CLEAN's Role in Campaign

Pam Solo, president of the Civil Society Institute, explains CLEANs role: CLEAN came to assist a powerful and ongoing grassroots campaign, and we came prepared to do more than a blast e-mail or put the information on our website.

We offered strategic involvement, the technical and creative involvement of our online-based creative team and the assistance of a professional press operation. This was really rolling up our sleeves in the service of grassroots leadership and an urgent imperative.

Over that weekend an Internet video was produced, a press release drawn up (primarily by CRMW), Web 2.0 networking established and integrated, a website built (www.coalriverwind.org also put together a page for writing and calling the Governor), and people and organizations in the CLEAN network were also readied and briefed.

	The truth hurts, doesn't it, King Coal? Wind power really IS carbon neutral. So is coal, true - just as long is you don't mine it!

Then, on the Tuesday before the blasting was to begin, the plan was executed. Results:

• Hundreds of calls in to the governors office; thousands signed a petition.

• More than 25 Associated Press story placements.

• All local news outlets (print and TV) covered the story of the "Campaign to Save the Coal River Mountain."

• More than 30 websites and national environmental blogs covered what was going on in this small, rural coal state. More than 20 embedded the Internet video on their sites.

• The story was on the front page of Forbes.com for three days.

• Follow-up stories and editorials on CNN and CNN.com.

• Most importantly, the states environmental agency issued a statement: "(The coal company) does not have the permits. They cannot begin to blast."

The mountain still stands. And this is because of CRMW and the decades of work by OVEC and others in the region to make mountaintop removal a regional and now a national issue!

Massey is still working to get its permit revision plan approved, and will then go for the blasting permits for the first phase of mining.

Make no mistake, we still have a fight ahead!

TAKE ACTION!

Join CLEAN! OVEC strongly urges all our readers to sign on to the CLEAN (its free) Call To Action and sign up for CLEANs action alerts. See theclean.org/. Call OVECs Janet Keating at (304) 522-0246 if you would like more information on CLEAN.