Coal is Dirty - Clean Coal Industry News

Chicago Loves Mountains (not King Coal or his Wall Street bankers at Chase)

Scott Parkin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:39:28 +0000

Activists with RAN Chicago attached a banner to Chase's HQ in downtown Chicago. This was part of an escalating campaign in the Windy City to expose Chase's financing of destructive mountaintop coal mining in central Appalachia.

Activists thus far have been using culture jamming and street protest to educate and raise awareness of Chase's financial dealings. Today’s banner hang adds just one more action to RAN’s broader campaign to raise public awareness and pressure Chase to cease funding mountaintop removal. The ongoing campaign includes delivering letters to Chase branches throughout Chicagoland, educating Chase customers and employees, distributing stickers, and writing chalk messages on sidewalks and other publicly visible areas.

Chase has a pervasive presence in Chicago, second only to New York, and offices some of Chase's heavy hitters including William Daley (former Commerce Secretary under Clinton, brother to Chicago mayor Richard Daley, and son to former Chicago mayor Richard P. Daley).

Actions of this nature have begun to receive increased amounts of attention. A Climate Action march and rally this past October and a demonstration against the Chicago Climate Exchange in November also put a focus on supporting truly clean energy.

Letter from a West Virginia Jail

Scott Parkin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:48:08 +0000

Last week, Eric Blevins came down from a nine day tree-sit on Coal River Mountain. He then spent a couple of days in jail. While in jail, he wrote this letter to the Register-Herald in Beckley, WV and then dictated it over the phone to a support person at Climate Ground Zero.

This week, we commemorated the 50 year anniversary of the Greensboro sit-ins that were an integral part of the civil disobedience phase of the civil rights movement. Many of the students that participated in those sit-ins were trained at the Highlander School in Tennessee near Coal River Mountain tree-sitter Eric Blevin’s home.

As we ponder our next steps in the climate action and climate justice movements, we need to remember that this sort of large scale change requires sacrifice. With sacrifice, we need support. The civil rights activists risked their lives fighting segregation in the south. Many spent long periods of time in jail. During the Greensboro sit-ins, violence and harassment of protesters often escalated.

So far, the coal industry and their political allies, inside and out of Appalachia, are fighting the anti-mountaintop removal legally (both criminal and civil), often resulting in jail time and fines. There have also been threats and acts of violence directed at community members, organizers and activists in the coalfields. Eric and his fellow tree-sitters sat in 60 ft. trees for over a week while coal company employees harassed and abused them with constant noise, bright lights, tree shaking and threats of spraying them down with fire hoses. At the end of their tree-sit, Massey Energy has sued them for $75,000 and filed for a temporary restraining order in federal court.

To me, there are a number of obvious parallels to the Greensboro sit-ins and the Coal River tree-sits. Like our predecessors in the civil rights movement, the anti-mountaintop removal movement has drawn a line in the sand to end the “pervasive and irreversible impacts” of mountaintop removal and can’t give up.

Here’s Eric’s letter from a jail in southern West Virginia:

This is in response to the article in Saturday’s paper about Amber and I coming down from our tree sit and the letter about paid, outsider environmentalists who support the EPA, which I read while sitting in the Southern Regional Jail.

I am not an outsider. I am an Appalachian. Virginia-based Massey Energy is an outsider. The people who live in the mountains and work on the mine sites work harder, longer hours and make less money than those who work at Massey’s headquarters in Richmond. All the people here should control how the land around them is used and they should profit the most from it, not people in an office far away who aren’t as impacted by the decisions they make that destroy our mountains.

I and most activists I know are not paid. We are volunteers. Groups like Mountain Justice and Climate Ground Zero help raise funds for legal fees and action supplies, but don’t pay people. Their money is donated by people who support the abolishment of mountaintop removal. They have budgets of just a few thousand dollars each. Massey has billions of dollars. They recently laid off workers and raised CEO Don Blankenship’s salary.

I and most activists I know do not support the EPA. They are not doing enough to stop the destruction of our mountains. While they review permits, the explosions are still going off in our home every day.

