Sunday, November 8th, 2009- Philly activists protested and flyered today outside the Opening Session of the American Public Health Association’s 137 Annual Meeting at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson was a keynote speaker.

The activists were demanding that Ms.Jackson end blasting on Coal River Mountain in Coal River, WV. The mountain is the site of a campaign by local residents for a commercial-scale wind farm. A wind resources assessment and economic study commissioned by the group Coal River Mountain Watch in 2008 revealed that Coal River Mountain has enough wind potential to provide electricity for over 85,000 homes.

Instead, the EPA has allowed Massey Energy, one of the largest coal producers in the country, to begin blasting at Coal River Mountain as part of mountaintop removal mining excavation. The blasting is occurring near the Brushy Fork impoundment, the largest slurry dam in Appalachia. Critics of mountaintop removal argue that an estimated 1,000 lives are at risk if the dam at Brushy Fork were to fail. Last December, a containment pond in Kingston, Tennessee burst, flooding the area with over one billion gallons of coal ash sludge, producing the largest environmental disaster in United States history.

Attendees to the APHA’s annual meeting were given flyers on their way into the opening session urging them to “Tell Lisa Jackson: Save Coal River Mountain.” Ms. Jackson and the EPA have been the targets of a campaign by a coalition of environmental groups working to end mountaintop removal for several months.

This morning RAN, the New York Action Network, the Waterkeeper Alliance and the Sierra Club organized a “Carnival of Destruction” outside JPMorgan Chase’s mid-town Manhattan headquarters. Scores of protesters gathered to demand that the bank stop financing the coal industry, including the devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining. Just last week JPMorgan Chase – financed company, Massey Energy began blasting on Coal River Mountain, an action that makes this morning’s protest even more urgent.

We called this protest a “Carnival of Destruction” because JPMC’s investments in dirty coal truly are the Most Shocking Show on Earth. Check out pictures below:

-Annie

Update: Watch this video from the action!

More and more people are demanding that JPMorgan Chase stop financing the coal industry and the destruction of Appalachia through mountaintop removal coal mining. Earlier this month, Bill McKibben sent a letter to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and this week, Gloria Reuben, actress, singer and social activist, sent her letter – posted below. Ms. Reuben also posted a heartfelt call to end mountaintop removal mining on her personal website, as well as Huffington Post. Thanks Gloria!

-Annie

Dear Mr. Dimon:

I am writing to you about an urgent issue – to respectfully request you end JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s support of the coal industry. This industry is destroying our nation’s oldest and most diverse mountains, causing catastrophic erosion and flooding, devastating ecosystems, poisoning drinking water, and obliterating historic communities. By investing in the coal industry, JPMorgan Chase & Co. is complicit in this wholesale destruction.
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New Yorkers and those nearby!

Join us this Thursday, October 29th to tell JP Morgan Chase to stop funding mountaintop removal coal mining! JP Morgan Chase is the biggest financier of the devastating practice of MTR – and even funds Massey Energy, the company that has started blasting Coal River Mountain in West Virgina this week.

This Thursday’s Carnival of Destruction will highlight “The Most Shocking Show on Earth” – JP Morgan Chase’s investments in coal and MTR. Hosted by Waterkeeper Alliance, Rainforest Action Network, New York Action Network, Sierra Club, and Friends of the Earth this will be an event not to be missed.

Here’s the details:
When: Thursday, October 29, 2009, from 8:00am – 11:30am
Location: JP Morgan Chase Headquarters, 270 Park Ave. (between 47th and 48th St.)

Join the ringmaster, marching band and costumed supporters.

See you on October 29!

-Annie

Last night, RAN’s Sam Corbin attended the premiere of The Yes Men’s new movie, “Yes Men Fix the World”. After the movie was over, she directed the riled-up crowd to a near-by Chase branch so that movie goers could vent their frustration with corporate greed at a corporation that is financing mountaintop removal coal mining. Check out The Yes Men’s blog about the event and the protest – the pictures are amazing!

-Annie

Bill McKibbon, author, activist, and founder of 350.org is helping to put the pressure on JPMorgan Chase to stop financing mountaintop removal coal mining! Check out his letter to Jamie Dimon, below:

-Annie

Mr. Jamie Dimon
Chairman and CEO
JP Morgan Chase & Co.
270 Park Ave NY NY 10017

Dear Mr. Dimon,

I’m writing to ask that your firm reconsider one corner of its business: financing mountaintop removal for coal mining in Appalachia.

It’s probably—along with the tar sands of Canada—the dirtiest business on the continent. Dirty when it’s mined (they mean it when they say mountaintop removal—they take the top off the mountain and dump in the valley next door); dirty when it’s burned (check out asthma rates near urban coal plants); and dirty for eons to come, with its effect on the planet’s climate.

As I understand it, a third of the coal moving out of those mountaintop sites comes from companies you guys have recently been involved in financing. By my definition above that’s dirty money, and it would be a credit to your reputation if you found the wherewithal to say no to this particular trade.

