|
|
 
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Earth First! In Tennessee Locks Down in Stop MTR Protest
Easy Web Action to Boot Griles
Stop Valley Fills-Support the Clean Water Protection Act
In Case You Wondered If "Free Trade" Affects You
This Weekend: Folklife Festival For Fun and Other Calendar Items
Folks, sorry this is so long--lots of news and action to be taken! The Griles web action and the FTAA action won't take but a few moments.
EARTH FIRST! BLOCKS ACCESS TO MTR SITE IN TENNESSEE
Monday (Aug. 18, 2003), three members of Katuah Earth First! staged a lock down to block the entrance to a mountaintop removal coal mine in Tennessee. Seems the mining companies in that state have a new name for MTR-"cross ridge mining."
From their press release: Elk Valley (near LaFollette, TN) - Early this morning, environmental activists with Katuah Earth First! have blockaded the entrance to the Zeb Mountain coal removal operation in scenic Elk Valley in Campbell County, TN. Three activists have their arms chained inside concrete filled barrels across the access road in an attempt to halt the destruction of Zeb Mountain. Two activists have climbed 100' to drop two banners from a giant billboard on I-75 protesting the new mining practice of mountaintop removal. The activists intend to stay all day. Click here for the complete press release.
The lock-down activists were arrested, but soon released. To learn more and send a Stop MTR message to Tennessee officials, see their action alert.
GRILES HAS GOT TO GO-EASY WEB ACTION
Mr. MTR, J. Stephen Griles, second in command at the Department of Interior (and thus in charge of the Office of Surface Mining), is just too tied to the coal industry to be regulating it. Griles receives payments of more than $284,000 a year from mining and energy interests he once represented as a lobbyist. Take web action to call for Griles' axing: www.firegriles.com/. For even more information and to take another action, visit www.denaction.org and click on alert number 237.
SLUDGE, LIES AND AUDIO
From the National Radio Project: Mine Your Own Business--The Coal Industry and Government Oversight. Hundreds of massive lagoons filled with liquid waste from coal processing are filling up throughout the Appalachian region and beyond. Some of these lagoons, known as slurry impoundments, are built on top of underground mines, many of them poorly mapped, giving inaccurate information about their ability to support billions of gallons of black sludge. Some charge that federal regulators have a pro-industry bias, subjecting many coalfield communities to great risk.
Click here to hear the audio program featuring West Virginians and Kentuckians.
STOP VALLEY FILLS AT MTR SITES-SUPPORT THE CLEAN WATER PROTECTION ACT
Appalachian Voices is working with Coal River Mountain Watch, OVEC, WV Highlands Conservancy and other groups on a "roadshow" that will raise awareness nationally about the Clean Water Protection Act. We need your help!
Click here for background info on the Act. Three teams will be taking a multimedia presentation about MTR on the road. One goal of the roadshow is to get people in key Congressional districts to ask their legislators to support this bill. Coalfield residents are central members of the roadshow teams. Audiences will watch the presentation, and then meet with coalfield residents to learn more about life in the shadow of MTR.
Dave Cooper will be leading one of the roadshow teams. He's looking for coalfield residents to accompany him on a tour the week of Sept. 22 in southern and central Illinois--Carbondale, Champaign, Belleville, Decatur, and Bloomington. Please contact him at 859-299- 5669 or davecooper928@yahoo.com. If you know people in these areas, please let Dave know. He needs contacts with area folks who would be willing to write letters or help set up gigs for the presentation.
Coalfield residents' expenses will be covered for these trips. Hint: Please donate to help cover costs! Donations, marked "MTR Roadshow," can be sent to:
Appalachian Voices 703 West King Street Suite 105 Boone, NC 28607
JUST IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING IF "FREE TRADE" AFFECTS YOU.
Using the North American "Free Trade" agreement (NAFTA), a Canadian gold mining firm plans to sue the United States over a stringent mining law.
Could a foreign coal mining company challenge laws against mountaintop removal? You betcha! Learn more about the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) at www.citizenstrade.org/ftaa and www.aflcio.org/stopftaa.
If you e-mail us (vivian@ohvec.org) the information listed below, we will fill-in for you a STOP FTAA postcard from the AFL-CIO (being circulated in West Virginia by the United Mine Workers of America, other unions and environmentalists). Your postcard, along with millions of others, will be delivered to trade ministers as they meet about the FTAA in Miami this November. Send us your:
E-mail:
Name:
Address:
Union: (if you belong to one)
We'll fill in the above info for you and check the box that says "I vote no on FTAA - it's the wrong choice for jobs, worker's rights, the environment and democracy. Please support the working families of the Americas and stop FTAA."
Let us know if you want to check the box for signing you up to the e-mail Stop FTAA activist network.
FUN! LISTEN LIVE AND LEARN
Not only can you chill to some great music at the Appalachian South Folklife Center's Mountain Music Festival 2003, you can also pick up new information on about mountaintop removal, cultural diversity, hemp and more. The Festival opens at 8 p.m. today, Friday Aug. 22 with a drum circle/campfire and continues all day Saturday at the Folklife Center near Athens, West Virginia. Tickets are only $10 and include camping. Call (304) 466-0626 for more information. For directions, visit www.folklifecenter.org.
Speaking of calendars, mark yours for the Sept. 9 presentation of "Ocean Legacy." It's at 6 p.m. in the Marshall University Memorial Student Center Don Morris Room (in Huntington). This presentation will also take place statewide-and you can help get schedule the show in your area. For details, see the Sept. 2 entry in OVEC's event calendar.
FOR A LITTLE INSPIRATION
Why keep being an activist? Read Howard Zinn on Getting Along.
|
OVEC Home Issues Contact Join Site Map |
|