I climbed a tree to defend God’s beautiful divine creations: the people who live below the Brushy Fork sludge impoundment being threatened with imminent death by the blasting, the plants and animals being slaughtered, Coal River Mountain, our air and our water. The actions of my friends and I were nonviolent and defensive. Massey’s actions are violent and offensive. They blasted air horns and sirens at us in the trees almost nonstop for days on end. They have said that 998 people will die if the dam there fails, yet they set off explosives near it. It is an unlined earthen dam and those fail, like the one operated by TVA near my home in Tennessee that spilled 1.6 billion gallons of coal waste just over a year ago, practically destroying an entire community. Brush Fork holds back over 7 billion gallons, for now. It may not hold it back much longer if we don’t stop the blasting.

Eric Blevins

King Coal’s Top Lobbyist to Meet Obama

Scott Parkin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:49:56 +0000

The coal industry's top lobbyist, WV Gov. Joe Manchin, is scheduled to meet President Obama and Vice-President Biden with ten other governors on the issue of energy.

Manchin has been a major obstacle in ending mountaintop removal (MTR) in West Virginia and rails publicly against Obama's Environmental Protection Agency taking stronger action to regulate and ban the practice.

Manchin's fortunes are tied directly to King Coal. He has stated publicly that West Virginia is an extraction state. Just this week, he remarked "just cutting out coal is not feasible, it's not going to happen."

As opposition to mountaintop removal grows locally, regionally and nationally, the backlash will escalate. Violence and tension run rampant in the coalfields. Coal front groups lobby and run ads promoting coal to politicians and the general public. And of course they are deploying their biggest assets, WV Gov. Joe Manchin, to take their message to the highest levels. Manchin is currently vice-chair of the National Governor's Association, and is scheduled to become chairman in July.

To counter the pressure of big money, lobbyists and compromised politicians, we need to grow our movements and push the envelope with tactics and strategies that stop the destruction as well as nationalize the issue.

King Coal Sues Coal River MountainTree-Sitters in Federal Court

Scott Parkin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:50:30 +0000

The nine day Coal River Mountain tree-sit that ended on Friday has entered a new phase. Mining giant Massey Energy has filed for a temporary restraining order (TRO) in federal court and sued five activists that were part of the action for $75,000 in damages. Ken Ward from the WV Gazette posted the opinion here.

For the past year, Climate Ground Zero and Mountain Justice activists have utilized direct action tactics on Massey and other mining company property to stop the destruction of Appalachia’s mountains. Massey has frequently responded to actions in court seeking financial damages and with restraining orders.

Activists will most likely be undeterred by Massey’s legal actions.

Please donate to support the ongoing legal battles here.

Nine-Day Tree Sit Ends at Coal River Mountain

Scott Parkin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:36:38 +0000

After enduring over a week of ice and rain, mind-numbing noise abuse and harassment by Massey security, Eric and Amber came down today. The Climate Ground Zero tree sitters vowed that the fight to save Coal River Mountain and stop mountaintop removal is far from over.

Yesterday after meeting with coalfield activists, WV Gov. Joe issued a moratorium on Massey’s use of sound machines and asked the WV state police and Raleigh County prosecutors to investigate whether Massey was endangering the sitters lives with their noise abuse.

Nine-Day Tree Sit Ends, Sitters Vow Not Over Until Blasting Stops
January 29, 2010

PETTUS, WVa—After blocking Massey Energy’s operations on the Bee Tree Permit for nine days, Amber Nitchman, 19, and Eric Blevins, 28 descended from their respective trees. They had occupied the two oak trees—originally accompanied by a third tree sitter, David Aaron Smith, 23—to protest mountaintop removal and the blasting of Coal River Mountain. Upon descent, they were immediately arrested by West Virginia State Troopers. The sitters’ decision to leave the trees was made in light of the recent drop in temperature.

After a week of Massey security harassing the sitters with deafening sirens and air horns, a call-in pressure campaign was launched by Climate Ground Zero, Mountain Justice and other anti-mountaintop removal groups. The receipt of hundreds of calls from around the country led to an emergency meeting with Climate Ground Zero volunteers, the Raleigh County prosecutor and Governor Manchin. The meeting resulted in the moratorium and a call for an investigation of the abuse. The tree sit represents Climate Ground Zero’s most sustained intervention in mountaintop removal mining operations since its campaign of nonviolent direct action began last February. Volunteers know that the fight is far from over and expect work to commence on the Bee Tree site immediately. However, they see this tree sit as a victory. “It halted blasting for nine days. I think they’ve wildly succeeded with their goals,” said Climate Ground Zero volunteer Mike Bowersox. In a final communication from her perch, Nitchman captured the group’s resolve. “Its not over until the blasting is stopped,” she said.

