I'm a little surprised that this appears to not have been diaried all day today, when i know that there are some strong anti-MTR activistas on this site (it was sent out to the DK Greenroots newsletter, at least) -- i got the email from a friend this morn (that press release referenced the URL: http://www.climategroundzero.org/ ), and am cheered that young people are taking up the cause seriously -- history (and my personal experience) says that serious social change always requires direct action as part of the overall campaign, and often nothing will get done without it.
While we've all been a little disheartened this week by DC politics, and that's the main thing we're hearing all around right now, and we hope (at least I for sure do) that Barack and other Dems get back to their roots because of the MA election, i am definitely heartened to see this, the same week -- I hope some of you will take e-action, donate money, do what you can to support these brave young people.
I'm quoting the press release verbatim, as i'm quite sure the folks involved will be happy to get this more out in the public eye.
Tree Sit Halts the Blasting on Coal River
Mountain<http://climategroundzero.net/2010/01/treesit> Thursday,
January 21st, 2010
posted by sophie
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JANUARY 21, 2010
Contact: Kim Ellis – 304 854 7372
Email: news@climategroundzero.org <%20news@climategroundzero.org>
Note: www.climategroundzero.org and www.mountainjustice.org
“Coal River Mountain was the last mountain around here that hasn’t been
touched and they could’ve been using it for windmills…But Massey wants to
get that coal. It seems like they just don’t care about the populace. Just
the land and their checkbook.”
– Richard Bradford
MARFORK, W.Va. – Protestors associated with Climate Ground Zero and Mountain
Justice halted blasting on Coal River Mountain today with a three-person
tree-sit. David Aaron Smith, 23, Amber Nitchman, 19 and Eric Blevins, 28
are on platforms approximately 60 feet up two tulip poplar trees and one oak
tree. They are located next to where Massey Energy is blasting to build an
access road to the Brushy Fork Impoundment on its Bee Tree Strip Mine.
Their banners state: “Save Coal River Mtn.,” “EPA Stop the Blasting” and
“Windmills Not Toxic Spills.”
“Massey Energy is a criminal corporation with over 4,500 documented
violations of the Clean Water Act, yet the government has given them
permission to blast next to a dam full of toxic coal waste that will kill
998 people if it fails.” said Blevins. This action comes at the heels of a
rigorously peer-reviewed
study<http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2010/01/07/bombshell-study-mtr-impacts-pervasive-and-irreversible>published
in Science Magazine which states “Mining permits are being issued
despite the preponderance of scientific evidence that impacts are pervasive
and irreversible and that mitigation cannot compensate for the losses.”
The sitters are calling for the EPA to put an end to mountaintop removal and
encourage the land-holding companies to develop clean energy production.
The lack of EPA enforcement in mountaintop removal encouraged Josh Graupera,
19, member of the support team, to take part in this action “I knew that
until I took an active role in the struggle to end MTR, I was passively
condoning the poisoning and displacement of countless communities and in the
obliteration of one of the oldest and most diverse
<http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2010/01/07/bombshell-study-mtr-impacts-pervasive-and-irreversible>ecosystems
on this continent.” Graupera said. Nitchman added, “I act out of personal
concern for the safety of water from toxic sludge, air from smog, and
mountains from annihilation.”
The Brushy Fork Impoundment is permitted to contain over nine billion
gallons of the toxic coal waste, and currently contains 8.2 billion
gallons. Brushy Fork’s foundation is built on a honeycomb of abandoned
underground mines. If the foundation were to collapse the slurry would blow
out from all sides of the mountain. According to Marfork Coal Co.’s emergency
warning plan<http://auroralights.org/map_project/theme.php?theme=crm&article=2>regarding
the impoundment, in case of a frontal dam breach, a 40 ft wall of
sludge, 72 ft at its peak height, would engulf communities as far as 14
miles away.
“Brushy Fork sludge dam places the downstream communities in imminent
danger. The threat of being inundated by a wall of toxic sludge is always
present. Blasting next to this dam increases the risk as well as destroying
the opportunity for renewable wind energy,” said Coal River Mountain Watch’s
Vernon Haltom. According to the Coal River Wind
Project,<http://www.coalriverwind.org>the wind energy produced by a
turbine farm on Coal River Mountain could
power 70,000 homes, provide more permanent jobs for local residents and
annually bring over a million more dollars in tax breaks revenue to Raleigh
County than coal currently does.
The sitters plan to remain in the trees as long as it takes to stop blasting
on Coal River Mountain. Climate Ground Zero’s action campaign, begun in
February of last year, has kept up a sustained series of direct actions
since that time continuing decades-long resistance to strip mining in
Appalachia.
Press Release: January 21, 2010
United Mountain Defense
Bonnie Swinford
(865) 689-2778
umdvolunteerhouse@yahoo.com
www.unitedmountaindefense.org