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Tell Gov. Wise to take Actions on Floods and Come to Oct. 10 Flooded Out Film Festival
Slide Show on Blackwater Canyon
Take Action--Griles Has Gotta Go
Calling On A Higher Power For Help
At 1 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 4, OVECians and members of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth will join together for an interfaith prayer service near McRoberts, Ky., a town overwhelmed by mountaintop removal (MTR). Folks will pray and meditate for the community and call for an end to MTR everywhere. Carpools leave the OVEC office at 9 a.m., call 304-522-0246 for more info. To carpool from Charleston, contact Regina Hendrix at 304-343-5211.
Everyone will meet at noon for lunch at the Hardees in Jenkins, Ky. (Allow about three hours to get to Jenkins from either Charleston, via 119 through Williamson and Pikeville, or Huntington, via US 23.) After lunch, we'll head up to the TECO MTR site looming over McRoberts, for a short prayer vigil. If you like, bring a reading, a song or a prayer. If you want to have folks sing a song, be sure to bring some copies of the lyrics.
After the vigil, we'll probably take a short tour of McRoberts, an old coal camp with some of the original houses, which is plagued by MTR-related flooding problems.
Flood Facts: Learn all about the floods of 2001 and 2002.
Be sure to come to the Flooded Out Film Festival, Thursday, Oct. 10 at the West Virginia State College Capitol Center Theatre, 123 Summers St., Charleston. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and films begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the door with a suggested donation of $5. All proceeds go to flood victims, including the McDowell County Public Library, which was devastated by the May floods. Come hungry, as there will be lots of homemade goodies for sale. Again, all proceeds go to flood victims.
Also, please visit www.wvcoalfield.com/flooding.htm
To ask the Governor to TAKE ACTION by supporting the WV Department of Environmental Protection’s flood study recommendations, click here, then click on the links in the big arrow.
This site is by Penny Loeb, who wrote "Shear Madness" for U.S. News & World Report in 1997, the first national investigative piece on MTR. Right after the July 8, 2001 floods, Penny and Bob Gates spent six weeks filming, taking photos and investigating the connection between the floods and mining and timbering. After the May 2002 floods, they spent five days in McDowell County. Penny’s great website profiles 22 communities affected by the floods.
You can see some of Bob Gates’ footage if you come to the Flooded Out Film Festival on Oct. 10.
October 1 Slide Show for Blackwater Canyon at WVU
In mid September, in order to recharge and rest ourselves from the constant barrage of the horrifying impacts of MTR, OVEC staffers spent time on Lindy Point gazing at the beauty of Blackwater Canyon, one of West Virginia’s premier tourist attractions. As you know, Blackwater Canyon is under threat from logging.
The WV Highlands Conservancy is beginning a new campaign to protect the scenic and historic rail trail in Blackwater Canyon from a destructive commercial logging road. As a jumpstart to this campaign, come see a slideshow on the Canyon on Tues., Oct. 1 in the Bluestone Room of the WVU Mountainlair at 8 p.m.
GRILES HAS GOTTA GO!
No. 2 at the Department of Interior, J. Steven Griles is a former lobbyist from the National Mining Association, and he apparently has his fingers all over the Bush administration’s changes to the Clean Water Act. These changes, on hold because of Judge Haden’s valley fill ruling, legalize valley fills at MTR sites. Before his “public servant” role, and since his appointment, Griles has worked long and hard to make sure the oil, gas and coal industries have huge political muscle and miniscule environmental accountability. Griles has met with Mr. MTR, Bill Raney, president of the WV Coal Association.
Before taking public office, Griles promised to recuse himself from work that would benefit his former employers, but he has apparently continued to not only work on behalf of fossil fuel interests to weaken the Clean Water Act, but also the Clean Air Act. It looks as though he has also worked to increase subsides for the coal industry. Incredibly, Griles is still receiving $284,000 annually from one of the companies he “formerly” represented, a company which of course stands to profit from decisions Griles makes. Can you say “conflict of interest?”
(Hmmm…Griles is supposedly involved in promoting the rapid development of coalbed methane wells out West. OVEC has met with activists from Wyoming who say these wells, proliferating at an insane pace, are causing massive water pollution. Now Gov. Bob Wise is promising the coal industry easy permitting for coalbed methane wells in West Virginia.)
OVEC joins with Citizens Coal Council (CCC), Friends of the Earth, Earthjustice and others in calling for the removal of Griles from public office. This man is no public servant.
See related news in The Washington Post and The Sunday GazetteMail
Andrew Taylor from CCC sent out the action item below. Please make these calls! You can get a lot more background information by clicking this “Griles Has Gotta Go!” link.
HELP DUMP GRILES — HERE'S WHAT CAN YOU DO: CCC and Friends of the Earth (FOE) have set their sights on getting rid of Griles and his corporate agenda. We are calling on Senator Jeff Bingaman and our friends on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee to hold hearings investigating Griles conflict of interest. We are asking all member groups and individuals to make calls or write to the Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Sen. Jeffery Bingaman (D-NM) asking for hearings on Griles. (Note: CCC sent out a draft letter to use when contacting Senators. The letter is available on our website; follow the “Griles Has Gotta Go!” link.)
Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) - (202) 224- 5521 Senator Byron Dorgan (D- ND) - (202) 224-2551 Senator Ronald Wyden (D-OR) - (202) 224-5244 Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) - (202) 224-5623 Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) - (202) 224-3441 Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) - (202) 224-6542 Senator Robert Graham (D-FL) - (202) 224-3041
For more information, see FOE's Interior Department watchdog website.
Keep up to date on Griles by checking the news sections (scroll down the home page) on the OVEC website.
Easy Web Actions
Support Clean Power: Click on “Pass the Clean Power Act”
Reform the Army Corps of Engineers:
Floods: To ask the Governor to TAKE ACTION by supporting the WV Department of Environmental Protection’s flood recommendations, click here , then click on the links in the big arrow.
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