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Reckoning at Eagle Creek hits bookstores

Kate Rooth — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:16:16 +0000

Today another important book in the ongoing fight for the people of Appalachia hits bookstores. Reckoning at Eagle Creek, Jeff Bigger’s latest release takes us on a journey into the secret history of coal mining in the American heartland. Set in the ruins of his family’s strip-mined homestead in the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, Biggers delivers a deeply personal portrait of the largely overlooked human and environmental costs of our nation’s dirty energy policy over the past two centuries.

Reckoning at Eagle Creek digs deep into the tangled roots of the coal industry beginning with the policies of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. It chronicles the removal of Native Americans, and the hidden story of legally sanctioned black slavery in the land of Lincoln. It uncovers a century of regulatory negligence, vividly describing the epic mining wars for union recognition and workplace safety, and the devastating environmental consequences of industrial strip-mining.

Award –winning journalist and cultural historian, Jeff Biggers is the author of several books which chronicle the history of Appalachia including The United States and No Lomesome Road and writes frequently on the issue on the Huffington Post.

"Nobody writes about Appalachia like Jeff Biggers. His voice is a swirl of history and memory, of fact and analysis, of hillbilly wisdom and journalistic outrage. Reckoning at Eagle Creek is bigger and brawnier than a memoir or cultural chronicle—it’s a passionate howl from the dark heart of American coal country."—Jeff Goodell, author, Big Coal

At the heart of our national debate over climate change and the crucial transition toward clean energy, is the Obama administration’s controversial pursuit of “clean coal.” Biggers exposes the fallacy that lies at the heart of this policy and shatters the Big Coal marketing myth that Illinois represents the “Saudi Arabia of coal.”

Reckoning at Eagle Creek is ultimately an exposé of “historicide,” one that traces coal’s harrowing legacy through the great American family saga of sacrifice and resiliency and the extraordinary process of recovering our nation’s memory. Coal will never be called clean or cheap again.

Watch a trailer of the book:

“Part historical narrative, part family memoir, part pastoral paean, and part jeremiad against the abuse of the land and of the men who gave and continue to give their lives to (and often for) the mines, [Reckoning at Eagle Creek] puts a human face on the industry that supplies nearly half of America’s energy…it offers a rare historical perspective on the vital yet little considered industry, along with a devastating critique of the myth of ‘clean coal.’ ”—Publishers Weekly

“Jeff Biggers exposes the truth about coal in America—how the myth of “clean coal” destroys even family histories. But Biggers is a long-time warrior in another fight—to stabilize climate and preserve a good life for young people. Let us hope his message about dirty coal is read far and wide.”—James Hansen, NASA Goddard Center, author of Storms of My Grandchildren

“As this fine book makes clear, coal has always and ever been a curse, poisoning everything and everyone it touches—right up to the climate on which we depend for our daily bread. What a story!” —Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

Tree Sitters Occupying Coal River Mountain

Scott Parkin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:30:55 +0000

After almost a year of sustained direct actions in southern West Virginia, three Climate Ground Zero activists scaled trees to stop blasting on Coal River Mountain. David Aaron Smith, 23, Amber Nitchman, 19 and Eric Blevins, 28 are on platforms approximately 60 feet up three tulip poplar trees. 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 read: “EPA Stop the Blasting,” and “Windmills Not Toxic Spills.”

In the past two weeks, mountaintop removal coal mining has thrust itself into the national consciousness with an article in the prestigious science journal Science calling for a ban on mountaintop removal, a feature on the popular comedy show The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert and tonight’s debate between Massey CEO Don Blankenship and environmental attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the University of Charleston. Never before has MTR received such scrutiny.

Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved a MTR permit in West Virginia signaling the weakening of their position on the issue. EPA inaction for decades has left over 500 mountains in Appalachia barren moonscape, poisoned numerous communities and profiting mining execs throughout the region. Obama’s EPA had promised to act on MTR, but has yet to take any significant steps to outlaw the practice. Likewise, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson had failed to even visit the region or do a flyover of affected areas.The tree sitters are committed to staying until the blasting ends on Coal River Mountain.

Currently, a winter action camp is underway at Climate Ground Zero in Rock Creek, WV and more actions are expected throughout 2010. It’s going to be a kick ass year.

