OVEC Action Alert - April 20, 2004

Easy Web Action On Mountaintop Removal

Call Or Fax Today For Jack Spadaro

Vote Early (But Not Often)

OVEC Benefit Concert This Friday

Treehuggers Ball June 4

EASY WEB ACTION ON MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL 

To e-sign a petition about the proposed mountaintop removal mining near Marshfork Elementary School, click here. 

BRING BACK JACK SPADARO 

Please either call or fax today in order to help Bring Back Jack. (Some background info below; also, for even more info on the plight of coal sludge impoundment expert and whistleblower Jack Spadaro, please follow the links at the top of our home page.

Contact Jack Booker at the Office of Special Counsel (OSC)phone--202-254-3600 (youre likely to only get voice mail); fax--202-653-5151. Ask Mr. Booker to please have the OSC immediately stay the Mine Safety and Health Administrations (MSHA) demotion of whistleblower Jack Spadaro. The demotion is supposed to go into effect April 25, so please call today! Also ask him to have the OSC expedite the investigation into the allegations Mr. Spadaro has brought against MSHA.

Please also send letters to Senator Byrd (sample letter here) and other Senators and Representatives (sample letter here) asking them to demand that OSC stay the MSHA demotion of Mr. Spadaro and immediately investigate Spadaros charges against MSHA. If you would like the text version of these letters for easy cutting and pasting, please reply to this e-mail with text of letters in the subject line. Get Congresspeoples contact info at www.house.gov/ and www.senate.gov/. Remember, you will want to either e-mail or fax due to the time pressure. Senator Byrds e-mail is senator_byrd@byrd.senate.gov. Senator Rockefellers is senator@rockefeller.senate.gov.

Background Info Jack Spadaro, a longtime true public servant and director of the Department of Labors Mine Safety and Health Academy in Beckley, spoke out against the whitewashing investigation into the October 2000 Martin County Coal (Massey Energy) sludge disaster. Maybe you caught Jacks story on 60 Minutes recently. He also reported dishonest government contracting in 2003. Instead of being afforded protection under the Whistleblowers Act, Jack was illegally punished for speaking out, forced out of his job, and put on administrative leave. After pressure from folks like us, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has backed off firing Jack, but still wants to demote him and move him out of West Virginia.

In 2001, Jack filed charges that Bush administration officials obstructed the full investigation into the Martin County sludge spill. This investigation had serious safety implications for everyone who lives downstream from one of the over 700 other coal sludge impoundments in the US. We need to know what caused the Martin County sludge spill and why the governments investigation of the accident was thwarted.

Jacks second complaint, filed in July 2003, alleges that thousands of dollars in not-for-bid contracts went unethically to longtime friends of MSHA Director David Lauriski and deputies Gerry Silver and Ben Sheppard.

OSC is supposed to be investigating Jacks charges against MSHA, but they are dragging their feet. OSC should also grant Jack a stay of MSHAs retaliatory demotion. If no stay of the demotion is granted, Jack will be forced to relocate on April 25--5 hours away from his family and the home he has lived in for over two decades. All this while he waits for an investigation of charges he filed three years ago!

We want Jack Spadaro to be re-instated as director of the Department of Labors Mine Safety and Health Academy. We want OSC to conduct and complete a full and fair investigation of all of his charges against MSHA. While it conducts its investigation, OSC should grant Jack a stay of the MSHA demotion. (While Jack has whistleblower protection from firing, without this stay, he will be demoted and relocated to Pittsburgh.)

VOTE EARLY (BUT NOT OFTEN) 

Remember, you can vote early (but not often) beginning April 22 by going to your county courthouse. Tomorrow is the last day to register in time to vote in the May 11 primaries.  Click here for more info. 

OVEC BENEFIT CONCERT THIS FRIDAY 

Join the OVEC House Band, Big Rock and Candy A** Mountain Boys, this Friday, April 23, for a benefit concert at GoodFellas, 1318 4th Ave., Huntington. Boogie for the Mountains!

TREEHUGGERS BALL JUNE 4 

Please mark your calendars now for OVECs annual Treehuggers Ball, set for June 4 at Calamity Caf in Huntington. Well release our 2004 T-shirt, featuring a new design by award-winning WV artist Joe Lung.

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