgan Griffith, and signs saying “Keep Ison Rock Ridge Standing,” and “Friends of Mountains and Miners,” while musicians played traditional Appalachian tunes.

“The EPA is our last line of defense, here in Appalachia. We support what they have done to date to hold up this permit and we just want them to stick to their guns and stand strong,” said Sam Broach, former miner and president of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards.

The event was kicked off with a rally at 10 a.m. downtown with speakers from SAMS and allied organizations representing 10 different states. After the rally, the group marched through downtown Appalachia with the signs and puppets while chanting “Keep Ison Rock Ridge Standing.” People marched to the Andover Community Center where they celebrated the mountain’s 460 millionth birthday with a fish fry and birthday cake. The party was a celebration that the mountain remains standing, its cultural value preserved and the health of neighboring communities protected for generations to come.

“If this permit is approved, we will only see an increase in the already-devastating health impacts on our people as result of mountaintop removal coal mining,” said Jane Branham, a nurse and vice-president of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards. “Our people are dying from the pollution in the water and air and the EPA is the only agency that is willing to take a stand to protect us.”

Since 2007, the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and the Sierra Club have been fighting the proposed 1,200-acre surface mine that, if approved, would impact over 1,800 residents with increased blasting, noise, coal dust and water pollution. The EPA has objected to this permit for violating the Clean Water Act and the concerned groups are supporting the EPA’s efforts to protect Appalachian waterways. Participants in the march signed postcards urging the EPA to deny the permit and next week, allies from across the state will also sign postcards and call the EPA’s offices with the same message.

The Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards were joined by allied organizations, Mountain Justice, Heartwood, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and the Sierra Club. Members of these groups came from as far away as Indiana and even Australia to support local organizing efforts that have been rooted in the immediate community.

Months ago, it was announced that Alpha Natural Resources began the process of acquiring coal criminal Massey Energy. Massey, long known for destroying Appalachia’s mountains with mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining and responsible for killing 29 of its own workers in the Upper Big Branch mining disaster last year, was in serious financial trouble and Alpha swooped in to buy up the faltering coal giant’s operations and assets.

Entrance to Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine on anniversary of 2010 mine disaster.

But now, as the stellar reporting of Ken Ward Jr. tells us: “Shareholders argue that the merger is a bad deal for Massey shareholders, and that corporate insiders would profit from it and perhaps insulate themselves from liability over poor management of Massey and the deaths of 29 miners in the April 5, 2010, explosion at Upper Big Branch.”

Shareholders in West Virginia and Delaware have filed two separate civil suits. Through the discovery process of these suits, we’re seeing the really juicy insider thinking of Massey’s coal barons as their kingdom crumbled. It’s very much a “scorched earth” thinking, literally. Massey pushed the limits and produced as much coal as possible for maximum profit, mostly benefiting the executives at the expense of their own workers, Appalachia’s mountains and the climate — until they caused such a catastrophe that they couldn’t get away with it anymore. Then they shifted to selling off the remains for maximum profits in sweetheart deals and escaping any legal liability from the mining disaster.

Because Massey and Alpha execs have such a vested interest in profit, the lawsuit filed by Massey shareholders attempting to stop the Massey-Alpha merger is headed to the West Virginia Supreme Court.

According to documents being released through two civil suits, we’re learning a lot about the Massey internal corporate culture. Most of it is stuff that we’d already assumed, but still interesting.

• The entire Massey organization appears to be managed by an autocratic central command and control structure. This can be seen in all facets of the organization and results in senior operating management being involved in lower level mine issues and decisions.
• The Massey culture is driven by a strong focus on production and its associated components with other facets of the operations, such as employee safety and regulatory compliance, receiving minimal consideration.
• The underground site visits indicated a strong cultural emphasis on production first with compliance and outby maintenance on a non-priority basis.
• The plants are generally poorly maintained and have been for a period of time.
• Alpha was ready to give now-retired Massey CEO Don Blankenship a job as a consultant after the companies were combined.
• The Upper Big Branch disaster cost Massey more than $166 million in out-of-pocket costs and $320 million in lost coal revenues.
• Massey execs were convinced that the Obama administration is out to destroy them.

