OVEC Action Alert - October 22, 2002

Couch Potato Alert: Ken Hechler on Public TV Tonight (Tuesday, Oct. 22)

Action Alert: PERC UP!

Plaque Protest Proliferation

Save the Stream Gages

Ken Hechler on PBS TV

Ken Hechler, former US Congressman and WV Secretary of State, college professor, and an educator of the public on both mountaintop removal and the overweight coal truck issue, not to mention good friend of OVEC.wow--better start this sentence over: Ken Hechler will be on WV Public TV tonight at 10 p.m. in the important series "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow." www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/

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PERC UP! 

Please join us Monday, Oct. 28 at 1:30 p.m. in the Secretary of State's conference room (State Capitol building) for a People's Election Reform press conference. We'll release the 2002 Primary Report 2002. Come see who is giving how much to your favorite politicians.

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Continue the Plaque Flak 

Thanks so much to everyone who made yesterday's protest and letter delivery a powerful event. We'll soon have photos, speeches, and a copy of the letter, signed by six citizen groups, up on the People in Action portion of our website.

What's next? You may want to send your own letter to the Governor, perhaps based on the groups' letter. Basically, the message is: make this be a monument to miners, not to machines. Get the MTR-plaque out of this public space and make certain no plaque about "low-cost energy" is installed. You can find the Governor's contact information in the Contact pages of our website.

Letters to the editor are always great, as are calls to newspapers' vent lines. Find newspaper addresses at www.wvmediaguide.com.

In the meantime, creative souls have been thinking about what's next. Ideas include making the MTR plaque - until it's removed we hope - into a memorial for the mountains. Drop by with flowers. Leave sympathy cards for West Virginia. Meet a friend there at lunch time to hand out Stop MTR brochures or bumperstickers (available from the office, call 522-0246) or literature that you can print off from our website:

What You Can Do to Help Stop Mountaintop Removal

Mountaintop Removal Fact Sheet

Please do not stick anything on the plaque itself. That would be vandalism. True, such an act would in no way compare to what the coal industry is doing to our communities, our forests, our streams, our mountains, our futures. Nonetheless, let's abide by the law, unlike the coal industry.

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Save the Stream Gages in the U.S.

Geological Survey (USGS) may have to close down 18 river gages in West Virginia on October 31s, thanks to Gov. Wise. One of the major advantages of gauges is that they can help serve as a part of a flood warning system. They also provide information, such as sediment levels, to scientists. The folks at the Friends of the Cacapon River have maintained that the state should put in more gages. If there were more, more people could be protected.

The USGS has matching money to keep these gages but Wise cut $92,000 from the Office of Emergency Services (OES) budget. Previously, OES has been the WV cooperator in funding the gages. Which doesn't make too much sense, since OES has to deal with flooding. What data is the Gov. scared of knowing?

According to the USGS website: Since 1887, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has operated a National Streamgage Network to collect information about the Nation's water resources. Under this program, the USGS collects the stream flow data needed by Federal, State, and local agencies for water-resource planning and management activities including predicting magnitude and frequency of floods and droughts, determining 100 year flood plains, evaluating and allocating water for public and industrial supplies, designing highways and dams, and permitting sewage and industrial discharges. Real-time stream flow gages are also used to monitor floods and droughts, and for planning recreational activities such as fishing and boating.

Please contact the following people and ask tell them NOT to discontinue our gages:

• Phone the Governor's office: 1-800-642-9003 and leave a specific message with the receptionist.
• Email the Governor's office: www.state.wv.us/governor/ and click on Contact the Governor.
• Phone the Chair of the House Finance Committee, Harold Michael from Hardy Co. His business number is 304/538-2121. His capitol number is 340-3230.
• Email Delegate Michael at cglagola@mail.wvnet.edu. Type his name in the subject line.
• Phone the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Oshel Craigo: Business number is 304/722-3511 and capitol number is 304/357-7980.
• Email Craigo at cglagola@mail.wvnet.edu. Type his name in the subject line.
• You can email your WV legislators by using cglagola@mail.wvnet.edu. Type the name in the subject line.

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