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Overweight Coal Truck Press Conference
Are The New Legislators Properly Oriented?
Protesting is Good For Your Health!
Throw the Book (Party) at Mountaintop Removal
Stay Up To Date During the Legislative Session
OVERWEIGHT COAL TRUCK PRESS CONFERENCE At 1 p.m. on Wednesday, January 8, as the 2003 Legislative Session opens, Coal River Mountain Watch, We The People and WV Citizen Action Group will hold a press conference to reveal some of their latest findings on overweight coal trucks. Please support their efforts by coming out to the press conference in the Secretary of State’s Conference Room, State Capitol, Charleston.
FINAL SAY? At a meeting on Jan. 2, the Capitol Building Commission informed us that the commission doesn’t have a say about the plaques on the base of the capitol grounds monument. This monument was supposed to honor miners, but it has instead turned into a virtual coal industry ad-in-bronze. Chris Hamilton, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association, said the plaques will not change. He also would not provide a clue as to when the monument would be dedicated. Guess we aren’t wanted.
Is the coal industry having the last word over what is displayed in this most public of public places? Apparently, only the legislature could demand any changes now. They have a built-in excuse for not dealing with the issue—too much else to do (or to avoid doing). Check the Jan 2 and 3 news on OVEC's home page for more on the meeting. Click here for background on the issue check.
ARE THEY PROPERLY ORIENTED? Hamilton’s boss, Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, will be one of three lobbyists who “orient” freshmen legislators about lobbyists. You can bet no lobbyists from the enviro-camp will be in on this orientation session. One can imagine Raney starting out: “Let me tell you how it is….”
PROTESTING IS GOOD FOR YOU! Perhaps your blood boils or you convulse in sobs when you listen to the Massey Energy ads or sit thorough a meeting like the plaque meeting, but you can remedy that by taking to the streets. Read about the latest research that indicates protesting may be good for your health. Then, be sure to come out for our next protest.
Venting must be good for your health, too! If, say, the plaque flak, the Massey Ads and mountaintop removal have you in a tizzy, call the newspaper vent lines: Charleston Daily Mail at 304-357-4330 and the Charleston Gazette at 304-357-4451. Keep it to 50 words or less. Or write a letter to the editor, up to 200 words. E-mail if you need the addresses.
ACTING OUT If you like to act, come to the auditions for “Final Assault,” a play about mountaintop removal, on February 2 and 3 at 7 p.m. at the West Virginia State College Capitol Center Theatre, 123 Summers St., Charleston. There are parts for four men and three women. Rehearsals begin in March and the production is scheduled for April 9-13 in the Walker Theatre, the new state-of-the-art black box theatre located in the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences-WV in downtown Charleston. The play, written by actor and West Virginia native David Selby is about an environmental activist who, along with several others, struggles to fight off a coal company’s attempt to expand mountaintop-removal mining. According to a press release from the Charleston Stage Company, “Final Assault” focuses on the conflict that exists between the economic benefits of the coal industry and the environmental harm that surface mining can cause. For further information, contact the Charleston Stage Company at 304-766-5721.
THROW THE BOOK (PARTY) AT MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL Mark you calendar now! On February 28, starting at 6 p.m., Taylor Books, 226 Capitol Street in Charleston, hosts a Friday Night Book Party with acclaimed West Virginia author Denise Giardina. We’ll celebrate the publication of “Fallam's Secret,” Denise’s brand new book. Fallam is a fictional mountain lost forever to mountaintop removal. Or is it lost forever? Only time (travel) will tell. Denise will read from and sign copies of the book. Music and refreshments, as well as lots of good people, round out the event.
MTR FLICK “Razing Appalachia,” a documentary by Sasha Waters—featuring some of you!—has won honors from the Institute for Rural Poverty and the Cinevue International Film Festival. You can buy a copy for yourself, $25 for individuals, $50 for colleges. Contact Sasha at: sasha-waters@uiowa.edu. The film will air nationally on May 20 as a part of the PBS series "Independent Lens."
Wow! A book, a play, and a film – the Stop Mountaintop Removal Movement expands—artily!
Check the OVEC Events Calendar for more events that aren’t listed here.
STAY UP TO DATE DURING THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION If you are not already on the West Virginia Environmental Council’s E-mail Alerts, please sign on. You’ll get current updates and calls-to-action from the E-Council lobby team. E-mail cahogbin@cs.com and ask to receive the alerts.
NEW STUDENT MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL WEBSITE Remember back in June when Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson testified before Congress about mountain massacre? Kevin’s testimony got at least one Kentucky high school student thinking about what she could do. She writes: “I feel that MTR is a disgusting and unjust process, that must be put to an end. My campaign lobbies for Kentucky and its neighbors to be protected from such horrific acts...I have a website, an online petition, and a scrap book in the works. The book will be sent to the US Senate and Congress, showing them the horrible things they are allowing to go on, through the eyes of those who live it.”
Click here to visit her website.
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