Last week’s report on the Upper Big Branch disaster by independent investigator David McAteer gave further damning proof that Massey operated a profits-over-people corporate culture.

It’s no wonder that Massey’s board and insiders wanted to dump the company as quickly as possible.

And we’re wondering what Alpha’s financial backers are making of all this. Back in January, Morgan Stanley and Citi together committed $3.3 billion in financing for this deal, while UBS was Massey’s lead bank. All three of these banks have publicly stated their concern about MTR companies like Massey, yet here they are up to their necks in it.

via marchonblairmountain.org

I’ve been part of the movement to end mountaintop removal for five years now.

In 2008, RAN and I helped organize blockade actions against Dominion Energy which was building a new coal fired power plant in Wise, VA. In 2009 and 2010, we worked in solidarity with Appalachian and direct action groups in southern West Virginia taking action on mountaintop removal sites. During that same time, we waged a campaign to end mountaintop removal against the EPA and Wall Street banks like Chase and PNC Bank.

Last fall, we participated in Appalachia Rising, which brought thousands of Appalachians, friends and allies for a mass march and direct action in Washington D.C. 120 of us were arrested doing a sit-in in front of the White House. Now our friends in Appalachia are organizing a mass march, rally and action at Blair Mountain.

Blair Mountain is the site of the 2nd largest insurrection in U.S. history (after the Civil War.) The battle took place in 1921 and saw 8,000-10,000 miners fighting for union rights take up arms against the coal industry’s gun thugs. Now coal companies have stripped Blair Mountain of it’s historical landmark status and want to strip mine it.

A coalition of environmental, labor, student, community and activist groups have come together to stop the strip mining of Blair Mountain.  Beginning on June 4th, a march will begin that will retrace the steps of the 1921 march.

March on Blair Mountain Logistics

1) Attend the March, Rally AND Day of Action

Participants that plan to attend The March should arrive in Charleston, WV on the afternoon or evening of June 4th to be shuttled to Marmet, WV. Our Orientation Day will begin the following morning in Marmet, WV–it is critical that participants attend this Orientation Day in order for us to have a safe and effective march. Marchers will move out Monday morning and, over the next five days, march 50 miles to the town of Blair, WV, arriving on June 10th. The following morning, on June 11th, The Rally and Day of Action will begin in Blair. Shuttles will be available to take participants back to their vehicles in Charleston once the event is over.

• Register for the March
• March Event Schedule
• Things You Should Know for the March

2) Attend just the Rally and Day of Action

Participants that plan to attend just The Rally and Day of Action should arrive in Logan, WV on the morning of Friday June 10th if they are able. Beginning at 1pm on June 10th, we will be hosting a Training Day in Logan, WV so that participants will be prepared for the events the following day. If you need to arrive on the evening of June 9th, or the morning of June 11th, accommodations will be available. Again, we strongly encourage those that are able to attend the Training Day on the 10th.

• Rally Info

Hope to see you there!

In Egypt, labor and pro-democracy movements used wildcat strikes and direct action to shake the dictatorship's foundations and launch a mass movement. In Appalachia, environmental, student and anti-MTR movements have been using direct action to shake the coal industry's foundations and launch a mass movement.

Gandhi. King. Eastern Europe. Seattle. Latin America. Peopl- powered, non-violent, yet confrontational movements make historical change.

We’re now in the midst of another groundswell of people power. As we’ve seen in Egypt, Tunisia and the U.S. Midwest, peaceful protest and non-violent direct action have led the way.

Now the Appalachian movements for a just, sustainable future and an end to mountaintop removal are flexing their own people-powered muscle. From June 5-11, Appalachia Rising is organizing a march, rally and direct action at Blair Mountain to re-trace the steps of the 1921 miners’ march and the Battle of Blair Mountain. This march, rally and action will be commemorating the 90 year anniversary of that battle.