Bill McKibben
Ripton Vt. 05766

Wednesday, September 30^th, the Environmental Protection Agency released a list of 79 pending mountaintop removal permits that  will be held for further review. While the decision signals a strong first step, there are still many more pending permits, not to mention all of the active mining occurring throughout Appalachia, that was not impacted by this decision. To read more about this decision, read my earlier post.

In response to this announcement, concerned DC residents went to the EPA headquarters to show their support for this decision, but to also remind the EPA that much more needs to be done to abolish mountaintop removal. Many passersby stopped to learn more about the issue and many of whom work within the Agency noticed our presence. Employees were even opening their windows to lean out and ask what we were up to.

While this decision was an important one, many coalfield residents and organizers like myself, question whether this announcement will hold its course. In a post by Jeff Biggers in the Nation entitled “Coalfield Uprising“, he explains how this decision has only strengthened activists resolve.

 “While we appreciate the EPA making this step to bring back enforcement of the Clean Water Act,” says Lorelei Scarbro, an organizer with Coal River Mountain Watch and a coal miner’s widow whose garden and hillside orchards border a proposed mountaintop removal site in West Virginia, “we will continue to come to Washington, DC, until mountaintop removal’s irreversible devastation to our communities and waterways is halted.”

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Hey everyone- Kate here, your resident Washington DC Coal campaigner dedicated to taking some of the wonk of our DC Beltway politics and get under the skin of decision makers until they realize just how serious we are about the issue of Mountaintop Removal.

Today the EPA made another important step forward in protecting the communities of Appalachia from the disastrous impacts of mountaintop removal mining. Under a process called “Enhanced Coordination Procedures” the EPA has put a temporary hold on 79 permits, which will now undergo further review before their fate is determined.

So did the EPA stop any MTR permits today? No, and Ken Ward gives a good explanation on his blog:

“But as the EPA statement said, EPA officials have determined that all 79 of these permits as they are currently proposed would not comply with the Clean Water Act. EPA is not denying the permits (though under some circumstances, EPA has the authority to override Corps of Engineers decisions to issue permits). Instead, EPA is saying that all 79 of these permits need to be more closely reviewed and perhaps changed so that they would comply with the law.”

You can read more about the Obama administration’s “enhanced coordination procedures” for reviewing these permits on EPA’s Web site here.  The list of 79 permits is here.

So what now you ask? Well we watch with extreme scrutiny during the next 2 months as the permits go under review. Last week during the finalization of this list I went out with other RAN activists and flyered the EPA office in DC during employees lunch break. We spoke with hundreds of employees, many of whom commented that they work on this issue. Its important that they know we are watching.

I’ll keep you updated and if you are ever in the DC area come down to the East Building of the EPA Headquarters at the corner of 12th and Constitution. You’ll likely find me there, with a tireless team of activists until mountaintop removal is ended once and for all.

I first met Maria Gunnoe a couple of years ago when we had the great fortune to honor her at REVEL with a World Rainforest Award for her courageous and critical work in West Virginia’s Appalachian mountains. I was impressed by her courage and her spirit – and just how engaging and approachable she is.

And just last year I saw her accept a Goldman Environmental Prize for her efforts as an organizer working to save the mountains and the communities she’s from and committed to. As a result of efforts and this attention Maria is gaining some notoriety, and with it there are pros and cons. On the one hand the issue is certainly gaining awareness which is critical if we are going to then raise the consciousness that will lead to an end to this terrible, destructive assault – on the other, those that support Coal (or more likely, the few that benefit the most from it) see Maria as more of a strident agitator than ever.

She’s an 8^th generation “mountain holler girl” who lives where her forebears made their home. She’s encircled by mountains – or their remains – and is just at the back of the town of Bobwhite, West Virginia. She has a teenage son and daughter, and a bunch of baby kittens, and two dogs – one her pet, the other for security. More »

After a long and bumpy ride, we arrived at Larry Gibson’s property. Larry hosts an annual 4th of July party, and this year Massey workers showed up drunk and threatening violence. Larry knew they were coming, and knew they had started drinking at 9 a.m. to build up the nerve to finally show up around 7 pm. The only reason there wasn’t violence was because there were several people with video cameras filming them. After the incident, Larry made repeated calls to the State and Federal government, and many calls to local law enforcement, West Virginia’s State Troopers. The FBI finally showed up 5 weeks after the event took place. They told him that no federal laws were broken, despite video footage of a man threatening to kill and woman and her two kids. According to the FBI, they “have the right to express themselves.”

Larry was preparing for a big Labor Day party, and he was fairly certain there would be violence. He had hung a “Coal keeps West Virginia poor” sign on the patio, right next to his “Friends of the Mountains” sign, and when we arrived he noticed it had been torn down. He was clearly shaken because he hadn’t noticed that anyone had entered his property. While we were there, he put in calls to try to arrange security for the upcoming event, but he didn’t sound hopeful that the police would be of any help. In fact, he has had no call backs for his request for state law enforcement support. Since the incident on the 4th the State Troopers came once to see what the fuss was about, didn’t take a statement and did not give Larry their names when he asked.

Because of his activism, Larry has experienced 136 acts of violence. His property and neighbors’ property has been shot up (we saw bullet holes), and his dog was hung on his porch and almost killed.

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