Faith in Action
We Hereby Resolve to Make a Difference

No matter where you live, no matter your numbers, you can make a difference if you organize!

Consider this story of how a few faith community folks in Georgia are organizing their communities to stop mountaintop removal. Theyve moved the entire Greater Atlanta Presbytery a network of 110 churches to endorse a resolution that makes the following bold statement:

That the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta urges the Georgia General Assembly to enact legislation - House Bill 276 - prohibiting, over a timed phase, the purchase or use of mountaintop removal coal for use in Georgia power plants, or in any other energy-producing process and that there be a moratorium imposed on the issuance of permits for the construction of any new coal-fired electrical generating facilities in Georgia until July, 2014 (To read the entire resolution, visit: tinyurl.com/Presb-Atl-MTR)

This is significant because Georgia is one of the leading consumers of coal-fired power in this country.

Via e-mails with OVECs Robin Blakeman, Karen Turney, one of the faithful folk at the forefront of this inspiring venture, explained the process that led to approval of the Greater Atlanta Presbytery resolution.

Rev. Alan Jenkins, founding executive director of Earth Covenant Ministry (ECM), initiated the Greater Atlanta Presbytery effort. Last spring, ECM sponsored a program that featured a film about mountaintop removal.

After discussion, the Presbyterys political policy advocacy committee decided to work with ECM. A group of folks wrote up a resolution, patterned on the Salem Presbytery (North Carolina) Commissioners Resolution that was presented and affirmed by the 2006 National Presbyterian (PCUSA) General Assembly.

The working group sent the resolution through the appropriate channels of the Greater Atlanta Presbyterys governing bodies and onto the docket of the Dec.1, 2009, Presbytery meeting. With good support from the ECM member congregations, five congregations affirmed the resolution prior to the Presbytery meeting.

Prior to the Presbytery meeting, several committee members voted against the resolution because of their concern for jobs in Appalachia. The working group was prepared with information about the decline in jobs as mining companies switched from underground mining to mountaintop removal. They also presented a study which shows more jobs and more revenue would come from building a wind farm on the studied mountain instead of blowing it up for coal.

Turney wrote, "I think one of the pictures I had was particularly persuasive to ministers it was the site at Kayford Mountain in West Virginia, where the Stover Cemetery sits as a tiny green space in the midst of this awful wreck of a mountainside.

"The pictures were most helpful. During the presentation, Rev. Jenkins had a silent loop of slides running continuously while speakers were talking."

Turney assembled packets for the presentation which included copies of the resolution and the supporting Georgia House Bill 276, a compilation sheet called Voices from the Mountains, which she gleaned from websites and blogs, and a resolution from the Medical Association of Georgia regarding the licensing of any new coal-fired power plants.

The upshot of all the preparation: Resolution approved! Follow-up to the approval of the Greater Atlanta Presbytery resolution includes:

l The Presbytery public policy advocate will alert state legislators who serve on the Industrial Relations Committee and all Presbyterian legislators;

l In mid-February, the resolution will "officially" be presented to the state bills main sponsors;

l Turney is notifying other Georgia presbyteries about the resolution, in hopes that they might do something similar.