In 1921, 15,000 miners fighting for the right to unionize fought it out with the coal industry’s gun thugs. It was the 2nd largest armed insurrection in U.S. history (after the Civil War). The miners eventually lost as King Coal collaborated with the federal government to send in federal troops to suppress the uprising. It was the only time in U.S. history that the U.S. military dropped bombs from the air on it’s own people (remind anyone of anything? Qaddafi? anyone?). It’s also the origins of the word “redneck” as the miners wore red bandannas to distinguish themselves from the gun thugs. Eventually the miners laid down their arms as many were World War One veterans and refused to fight their fellow soldiers.

The march on Blair Mountain will include a five-day, 50 mile march (hundreds have already registered), a concert, a rally featuring Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and a non-violent direct action on Blair Mountain itself.

In the past 6 years, we’ve seen a groundswell of bottom-up, Appalachian-led non-violent direct action.These actions have been the building blocks for more bigger and badder actions.

Pre-2005-Appalachians wage a campaign of advocacy, protest and action against coal companies for many years trying to call attention to and end mountaintop removal.

2005- Mountain Justice has its first camp and summer of actions against mountaintop removal. Hundreds of Appalachians, students and activists participate. Highlights include a civil disobedience at Marsh Fork Elementary and a march through Richmond, VA to arch coal criminal Massey Energy’s HQ.

2006- Mountain Justice continues their campaign. This includes a mass action organized by Earth First! and Rising Tide North America at the Clinch River coal plant in Carbo, VA.

2007- Mountain Justice Spring Break has their first camp. The camp ends with an action at West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin’s offices where over a dozen are arrested.

2008- Appalachian residents, Blue Ridge Earth First!, Mountain Justice, Rainforest Action Network and others take numerous actions against a Dominion coal plant in Wise County, VA that is under construction. These actions include blockades at Dominion’s HQ in Richmond, VA and a blockade at the plant itself.

2009-2010- Climate Ground Zero launches a direct action campaign against mountaintop removal in southern WV. Over 100 are arrested in dozens of road blockades, tree-sits, mass sit-ins and more.

2009-2010- Rainforest Action Network launches a campaign to end mountaintop removal against the EPA and banks such as Chase and PNC. Actions include lockdowns and sit-ins at EPA offices.

2010- Appalachia Rising organizes the largest mass action on mountaintop removal to date. Over 2,000 march through the streets of Washington D.C. to the White House where over 120 are arrested in peaceful civil disobedience.

2011- A group of Kentucky writers, students and activists, including noted writer-farmer Wendell Berry, stage a sit-in at Kentucky Gov. Steve Breshear’s office in Frankfurt over his complicity in the destruction of eastern Kentucky’s mountains by the coal industry.

This movement will succeed and we are winning.

Join us at Blair Mountain as we add another nail in mountaintop removal’s coffin.

This morning I attended PNC bank’s shareholder meeting. I tend to find these events extremely self-congratulating, and today was no exception. We were treated to announcements about how (relatively) well the bank has been performing financially and the titles and awards that the bank has received this year, all before a video extolling PNC’s core values.

Two of those values stood out to me: “Commitment to community” and “Quality of life”. This was exactly what  I came to talk about. When my opportunity came, I stepped up to the mic to introduce myself as a shareholder and explain RAN’s campaign for PNC to end their financing of mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining. I asked CEO James Rohr to report on the impacts of the bank’s 2010 policy on MTR, and I introduced my friend, Amber Whittington, who accompanied me to the meeting.

Amber is 21 and lives in the belly of the Coal River Valley, West Virginia, next to Kayford mountain and in between two MTR mines: one operated by Massey Energy, the other by Patriot Coal. Amber spoke to the meeting about the impacts these mines have on her daily life, about how her tapwater runs orange due to the toxic heavy metals that leech from the neighboring mines, and about how she has to drive 45 minutes to obtain clean and safe drinking water from the town of Beckley.