Tree Sit on Coal River Mountain Strip Mine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kim Ellis – 304 854 7372

Email: news@climategroundzero.org

Note: For more info, see www.mountainjustice.org, www.climategroundzero.org, www.ilovemountains.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 poplars and an oak tree. The mountain has become a rallying point for local activists, representing for many the cleaner, more sustainable possibilities of wind energy. Their banners state: “EPA Stop the Blasting”, “Windmills Not Toxic Spills”, and “Save Coal River Mtn.”

The sitters are calling for the EPA to protect American air and water by putting an end to mountaintop removal and encouraging the development of clean energy production in central Appalachia. The lack of EPA enforcement combined with Dr. Margaret Palmer’s findings, published in Science Magazine's January issue, that “Considering environmental impacts of MTM/VF[mountaintop mining/valley fill], in combination with evidence that the health of people living in surface-mining regions of the central Appalachians is compromised by mining activities, we conclude that MTM/VF permits should not be granted,” encouraged Joshua Graupera, a member of the support team, to take part in this action. He said, “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.”

Massey Energy’s blasting on the Bee Tree Strip Mine threatens both the possibility of wind power on Coal River Mountain and the foundations of the nearby Brushy Fork impoundment.

“The government has given them [Massey Energy] permission to blast next to a dam full of toxic coal waste that will kill 998 people if it fails,” said Blevins, who works with Mountain Justice. The Brushy Fork Impoundment, permitted to contain over nine billion gallons of toxic coal waste, lies on a honeycomb of abandoned deep mines. If the foundation collapses the coal slurry will blow out from all sides of Coal River Mountain, harming communities in the mountain’s periphery, as occurred at Massey’s Big Branch slurry impoundment in Kentucky.

“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 the wind energy produced by a turbine farm on Coal River Mountain could power 70,000 homes, provide permanent jobs for local residents and annually bring over a million more dollars in tax 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 the decades-long resistance of dedicated individuals and groups like Mountain Justice to strip mining in Appalachia.

Four Anti-Mountaintop Removal Activists Arrested at Home

Scott Parkin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 06:14:00 +0000

Iran is not the only place where government agencies are trying to disrupt organizers advocating for change.

Today, the West Virginia State Police picked up four Climate Ground Zero activists at home in Rock Creek on some old charges from October. Back during a peaceful march for seniors against mountaintop removal organized by 81 year old Roland Micklem, two young activists –Gabe Schwartzman, 19, and David German, 18– were arrested for unfurling a banner on top of Walker CAT’s headquarters. The charges are related to that banner drop. Last month, the state police arrested Micklem for the same charge.

As a result of the Oct. banner hang, Walker CAT president Steve Walker equated the anti-MTR activists with suicide bombers, that’s right, suicide bombers.

Next month, Climate Ground Zero has organized a three week winter action camp which will prepare 30-50 anti-MTR for actions in the Coal River Valley to carry out civil disobedience actions.

We’ve spent 2009 escalating the fight to end mountaintop removal. The coal industry spent 2009 escalating their rhetoric (example above) to cast us as “extremists” and “terrorists,” and encouraging intimidation and violence in the coalfields. Now West Virginia law enforcement is arresting activists and lead organizers in Rock Creek on “old” charges.

Could these arrests be a pre-emptive arrest to disrupt Climate Ground Zero’s activities? Let’s hope for the best and plan for the worst.

Four Climate Ground Zero activists arrested today in Rock Creek, West Virginia.

Rock Creek, WV – At 3:47 pm, Tuesday, four Climate Ground Zero activists were arrested for trespass at their homes in Rock Creek, West Virginia. Matt Louis-Rosenberg, Jacqueline Quimby, Kimberly Ellis and James McGuiness were taken to the Kanawha County Courthouse by State Police. State Trooper Lt. Bowers. The charges stem from an October 10 demonstration at Walker CAT’s headquarters, which challenged Walker’s misleading pro-coal advertising campaign at which Gabe Schwartzman, 19, and David German, 18, were arrested by City of Belle Police and cited for trespassing on a structure or conveyance. The two had unfurled a banner which read, “Yes, Coal is Killing West Virginia’s Communities” .

More information as the situation develops. For more information, call Mike Roselle, Climate Ground Zero 304 854 7372.

