Below:

• Save the Endangered Endangered Species Act--Call Today

• Support More Wilderness in WV--Attend Tomorrow

• Update on Marsh Fork Elementary

• Update on Blair Mountain--Park Service Action and OVEC Lawsuit

• Mountaintop Removal and Project Censored

• OVEC's Treehuggers' Ball Nov. 4

• Events Calendar

 Save the Endangered Endangered Species Act--Call Today
Mountaintop removal threatens species that are or should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. We can use the Act as a tool in our work to end mountaintop removal coal mining. Now the Act itself is endangered by a new bill ironically named “Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005.”

Take action to stop this new bill. Click here to take easy web-based action. Politicians have said that they pay more attention to phone calls than e-mails, so do more by calling your Representative through the Congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121. Here's a sample message you can leave:

"Hello, my name is _____ and I live in _______. Please do everything you can to save the Endangered Species Act and stop the Pombo bill from passing." Find out who your Representative is by clicking here.

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 Support More Wilderness in WV--Attend Tomorrow
The WV Wilderness Coalition requests your presence tomorrow, 2: 30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29 at the State Capitol as Governor Joe Manchin proclaims "Wilderness Month." For details, click here. Way to go, Gov. Joe. Now, proclaim you will enforce mining laws--and thus end mountaintop removal mining.

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 Update on Marsh Fork Elementary
Coal River Mountain Watch is still waiting for substantive answers on their concerns about the Massey Energy coal processing plant near Marsh Fork Elementary School. Read more here.

See the entry just above, and then tell Joe what you think:
Gov. Joe Manchin
1900 Kanawha Boulevard, E.
Charleston, WV 25305.
1-888-438-2731
Governor@WVGov.org.

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 Update on Blair Mountain--Park Service Action and OVEC Lawsuit
The National Park Service has passed the Friends of the Mountains’ nomination for Blair Mountain to be listed on National Register of Historic Places back to the state for more information. This is good news. We'll keep you posted as developments occur.

OVEC, Coal River Mountain Watch and the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit that would allow a Massey Energy subsidiary to bury nearly 3 miles of streams at a mountaintop removal operation it wants to conduct near Blair Mountain. The Corps said the mining would "not significantly affect the quality of the human environment.” Hence, the lawsuit. Read more here.

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 Mountaintop Removal and Project Censored
Project Censored--The News that Didn't Make the News--picked up John Conner's Mountain Justice Summer story on mountaintop removal as one of the top ten censored stories.  This resulted in coverage in some far-flung newspapers. Molly Ivins talked about mountaintop removal in one of her recent syndicated columns: "A classic case of a story not unreported but underreported -- a practice so environmentally irresponsible it makes your hair hurt to think about it."

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 OVEC's Treehuggers' Ball Nov. 4
Have fun and help save the mountains! Join us for OVEC's 16th annual Treehuggers' Ball at 9:30 p.m. on Friday, November 4 at the Java Joint (former Calamity Café), across from Marshall University, corner of 3rd Ave. and Hal Greer Blvd. in Huntington.  A $5.00 donation at the door helps fund OVEC's Stop Mountaintop Removal campaign and treats you to the sounds of Big Rock and the CandyAss Mountain Boys. We'll have a Silent Auction with great stuff like local artists' work! You can buy cool eco-products and OVEC's brand new 2005 Treehuggers’ Ball T-shirts. If you have items to donate for the silent auction, please e-mail vivian@ohvec.org or call the office at 304-522-0246.  Help us spread the word--print and distribute a flier by clicking here.

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There's the Sept. 30, 8:30 p.m. showing of  "The Last Campaign" at the Elk Theater in Sutton, WV. This film documents WV politician Warren McGraw's battle against the overwhelming power of corporate money in elections. See www.thelastcampaign.com and http://www.landmarkstudio.org/wvfff/ewing.html.

Also, on Oct. 2 at 9:30 a.m. in St. John's Episcopal Church, Charleston, WV,  Dr. Fred Barkey, president of the WV Labor History Association (WVLHA) and retired professor of labor history from Marshall Graduate College, will speak on "How the Library of Congress Created it's New Subject Heading - West Virginia Mine Wars, 1897-1921." The public is invited - FREE admission. For more info call Janet Morris -304-768-0279. 

And remember on Oct. 14-16, it's the West Virginia Environmental Council's 17th Annual Fall Conference.

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