So how did James Rohr respond to this? He replied that he considers himself and PNC to be “green,” and to demonstrate this green-ness he referenced the LEED Platinum PNC offices that this meeting was taking place in. He told us that PNC had “significantly reduced its exposure to MTR,” that the bank “no longer provided finance for MTR projects” or for “companies who primarily practice MTR extraction,” but that there were still some companies PNC had dealings with who practice a limited amount of MTR. His justification for financing these companies is the jobs these companies provide.

The next shareholder to speak introduced herself as a quaker and listed the reasons that she too is concerned about PNC and MTR, before urging the bank to adopt a full-sector exclusion. Mr Rohr responded by acknowledging the bank’s deep historical connections to the quaker movement. Another shareholder, a school teacher, praised PNC’s  flagship headstart educational program and requested this support be extended to Appalachian childhood — by fully getting out of MTR.

In less than one hour the meeting was over, and a small crowd of shareholders gathered around Amber to express support for her. She and I were then invited to meet with a senior executive to continue our conversation, where we challenged the myth of MTR “job-creation” and advocated that PNC shift financing to support renewable energy development in Appalachia, to create the types of jobs that young people in Appalachia like Amber actually want the opportunity to do.

My impression was that PNC was keen to listen, I’m hoping that enthusiasm translates into action.

This fight is happening in the hills and hollers of Appalachia.

For five years, Mountain Justice has built an infrastructure to fight mountaintop removal in Appalachia with training camps, campaign houses and long term campaigns aimed at shutting down the coal industry’s economic grip on the region.  On May 20-27, Mountain Justice is hosting their annual camp to continue to build this movement. If you want to take action and shut down the oppressive coal industry, join them in Letcher, KY.

Here’s the full announcement and details from Mountain Justice:

Mountain Justice training camp 2011!
Letcher County, Kentucky
May 20^th – 27^th

Registration will be open soon!

As the campaign to stop mountaintop removal gains national awareness, we have more and more opportunities for folks to help out. We’ve got a job for every interest, skill set and time commitment! We invite you to spend the summer working in Appalachia with one of our ally groups or to work with us in your hometown throughout the year!

Mountain Justice training camp is an opportunity for veteran and novice activists to build the skills and vision needed to abolish mountaintop removal and build vibrant, healthy, self-reliant communities. We ask that you attend camp with the intention of using these skills either working with allies in Appalachia or working on this issue in your hometown. The registration process will help you develop a plan for how you will use this training. Training camp is a time for training, strategizing, bonding, service and action for people living both within and outside of the Appalachia, for people of all sex and genders, for people of all races, for youth and elders, and anyone in between.

Realizing that we ought to model independence from coal, camp will be off the grid this year!

We’re so excited to be off the grid, but for Mountain Justice, a sustainable community is more than some solar panels and rainwater barrels. It’s about the people that defend what they love, the people who work to create sustainable communities, and the nourishing relationships between them. Our focus on sustainability will mean building a strong and diverse organizing community that works on both resistance and solutions.

Trainings and Discussions

This year camp will feature themed training days. Themes will include, Community Organizing, Non-Violent Direct Action, Science and SMCRA, and Alternative Economies. Check back for more information about the schedule.  Some workshops being covered will include:

• community organizing
• air and water monitoring
• administrative and legal avenues to stop MTR
• media work
• direct action and civil resistance
• alternative economies
• sustainable livelihoods
• and a lot more!

Trainings will be collaborative as possible, so come open minded and willing to actively participate. If you want to facilitate a workshop, please let us know! Our hope is to continue to build a broad community to sustain, guide and nourish us as we all continue working to abolish surface mining and rebuild economically self-sufficient communities in Appalachia.