Hundreds Rally to Save Coal River Mountain Today

Scott Parkin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:20:59 +0000

Today over 300 coalfield residents and their allies rallied to stop the blasting of Coal River Mountain and to transition to a clean energy future at the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. Coal River Mountain, the site of a proposed wind farm if blasting can be halted, has become a line in the sand in the fight against mountaintop removal coal mining.

We listened to a couple of dozen inspirational speakers, many of whom were local people who have seen the damage of mountaintop removal coal mining firsthand. They talked about why it is so important to save Coal River Mountain, their communities and our country from the many problems associated with mountaintop removal and our addiction to coal.

“Coal River Mountain stands today as a symbol of the choice we have to make for our energy future,” said Bo Webb of the Coal River Valley, an ex-Marine and a lead organizer of today’s rally. “We can preserve our abundant forested mountains, which offer clean drinking water and enough wind potential to provide permanent jobs for our families. Or, we can allow mountaintop removal operations to blast our heritage into a pile of pulverized rock and poisoned water.”

“My home and the cemetery where my husband is buried are in jeopardy from mountaintop removal coal mining. I have to be out here to protect my family,” added Lorelei Scarbro, an organizer with Coal River Mountain Watch and a lifelong resident of Coal River Valley. She’s not against coal, but she is against the mountaintop removal mining practice that is poisoning her water and destroying her heritage.

We were joined at the rally by Robert Kennedy, Jr who reminded us of his father’s commitment to fighting poverty in Appalachia. He also talked about the true cost of coal from cradle to grave. Mountaintop removal coal mining is destroying Appalachia, but it is also destroying the climate when that coal is burned.

Today’s rally is happening just as world leaders gather in Copenhagen to discuss global warming. Concern with the mining practice dovetails with a growing demand to replace fossil fuels with clean energy sources. Those who support the wind farm on Coal River Mountain and elsewhere in the region believe that to protect the future of West Virginia, coal country must become clean energy country.

“If we don’t start building a clean energy economy and diversifying jobs in West Virginia what will our children do for jobs in 20 years when the coal runs out?” said Scarbro. “If we can save this mountain then we can begin developing sustainable jobs and renewable energy, and we can maybe have an impact on the climate crisis that faces us all.”

With the EPA starting to look more closely at permit requests and even West Virginia’s Senator Byrd saying the state needs to move beyond mountaintop remova, it’s time for the state Department of Environmental Protection to do its part and stop the blasting on Coal River Mountain once and for all.

Lockdown on the Cliffside Coal Plant Generator

Scott Parkin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:05:06 +0000

Concerned citizens block shipment of generator to Cliffside Coal Plant.

Greenville, SC Two protestors have locked themselves to the 1.5 million pound generator destined for Duke Energy’s Cliffside coal plant in Rutherford County, North Carolina. Protestors are vowing to prevent the generator, which has been traveling across South Carolina on a 300 foot trailer, from reaching the coal plant. “Our nation has no choice, we must stop burning coal. The only choice that we can make is whether we do that in time to still have breathable air, drinkable water, a livable climate, and standing mountains,” said, Catherine Anne. Protestors also draped a large banner from the top of the generator reading, “Stop Cliffside.”

The controversial Cliffside coal plant would emit over 6 million tons of carbon dioxide ever year in addition to toxic levels of heavy metals such as mercury, greatly exacerbating global warming and our abysmal air quality. Duke Energy is seeking to raise electricity rates in order to pay for the construction of Cliffside at a time when record numbers of families are struggling to put food on the table due to the recession.

This act of civil disobedience comes a week before world leaders meet in Copenhagen to hash out a global climate agreement. “Any agreement made in Copenhagen will be meaningless if the US continues to build coal plants such as Cliffside. It is time to tear down coal plants, not construct new ones,” said Rachel Scarano. There are currently 43 coal plants proposed or under construction in the US, though over 100 others have been canceled due to widespread protests.

Since it was first proposed, there has been massive opposition to Cliffside. In the past year and a half over 60 people have been arrested protesting the plant, and they vow to continue the fight. “Since politicians and corporations refuse to take serious action to stop climate change, citizens must step in to shut down coal plants,” said Attila Nemecz. The protest was organized by Asheville Rising Tide and Croatan Earth First! and is part of a national day of action with dozens of protests around the country including Chicago, New York City, Washington DC, and San Francisco.