OVEC Action Alert - March 3, 2005

March 6 in Shepherdstown

March 9 in Charleston

March 30--Save the Date

Outrage

The People’s Ratification of Kyoto

Volunteer Wanted

Volunteers Needed--For the Sake of the Kids!

March 6 in Shepherdstown: Human Rights and Mountaintop Removal March 6: 7 p.m. at Four Seasons Books in Shepherdstown, W.Va. Danny Chiotos will make a presentation focusing on the proposed mountaintop removal mining of Blair Mountain at an  Amnesty International meeting, followed by letter-writing on the same topic. This mountain is the site of the largest labor uprising in American history and should be preserved as historic land.

Amnesty International Upper Potomac Chapter says: "This is not an area where Amnesty International has traditionally taken action, but it is an issue that flies in the face of people's economic, social, and political rights. It destroys the communities folks grew up in and forces their migration (when families sell their land to coal companies at unfair prices, they must sign agreements that they will never again live within 25 miles of the mine and they'll never speak out about mountaintop removal). It threatens people's lives with cancerous runoff and thinly held in/often flooding sludge ponds. It floods people out of their houses and steals them of their houses.   Mountaintop Removal is ecological genocide and these mountains will not grow back."  Amnesty International Upper Potomac Chapter, Group #539, P.O. Box 273, Shepherdstown, WV 25443, 304.876.1545, aiupperpotomac@yahoo.com.

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March 9 in Charleston  Another mystery event! If you can, please join us in Charleston on March 9, beginning at 10:30 a.m. For the who, where, why, please e-mail vivian@ohvec.org or call Scott or Abe at the OVEC office, 304-522-0246.

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March 30: Save the Date: March 30 is the West Virginia Environmental Council's annual E-Day! at the State Capitol. Please ask for the day off now and start asking your friends and family to plan on attending this event.

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Outrage: Coal Industry Running State Aluminum StudyCoal lobbyists don’t want open meetings and they want to control studies—more examples of how the coal industry could care less about democracy and laws of the land. Click here and here to read about this outrage. This morning, the Ethics Commission ruled that the Environmental Quality Board is in fact subject to the open meetings law. Sorry Jason B. Maybe you will have better luck in China.

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The People’s Ratification of the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty  Sign the petition: www.kyotoandbeyond.org/

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Volunteer Needed: Small Data-Entry Project  If you are a good typist and want to help in the campaign to end mountaintop removal, please consider taking on a small typing project (using Excel program). E-mail vivian@ohvec.org for details.

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Volunteers Needed: For the Sake of the Kids!  After every election cycle, a Washington-based group called Justice at Stake collaborates with the Brennan Center and the Institute on Money in State Politics to publish a major report called “The New Politics of Judicial Elections.”  This report documents how judicial elections are becoming increasingly politicized and driven by special interest money – and West Virginia was exhibit A in this process in 2004!

As part of the data collection process, the Brennan Center is looking for volunteers  who can go down to the headquarters of selected local TV stations and procure photocopies of media buys placed by judicial candidates.  This is a really simple process.  You would need to search for advertising buys placed by either McGraw or Benjamin, but also by the interest groups (For the Sake of the Kids and Justice for All).

WSAZ – NBC
WCHS – ABC
WVAH – Fox/UPN
WOWK – CBS
(There may be other stations too, but these are the ones we KNOW ran Supreme Court campaign ads).

If you CAN help, here’s what the Brennan folks need you to do:

1 – Go to the station and request to see the public files for media buys by the candidates and the committees
2 – Note the total number of spots and the total dollar cost of the buy by each candidate or interest group
3 – Make a photocopy of a summary sheet the station will have (there may be a minimal cost to photocopy public records; Brennan can reimburse if you get a receipt)
4 – Transmit the summary sheet to Brennan by fax or mail

If you can help gather this data, please let Sarah Samis at the Brennan Center know.  She can be reached at sarah.samis@nyu.edu.  If you plan to go down to a station to help out, you may wish to contact Sarah first, since she can coach you through what the TV stations may tell you to attempt dissuade you from collecting this data.  Many thanks for your help in gathering the most accurate data possible for this important national report.

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