No community is sustainable without fun, dancing, bonfires and Appalachian mountain music! So bring your instruments, dancing shoes and high spirits, we’ll be celebrating the ways of life we’re fighting to preserve!

Join Us for a Summer of Mountain Justice

Little Village Environmental Justice Organization rally to shut down dirty coal power plants in South Chicago

Research shows that carbon offsets aren’t working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stall global warming. That’s why RAN has founded the Climate Action Fund.

In theory, a carbon offset is a reduction in emissions of carbon or greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for or to offset an emission made elsewhere. Rather than reduce its own pollution, for example, a business would pay someone somewhere else in the world to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and then take credit for their contribution.

Sounds good, but does it really work?

A recent report estimates that of the $700 million dollars that are invested in carbon offsets around the world, offset buyers

are often buying vague promises instead of the reductions in greenhouse gases they expect. They are buying into projects that are never completed, or paying for ones that would have been done anyhow, the investigation found. Their purchases are feeding middlemen and promoters seeking profits from green schemes that range from selling protection for existing trees to the promise of planting new ones that never thrive. In some cases, the offsets have consequences that their purchasers never foresaw, such as erecting windmills that force poor people off their farms. Carbon offsets are the environmental equivalent of financial derivatives: complex, unregulated, unchecked and – in many cases – not worth their price.

Stanford University researchers found that up to 2/3 of offsets in international markets are not delivering any additional reduction in emissions compared to business as usual, which means that buyers are getting ripped off and the offsets are doing nothing to slow climate change. The attempt to “buy” our way out of climate change has left us with a corrupt system with little accountability where very little is done to reduce emissions.

At RAN, we began the Climate Action Fund (CAF) to take a fundamentally different approach. Starting with our own organization, we calculate the annual carbon emissions associated with our operations, including travel. We then apply an internal price — effectively a tax — on that carbon. These modest revenues are then invested directly in frontline community groups that are organizing against the extraction and combustion of dirty fossil fuels in the first place.

The Climate Action Fund is also open to individuals and businesses that want to participate in CAF-supported efforts to tackle the root causes of climate change. The CAF contributes 100 percent of donations directly to community organizations that are fighting to protect land and people, as well as to keep millions of tons of CO2 in the ground.

Rainforest Action Network is inspired by the work these frontline community groups are doing and honored to be able to support and promote their amazing work. We hope to be able to get more and more progressive organizations and companies involved with the CAF and learn how to green their business, reduce their carbon footprint and make direct contributions to groups on the frontlines of the battle to end our addiction to dirty fossil fuels and reduce dangerous carbon emissions contributing to climate change.

Get started with Climate Action Fund!

Click image for more pics from the KFTC Flickr.

“Mountaintop removal is an act of aggression. Civil disobedience is an act of love.”
– Terry Tempest Williams

A mountaintop insurrection is underway in Kentucky, and it’s got be on Gov. Steve Beshear’s mind this week.

As we contemplate Gandhi’s adage, “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win,” it’s painfully obvious that the governor is trying to ignore the Appalachian uprising unfolding in his backyard this election year. He’s seen how the insurrection in West Virginia has turned mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining into a national issue and pulled Big Coal out from under their safe little rock, and he evidently wants no part of it.

This morning after a four-day occupation of the governor’s office in Frankfort, 14 Kentucky anti-MTR activists emerged victoriously from the state capitol to join a crowd of well over a thousand people at the annual “I Love Mountains” march and protest. Kentucky Rising was a group comprised of writers, academics, a film-maker, a retired coal miner, a nurse practitioner who treats miners, community organizers, a graduate student, and others who’d staged a sit-in demanding an end to mountaintop removal. The group refused to leave Beshear’s office after he’d expressed his die-hard support for the coal industry and MTR.

Author Wendell Berry participated in the sit-in and said: “We came because the land, its forests, and its streams are being destroyed by the surface mining of coal, because the people are suffering intolerable harms to their homes, their health, and their communities.”

