Below:

• Goodbye Senator Byrd

• This Weekend: Mountain Keepers Music Festival

• July 11 in Beckley, W. Va.: The Soul of Coal

• Urgent Coal Ash Action Needed

• Burning the Future Back on Sundance

• August 13-15: Community Leaders Training Weekend

• More Events, Comment Periods... 

 Goodbye Senator Byrd
OVEC members join with West Virginians and others in mourning the death and remembering the life of Senator Robert C. Byrd.  We extend our deep sympathies to his daughters and his staff. West Virginians are only beginning to process what his death means for our state.

Starting in late 2009, Senator Byrd issued some strong statements calling out the abuses of the coal industry and warning West Virginians about the travesty of mountaintop removal. He noted the need to immediately diversify our economy while seriously addressing the challenges of climate change. Senator Byrd had long been concerned about coal slurry impoundments, but the recent statements showed the senator had heard our pleas about mountaintop removal and positioned himself as one of the Senate's most forward-looking denizens, despite his age.

It is up to Governor Joe Manchin to appoint someone to fill Senator Byrd's Senate seat. Please contact Governor Manchin to request that he appoint someone who will carry on the same kind of good work Senator Byrd recently started in regards to mining safety and regulatory issues and our need for economic and energy diversification and transition.

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 This Weekend: Mountain Keepers Music Festival
Join us this Saturday, July 3 (starting at 1 p.m.) and Sunday, July 4, for the annual Mountain Keepers Music Festival on Kayford Mountain at the Stanley Heirs Park. This is a free concert that will celebrate Appalachian life. Attendees are encouraged to bring a covered dish for potluck lunches and dinners. Come hear some great music and enjoy a special appearance by leading NASA climate scientist James Hansen. Crystal Good (of the Affrilachian Poets), 2004 Winner of the Governor’s Innovative Artist Award,  will perform her unique poetry.

Musicians will include Ben Sollee, Michael and Carrie Kline, Duo Divertido, T. Paige Dalporto, 600 Lbs. of Sin, Patricia Ansley and Sara Lynch-Thompson. Please support these musicians and join their MySpace and Facebook fan pages.

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 July 11 in Beckley, W. Va.: The Soul of Coal
Speaking of Crystal Good... She's organized The Soul of Coal on July 11 at 2 p.m. at Tamarack in Beckley, W.Va. This event will honor Roosevelt Lynch and Joel "Jody" Price, two African-American miners who were killed in the Upper Big Branch mine explosion. The event will also honor the rich history of diversity of Southern West Virginia's mining communities, while raising money for the Roosevelt Lynch Scholarship Fund. This fund was started through the Oak Hill High School Alumni Association by one of Lynch's high school class mates, DL Hamilton, who is an OVEC member. For more information, click here.

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 Urgent Coal Ash Action Needed
The Environmental Protection Agency is considering rules that would finally set federal standards for the toxic ash that comes from burning coal. Click here to take action by commenting to EPA.

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 Burning the Future Back on Sundance
If you missed Burning the Future on the Sundance Channel the first time around, you'll have another chance to see this documentary in early July. Click here for details.

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 August 13-15: Community Leaders Training Weekend
Reminder: The registration deadline is July 23 to attend and July 16 to apply for financial assistance to attend the August 13-15 Community Leaders Training Weekend.

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 More Events, Comment Periods...
We hope you have already marked your calendar and are planning to attend Appalachia Rising in Washington, D.C. on September 26-27.  To head to this event, we want to rent and fill a charter bus. E-mail vivian@ohvec.org if you are interested in riding the bus to D.C. or if you can make a donation to help cover the cost of the bus.

Check OVEC's online calendar page for information on more events. Some of what you'll see includes:

July 24: 8:00 p.m. Mountaintop Revival at the West Virginia State Theater.  Reverend Billy and the Mountaintop Gospel Choir celebrate in West Virginia.  Thier last Mountaintop Revival in New York City was a call to action against Chase Bank and it's financing of mountaintop removal. Now, in the heart of coal country, they're putting on a revival of a different kind - a celebration:

We're celebrating JP Morgan's quiet retreat from financing MTR operations.  We're celebrating the release of the film On Coal River.  We're celebrating the freedom of Marsh Fork Elementary School from the threatening coal slurry lake poised above it.  Join us at the State Theater for an old fashioned REVIVAL with Reverend Billy and the Mountaintop Revival choir.

Location: West Virginia State Theater, 123 Summers St., Charleston, WV 25305  Location Correction: West Virginia Culture Center Theater, State Capitol Complex, Charleston, WV

July 30: The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement is seeking public comments on ways to help make sure that coal mining doesn't damage streams. We'll have more on that in July. You can see more details now by clicking here and scrolling to the July 30 entry.

August 2: Deadline for submission of articles for the OVEC's September Winds of Change newsletter. Send submissions to vivian@ohvec.org.

If you have an event you would like to submit for possible inclusion on OVEC's online calendar page, send your submission to vivian@ohvec.org.  

Hey, is anyone out there? If you actually open up these action alerts and take some time to look through them, please let us know by sending an e-mail to vivian@ohvec.org with a note in the subject line to indicate you opened this action alert.  Thanks!

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