July 16 |
OVEC Action
Alert Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition |
 |
Monday, July
19: Two Hearings in Charleston - Please Attend
Our
Sludge Safety
Project requests your presence at 10 a.m. on Monday, July
10. The WV Legislatures' Judiciary Subcommittee A and the Joint
Legislative Oversight Commission on State Water Resources will hold
a joint hearing on slurry issues in the Government Organization
Committee Room (215 E) at the
State Capitol Building in Charleston. That room is in the
East Wing (House side), on the second floor.
Speakers include a representative from the WV Department of Environmental Protection and Wheeling Jesuit University professor Dr. Ben Stout. The subcommittee may also hear information on why some households in the Boone County community of Prenter do not yet have piped-in water.
This should be another very interesting hearing, and we really need you in the audience - to demonstrate to legislators the high level of public demand for clean water.
The slurry hearing should run two hours, but another very important hearing begins at 11 a.m. before Subcommittee B of the Joint Standing Committee on Finance, in the Senate Finance Committee Room. That room is on the third floor of the Capitol's West Wing, right where you come up the stairs that originate on the right hand side of the Senate Chamber as you're facing it. The room is small, with no standing space, so you'll want to arrive early.
Rory McIlmoil with Downstream Strategies and Ted Boettner with the WV Center on Budget & Policy will present information on their report on coal and the state budget. Also presenting will be Tom Witt and Cal Kent, the authors of "The West Virginia Coal Economy, 2008." This promises to be a very lively hearing. Rory and Ted will really appreciate some friendly faces in the audience, so please do come out!
Did You
See Yesterday's New York Times?
Members and /or staff of OVEC, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy
and Sierra Club were featured in a story, "Project’s
Fate May Predict the Future of Mining," on page A16 of the
July 15, 2010 issue of the New York Times and in the accompanying
online slide show.
Most-Excellent
Trainings: Deadline to Apply July 23
We highly recommend that you plan to attend the
Aug. 13 -15 Community Leaders Training Weekend, sponsored by
the Alliance for Appalachia. The deadline to
apply for scholarships is today, July 16.
The training, with lots of music, fun and fellowship, as well as learning, will be held at Camp Virgil Tate, not too far from Charleston, WV. Click here to learn more about this event and to register. Ya'll come!
July 24: Rev.
Billy and the Coal River Revival
Rev. Billy and his amazing band and choir, of the Church of
Stop Shopping fame, will host a
Coal River Revival at 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 24 at the
Culture Center Theatre, State Capitol Complex, Charleston, WV.
Tickets are $10, but no one will be turned away.
Click here to see the posters that are going up around West Virginia now. If you can assist with housing members of the choir or with distributing flyers for the event, please respond to this e-mail and we will connect you with the event organizers.
Sept. 25 -27
in DC: Appalachia Rising: A Mass Mobilization
We will not stand idly by as we
see mountaintop removal blast our heritage to rubble, eliminate our
communities and mountains, and poison our neighbors, as coal
executives and their shareholders grow rich. Appalachians are not,
and never will be, collateral damage for our nation's energy
consumption! - Vision Statement, Appalachia Rising.
This cry is echoing from every corner of Appalachia
– will you
respond?
Announcing the nation's largest summit and day of action to end mountaintop removal: Appalachia Rising: September 25 to 27 in Washington DC.
Mountaintop removal has already destroyed over 500 of the world's oldest mountains, more than 2,000 miles of streams, and has contaminated our nation's waters. Stand for the abolition of mountaintop removal with the named and unnamed heroes of coalfield organizing and celebrities Woody Harrelson, Ashley Judd, Gloria Reuben, Ed Begley Jr., Kathy Mattea, Darryl Hannah, author Silas House, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and climate scientist James Hansen on the Monday, September 27 Day of Action! Register here.
Join people from across Appalachia and America in building the movement to abolish mountaintop removal and create sustainable economies from the ground up: mobilize your friends, family, and community for Appalachia Rising by filling out this 5 question form.
A committee is working on organizing lodging for the event and another team is working on transportation to the event. Reply to this e-mail if you want to help drive folks or if you will need a ride from a point in West Virginia. Appalachia is Rising video.
Today: Vote
Online to Help Youth in Our Mountain Communities
The youth working with
Build It
Up, West Virginia! need you to vote today to help fund their
work starting new and healthy economies in our southern mountain
communities. Right now, young West Virginians are helping to start
community gardens, weatherize homes, expand a community bicycle
shop, and much more. OVEC has helped with some funding for this
program, but more funds are needed. Your online vote can help fund
this program, which is in a tight race with other groups.
Click here to vote. The deadline to
vote is July 19. Please spread the word!
By July 30:
Comment to OSMRE
The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and
Enforcement (OSM) wants to provide the public an opportunity to
comment on the agency's oversight process for Evaluation Year 2011,
which started July 1, 2010, and ends June 30, 2011. The WV Regulatory Performance Agreement, which guides this
process, was executed with the WV Department of Environmental
Protection in March 2010 for Evaluation Years 2010 and 2011.
Please submit suggestions by July 30.
A copy of that Performance Agreement can be viewed by clicking here and then clicking on West Virginia Regulatory Performance Agreement for Evaluation Years 2010 and 2011 – March 2010.
OSM would like people to review the existing review topics that the agency has identified with DEP in the Performance Agreement and make recommendations for new review topics or for modifying existing ones. In addition to the topics listed, OSM plans to add two new projects this year concerning the state’s implementation of its show cause process and the identification of water quality violations under the state’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System and how those violations are considered under the surface mining permit.
Comments may be sent via e-mail to: CHFO@osmre.gov or mail to: U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Charleston Field Office, 1027 Virginia Street East, Charleston, West Virginia 25301. Questions? Call 304-347-7158.
www.ohvec.org 304-522-0246 vivian@ohvec.org |
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