Kentucky Rising garnered international support from Argentina, Germany and Canada, as well as from a host of renowned writers including Bill McKibben, Michael Pollan, Terry Tempest Williams and Naomi Klein, and other Appalachian communities in West Virginia, Tennessee and Virginia.

Beshear told his security team to “let them stay as long as they want.” But he can’t ignore Kentucky Rising forever, and I have a feeling that this sit-in is just the beginning for a growing, ferocious movement in Kentucky to end MTR. Kentuckians and Appalachians will be back again and again through ridicule and struggle to abolish mountaintop removal.

The governor had better buckle his seat belt because it is going to be a bumpy ride.

On Saturday Alpha Natural Resources announced that it had bought out the company in a deal worth $8.5 billion.

That’s a high price for the stock – metallurgical coal looks lucrative to short-sighted investors as the competing Australian coal industry took a huge hit from the recent flooding.

The paradox here is that the more coal that we burn, the more extreme weather events, such as floods, we’ll have to endure, and that’s a terrible long-term investment choice.

That’s why we’re calling on the finance industry to get out of the coal game. No reputable bank should have anything to do with a company like Massey, or a company like Alpha. Citi and Morgan Stanley, two banks that guaranteed money to Alpha for the deal, are failing their responsibility and need calling to account.

A Massey sell off has seemed inevitable for months, especially following the departure of the “Dark Lord of Coal Country” Don Blankenship in December.

It remains to be seen what this sale will mean for the people who live and work in the coal-producing communities, who for years have endured extreme environmental devastation and worker safety violations. At a glance, it’s not looking great: the Charleston Gazette’s Ken Ward has the lowdown about Alpha’s dubious safety record.

So, farewell, Massey, soon you’ll be gone, like the mountains and lives you’ve destroyed. And what a legacy you leave: from violently busting unions, to poisoning countless families’ drinking water, from blowing away Appalachia’s mountains, to the deadliest US coal mining disaster in 40 years. We’ll have no fond memories of you.

This is a historic victory for the movement to end mountaintop removal mining. It’s the first time that the EPA has issued a veto on a project that had previously been permitted.

The Spruce mine is one of the largest mountaintop removal mines ever proposed in Central Appalachia, and would have resulted in the destruction of 2,278 acres of temperate rainforest and the burying of 7.5 miles of streams in the Spruce Fork sub-watershed.

Were this mine site expansion to go ahead, it would have destroyed beautiful and ecologically valuable Appalachian streams: Pigeonroost Branch, Oldhouse Branch, and their tributeries. The EPA has resisted enormous pressure from Arch Coal and the coal industry lobby in carrying out its responsibility to put the protection of our environment and the communities who depend on it ahead of corporate profits.

Our allies in West Virginia are celebrating the news today. Janet Keating from Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition said: “We are so pleased that this historic veto of the Spruce No. 1 Mine permit halts the destruction of Pigeon Roost Hollow…The science completely validates what we have been saying for more than a decade: These types of mining operations are destroying our streams and forests and nearby residents’ health, and even driving entire communities to extinction.”

Last year we commissioned Downstream Strategies to produce a report  on the impacts of the Spruce mine. Report author Rory McIlmoil comments:

Today’s decision by the EPA is consistent with the conclusion we drew in our report, that the Spruce mine could not be approved without violating federal laws and regulations. The impacts to the environment and surrounding communities that would result from the proposed mine were studied by EPA and independent researchers in great detail, and all of the studies concluded that the proposed operation would result in unacceptable adverse impacts. Our report shows that had the EPA decided to approve the permit, their decision would have been in violation of the law and the agency’s own responsibilities.

Since the EPA began its scrutiny of Spruce mine in September 2009, RAN activists, friends and allies have kept up firm pressure on the agency to issue a veto. You sent Lisa Jackson almost 17,000 emails and made more than 500 direct phone calls urging her to veto Spruce Mine. And, last September, RAN DC activists dumped 1,000 lbs of Appalachian dirt on the front steps of the EPA Headquarters, with the message “EPA: Don’t let King Coal dump on Appalachia,” resulting in two arrests.

