|
|
 
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
This Evening Please Attend the Rescuing Democracy Forum
Coal Truck Hearings Tuesday and Wednesday
Support the WV Environmental Council
THIS EVENING (Mon. AUG. 4): RESCUING DEMOCRACY
Come on out this evening, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. as the Citizens for Clean Elections and the Huntington League of Women Voters host the Democracy Rescue Forum, a public forum on clean elections and campaign finance reform in West Virginia, at the Cabell County Public Library, 455 9th Street Plaza, Huntington, WV (3rd Floor, Rooms 1 & 2). The forum will feature Cecilia Martinez, Executive Director of the Reform Institute for Campaign and Election Issues and former Executive Director of the Arizona Clean Elections Institute. Ms. Martinez will show a special video message to West Virginians from Senator John McCain (R-AZ).
>From 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Ms. Martinez will also speak before Judiciary Sub-Committee B, the interim committee studying the WV Clean Elections Act. The committee will meet in Room 208W at the State Capitol.
Giant thanks from everybody to everybody and a big WOO HOO to all who attended, either in person or in spirit, the July 24 public hearing on the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on mountaintop removal. At the evening session, folks opposed to MTR outnumbered industry supporters by about 3 to 1!
Coalfield residents came out in force to tell it like it is to the people who are aiding and abetting the destruction of the mountains. Powerful, true words were spoken by people who want mountaintop removal to end. Others made excuses for the destruction, invested as they are in believing what they want to believe, regardless of the facts. To MTR true-believers the draft EIS is a dream document. The studies within the EIS document the destruction associated with MTR, but the recommended actions are to proceed as if the facts don't matter.
Everyone present knew that our speaking out that night wouldn't immediately stop the decapitation of another mountain or the burial of another stream--not right then, not the next day. But, everyone felt our power and our rational passion. What is happening in the coalfields drives us to speak out, sparks in us a commitment driven by an utter need to end the ecological insanity that is MTR. With so many committed people working to end MTR, we will prevail.
Read the news coverage and people's comments from the EIS hearings at a People in Action gallery on the OVEC website. We don't have everyone's comments yet. If you spoke, and would like to share your comments with others, please e-mail them to vivian@ohvec.org. We'll post them to the above web page.
COAL TRUCK HEARINGS TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY
Coal River Mountain Watch () found out that the fox is still guarding the henhouse: The West Virginia Department of Highways (DOH) apparently didn't have enough time or money to research all the "coal haul roads" that the industry wants for their new 126,000 pound coal truck weight limit law. So, the DOH apparently relied on the West Virginia Coal Association to provide information!
Still, the DOH wants to hear from you. Are there "mistakes" on the coal haul road maps? You bet! For instance, Judy Bonds noticed that the map of the road that runs by her house had several bridges missing. You can see the maps for yourself at the upcoming hearings (there were two last week) or see the list of roads, which covers more than 1,700 miles of road in 15 counties, at DOH district offices and county courthouses, or on-line (pdf).
HEARINGS: Tuesday, Aug. 5 from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Chief Logan State Convention Center (between Chapmanville and Logan) and Wednesday, Aug. 6 from 3 to 7 p.m. in the cafeteria of Riverside High School in Belle (near Charleston). At these hearings, the DOH will take your input as it tries to decide which roads in 15 southern counties can be designated for coal trucks hauling up to 126,000 pounds. That is, if the West Virginia Coal Association hasn't already decided for them.
Please make comments! You can ask for a road to be taken off the proposed list, but, of course the DOH is asking for more specific reasons as to why the road should be taken off the list other than, "I don't like it." Which for us is reason enough, but now that the coal boys have their law, some DOH-approved reasons might include "road too narrow," as is the case for Prenter--RT.5 and Ashford Nellis.
"Bridge unsafe" might be another reason. One would suppose these reasons to be valid, too: "My kids' lives, as well as my own" and "As a taxpayer, I am sick of paying for the damages made by the coal industry."
Valid enough reason for us, but perhaps we can get yet another clue as to the coal industry's concern about peoples' lives by listening to the comments of Massey CEO Don Blankenship.
Also see UMWA president Cecil Roberts' comments on Blankenship. You can pick up forms to comment to the DOH at the hearings or at the Coal River office. You can also submit, form or no form, WRITTEN COMMENTS to: John Lancaster, WV Division of Highways, Planning and Research Division, 1900 Kanawha Blvd. East - Bldg. 5, Charleston, WV 25305.
SUPPORT THE WV ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL
Please read this letter from WVEC Legislative Coordinator, Don Garvin. Show WVEC some love!
A couple of OVEC members who use Working Assets for their long distance phone service alerted us to the following in their July bills:
Limit Destructive Mountaintop-Removal Mining Giant coal companies use "mountaintop removal" -- where the tops of mountains are blown off -- to get all the coal beneath. This dumps millions of tons of rubble into valleys below. A recent federal study found that mountaintop removal covered over 700 miles of streams. Yet rather than enforce existing rules, the Bush administration wants to relax permit requirements and abandon a rule under the Surface Mining Act that prohibits coal-mining activities within 100 feet of streams. Call on President Bush at 202/456-1414 to maintain and strengthen enforcement of existing rules limiting the damage from mountaintop removal coal mining. Or check the box to send a CitizenLetter.
Thanks to Working Assets for the help in spreading the word about MTR.
OVEC is among the guilty. We have been referring to one so-called regulatory agency by the wrong name, as 'bout near everyone else has. OSM-the Office of Surface Mining is actually OSMRE-the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. Let's start calling the agency by its entire name. Maybe that will help Jeff Jarrett and all his employees focus on the mining reclamation and enforcement they are supposed to be overseeing. Well, OK, probably not, but at least we can remind ourselves and everyone else what OSMRE is supposed to be doing every time we say the agency's full name.
In you want to stay up-to-date with OVEC and others, be sure to check our event calendar for upcoming events and deadlines. See, for instance, the entry Oct. 1: Deadline to apply for the ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM, Class of 2004 - 2005.
While you are online, we hope you are logging on to our website to check OVEC-issue-related news--which we update daily--on our home page. Please check our general news page often for a whole range of sources covering an eclectic array of topics. Of, if you are maxxed out on news, check into our on-line garden for a little visual relaxation. And, of course, we would be most grateful if you clicked our "Donate" link to make a donation to OVEC online.
|
OVEC Home Issues Contact Join Site Map |
|