OVEC Action Alert - April 9, 2002

Please call ASAP for the Artic National Wildlife Refuge

Participate in the Massey stockholders meeting protest—even if you can't go

You won't believe this…why the Pigeon Roost MTR permit hearing is postponed

Further details on the Energy Bill debate in the Senate.

Protect The Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)  

Please let our Senators know that drilling in ANWR is unacceptable to West Virginians. The vote on this issue will come up in the US Senate any day now! Please CALL Byrd and Rockefeller on this issue and please call one friend and ask them to do the same. Byrd's Charleston office is 304-342-5855 and Rockefeller is 304-347-5372. Other office numbers for our Senators are listed here. 

OVEC's Dianne Bady and Janet Fout are in Arizona right now meeting with other Leadership for a Changing World award winners. Sarah James, a co-winner and a leader of the Gwich'in, or Caribou People,  has asked Dianne and Jan to ask OVEC members to please make this important call. She is defending her homeland as we defend ours (more information on Sarah here).

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Sass Massey From Afar 

Can't go all the way to Richmond, Virginia on April 16 to protest outside the Massey Energy stockholders meeting? Then you can help out by making signs for the protestors to carry. Introduced at the meeting will be a resolution to severely curtail the currently copious compensation package that Massey CEO Don Blankenship receives. You can make signs for the protestors to carry, saying "Vote YES on Proposal Three." You can drop the signs off at the OVEC office or you can leave them for Julie Archer at the CAG office on the corner of Ruffner and Dixie in Charleston (big poplar tree in front yard). If no one is at the office, just leave the signs on the porch. If you want more details, or want to ride along to the protest, contact Bill McCabe at stopcoalcrimes@yahoo.com ASAP.

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Boone, Logan, What's The Difference? Why A Mountaintop Removal Permit Hearing Is Postponed

Last Action Alert! we told you about the April 24 public hearing on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed 3,100 acre (Hobet) Spruce No. 1 Surface Mine, at Pigeon Roost Hollow, near (what's left of) Blair, Logan County. THAT HEARING IS NOW POSTPONED until possibly sometime in June. Here's why:

Nathan Fetty of the WV Rivers Coalition called the OVEC office asking if we had noticed that chapter four, "Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences," (a chapter which oddly enough starts out by talking about how much the county relies on coal mining) was about BOONE County. But this proposed massive MTR site is entirely within LOGAN County.

Since we needed to call the Corps anyway, we offered to ask the DEIS reviewer about this. The conversation went something like this:

OVEC: I'm confused. Why is the DEIS chapter four about Boone County? Isn't that giant 3,100-acre permit in Logan County? 
CORPS: Let me look (stunned silence). Yes, the permit is for Logan County. You can bring that up at the hearing and we'll put the Logan information in the final EIS. 
OVEC: Wait a minute, we are supposed to comment on something that isn't even in the draft? Then accept something in the final EIS that we haven't had a chance to look at? 
CORPS: I guess that could be a problem. 
OVEC: Tell me again who wrote this? 
CORPS: Michael Baker (runs a consulting firm). 
OVEC: Not the Corps? 
CORPS: No. 
OVEC: That sends up a red flag to me. How reliable is the rest of the data if he doesn't even know which county the permit is in? 
CORPS: I hear your point.

After a couple more calls, the Corps decided to postpone the hearing. Baker is supposed to send the Logan County info to the Corps by Friday (wow, bet that will be a really thorough study), and then the Corps will forward the new, improved chapter to everyone who got a copy of the draft.

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More On The Energy Bill

This week and next the Senate will be voting on amendments to the Energy bill, S 517. Senator Murkowski is expected to offer his amendment to open the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling. It is now looking like he will do this on Wednesday April 10.

Our environmental champions in the US Senate - led by Senators Kerry (D-MA) and Lieberman (D-CT) will seek to block Senator Murkowski's amendment by filibustering it--forcing extended debate on this controversial amendment. Drilling proponents would be forced to secure 60 votes to shut off the debate and end the filibuster. The vote on the Arctic filibuster could happen as early Thursday, April 11, but more likely on Friday.

Please call your Senators this week to thank and shore up those who are with us and to encourage all those who have not yet decided how they will vote. Tell them the vote is coming this week and you care how they vote. You can reach them through the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 or you can call their in-state office. Click here for contact information. 

We are also expecting that several other amendments to the energy bill will be voted on this week:

An amendment offered by Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) which increases federal oversight over energy trading to provide protection for consumers from future Enron's will be voted on Wednesday. We support this amendment.

Sen. Graham (D-FL) is planning to offer an amendment to specifically include municipal solid waste (MSW) as a renewable energy resource. WE OPPOSE THIS AMENDMENT. Garbage incinerators create and emit dioxin--a known human carcinogen-- and cause impairment of immune, nervous, reproductive, and endocrine systems at extremely low levels. In addition, garbage incinerators contribute nearly 20% of the nation's mercury emissions, while incinerator ash contains toxic pollutants including lead, cadmium, mercury, and dioxin. Municipal solid waste incineration does not help solve solid waste problems, because it removes the incentive for waste reduction and recycling by making solid waste seem to disappear, but leaving a toxic legacy in its place.

We also expect Sen. Fitzgerald (R-IL) to offer an amendment that would specifically exclude MSW from the definition of biomass in the Renewable Portfolio Standard. We support this amendment.

Ask your senators to support the Kerry-Lieberman filibuster to prevent oil drilling in the arctic national wildlife refuge. 

Also:

• SUPPORT Feinstein amendment to guard against Enron trading schemes
• SUPPORT Fitzgerald amendment to exclude incineration of municipal solid waste from renewable energy portfolio standard.
• OPPOSE Graham amendment to define incineration of municipal solid waste as a clean renewable fuel.

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