We have been in many conversations with the EPA headquarters and regional offices about stopping Spruce Mine, and with the banks that provide financing to Arch Coal. Today’s announcement proves that persistence pays and that citizen pressure can make a huge difference for our communities and environment.

Thank you and well done!

Want to join the fight to end mountaintop removal? Sign up for our Dirty Energy Rapid Responder list now!

Jimmy Murphy of Sprigg, W.Va., holds a jar filled with well water from his home he says was contaminated with coal slurry by Massey Energy and subsidiary Rawl Sales & Processing.

Some good news this week from West Virginia: Our friends at the Sludge Safety Project report that, after years of work, communities are one step closer to achieving a statewide ban on toxic coal slurry injections!

A critical subcommittee has recommended that the West Virginia legislature pass a bill that would make permanent the existing moratorium on new injection permits and phase out operations that still pump coal waste from preparation plants underground. The bill also contains a provision offering a tax credit to companies that invest in technology to eliminate or greatly reduce slurry production or eliminate existing slurry disposal sites.

“This shows that when people get together, they can make a difference. We’ve been fighting for this for many years. People’s voices matter and we need more people speaking out,” said Chuck Nelson of the Sludge Safety Project, a group that has lobbied for years to ban slurry injection.

Coal sludge is a by-product from mining industry which has been injected underground for storage in abandoned underground mines — by the billions of gallons. This is a huge threat to water supplies — evidenced by the 700+ residents of Rawl, WV who are currently suing Massey Energy for poisoning their water supplies and making them sick.

A year ago, I joined the sludge safety crew in Charleston as they prepared to lobby for this legislation. I met a dedicated community of activists whose compassion and persistence is paying off.

There is important work to be done in the next two months to make this bill become a law that ends Coal Sludge injection in West Virginia once and for all. If you can help with those efforts, please contact info@sludgesafety.org to get involved.

We’re mourning the passing of our friend Julia “Judy” Bonds. She was a mother, a grandmother, a coal miner’s daughter, a national leader in the mountaintop removal abolition movement, a director of Coal River Mountain Watch, and a community organizer.

She’d been diagnosed with a very serious case of cancer back in the early summer. On January 3rd 2011,  she passed away.

I remember the first time I really spent time with Judy. RAN organized an action at Powershift 2007 with her. At the action, 300 youth and coalfield residents shut down a Washington D.C. Citibank branch (Citibank was a major funder of coal and mountaintop removal at the time.)

You can watch the video below of her and other coalfield residents talking to the branch manager before our march arrived, and see her speaking to youth about being the future and leading our movements for clean water, clean air, clean energy, and an end to mountaintop removal:

I’ve spent the past four years traveling around the eastern parts of the U.S. to actions, marches, conferences, camps and workshops where I often worked with Judy and was proud to call her my friend, hero, comrade, inspiration, and leader.

Her co-director at Coal River Mountain Watch and friend Vernon Haltom remembered her like this:

Judy endured much personal suffering for her leadership.  While people of lesser courage would candy-coat their words or simply shut up and sit down, Judy called it as she saw it.  She endured physical assault, verbal abuse, and death threats because she stood up for justice for her community.

The last time I saw Judy was last March. We had been at Mountain Justice Spring Break in southwest Virginia, and got up early to support the RAN team who occupied the lawn of the EPA to call for an end to mountaintop removal. We watched the action via livestream, and when I showed Judy the pictures of the action, she was beaming with a big smile and much excitement as the fight to end mountaintop removal had become a national issue and been taken out of the hills and hollers of Appalachia into offices of the power-holders in Washington D.C.

After she’d gotten sick, youth and coalfield residents organized a “thousand hillbilly” march on Washington (also known as Appalachia Rising) that Judy had always dreamed of. While we sat in and awaited arrest in front of the White House, we called her and left messages of love and support. We missed her that day.

Tonight I’m sad and mourning Judy, but also celebrating her life, in part by carrying on her struggle for justice in Appalachia. When they write “The People’s History of the 21st Century,” Judy will be prominently featured in the chapters on mountaintop removal and Appalachia.

I’ll end this essay with more of Vernon’s words:

Judy will be missed by all in this movement, as an icon, a leader, an inspiration, and a friend. No words can ever express what she has meant, and what she will always mean. We will tell stories about her, around fires, in meeting rooms, and any place where people are gathered in the name of justice and love for our fellow human beings. When we prevail, as we must, we will remember Judy as one of the great heroes of our movement. We will always remember her for her passion, conviction, tenacity, and courage, as well as her love of family and friends and her compassion for her fellow human beings. While we grieve, let’s remember what she said, “Fight harder.“

Rest in Peace Judy, we’ll miss and always love you.

AP Photo/Jeff Gentner

Joe Manchin is off to a poor start as the new Senator for West Virginia. Many of his constituents are furious he skipped out on the Senate’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) repeal vote on Saturday in order to attend a Christmas party. Meanwhile, he still finds time for pointless posturing on behalf of the coal industry.

Manchin was the only Democrat not to vote “yes” to repeal DADT, hailed as “the defining civil rights initiative of the decade”. He is facing sharp criticism in his home state for neglecting the duties of his office and hiding from tough issues.

Would he have skipped the vote if it had concerned the coal industry? His actions today suggest not. Manchin publicly released a joint letter with Senator Rockefeller to issue another complaint about the Obama administration’s efforts to reduce the damaging impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining — specifically the EPA’s ongoing efforts to veto the Clean Water Act permit for Arch Coal’s Spruce Mine, the largest such permit in West Virginia history.

It’s now mid-December and we’re still waiting on EPA boss Lisa Jackson to make a final announcement on the fate of Pigeonroost Hollow — one of the six valleys that, along with seven miles of streams, face burial by the Spruce mine in West Virginia.

It seems an obvious decision to me — the report we commissioned from Downstream Strategies earlier this year clearly shows how the proposed mining at this site violates the Clean Water Act.

Don Blankenship is going to plead the 5th in the Upper Big Branch probe. Seems that Big Don is invoking his right to avoid self-incrimination.

I’m pretty shocked and awed by this bit of information. I guess all those times I called Blankenship a “homicidal maniac,” his lawyers didn’t disagree.

Per Ken Ward at Coal Tattoo:

We’ve just confirmed that retiring Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship no longer plans to appear next week to be questioned by state and federal investigators who are looking into the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster.

C.A. Phillips, acting director of the state Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training, said his agency was informed just a little while ago that Blankenship would invoke his 5th Amendment rights and not answer questions from the investigation team.

UPDATED: Here’s a copy of a letter from Blankenship’s attorney to the state Office of Miners Health Safety and Training.

Here are my thoughts about how Massey could spend that money instead:

1) On medical monitoring and cancer insurance for more than 700 Rawl community members, whose water supply was contaminated by Massey injecting massive amounts of coal sludge (more than seven times the BP oil spill) into an old leaky mine.

2) On Marsh Fork Elementary School. Massey offered a token $1 million to relocate the school, which sits in the shadow of their 2.8 billion-gallon coal slurry pond. They could afford to foot the entire $8 million bill and have change to spare for upgraded facilities.

3) On new homes for all the former residents of Lindytown — a ghost-town in Boone Co, WV where the entire community has been pushed out to make way for a Massey mountaintop removal mine.

4) On a memorial for the victims of all coal mining disasters (the second deadliest industry in the US) and for compensation to the families of the 54 miners who have been killed in Massey mines since 2000.

5) On a college scholarship fund for Appalachian students to study renewable energy and help transition the region away from dirty coal to a green economy.

How do you think Massey should be spending that $12 million?