Press Release

May 2, 2006

CONTACT: Patricia Feeney
cell: 205-617-4420
(Call to reach delegates while at UN)
tricia@appcoalition.org

Coalfield Residents to Report to United Nations on “True Costs of Coal”

Ten Residents of the coalfields of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee depart today to participate as the first Appalachian Coalfield Delegation to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, which will meet May 1-12 in New York City.

As official Civil Society representatives to the UN through the Citizens Network for Sustainable Development, these ten delegates will provide firsthand testimony to the dangers of irresponsible coal mining practices such as mountaintop removal, valley fills, and coal sludge impoundments.

“What's going on here in Appalachia is America's dirty little secret,” said Bo Webb, coalfield delegate and member of Coal River Mountain Watch. “We have to do every thing we can to let the world know what we have sacrificed for cheap energy.”

Near Webb's home in Raleigh County, WV, children at Marsh Fork Elementary go to school at the foot of a sludge dam and the school grounds are only 150 feet from a coal silo.

The United States Government Delegation to the UN CSD advocates coal and nuclear as safe, clean, and affordable forms of energy while they oppose binding governmental commitments to clean renewable energy sources.

“Coal isn't clean or cheap energy,” says Pam Maggard, a coalfield delegate and representative of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. “The people of the mountains are paying the price with our health, our homes, our property, and our heritage.”

Donetta Blankenship of Mingo County, WV has watched her family and neighbors suffer health problems from water contamination that they believe is due to underground injections of coal sludge.

“If we don't tell our stories, no one is going to do it for us,” said Blankenship, who became active with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition's Sludge Safety Project only months ago to lobby for the Sludge Safety Bill, which did not pass the WV House of Representatives.

“In the midst of well-funded lobbying efforts by the industry, the interests of low-income residents are not always represented,” says Patricia Feeney with the Appalachian Coalition for Just and Sustainable Communities, which is coordinating the delegation. “That's why it's up to people at the grassroots to ensure that policy makers know the impacts of their decisions."

Delegates will warn representatives of other governments against buying into the myth of clean coal. The delegation also aims to integrate their testimony of the true costs of coal into the commission report that will be the framework of the commission's strategy for sustainable energy policy.

At a press conference held Tuesday, the group stated, “Coal is a limited resource. We need a carefully planned transition from coal and we need responsible mining practices that allow us to live safe, healthy lives in the meantime. We can not afford to allow decision makers to ignore the true costs of coal. Our children are depending on us.”

“I know people need electricity,” said Larry Gibson, coalfield delegate from Raleigh County, WV “but what's the good in getting people electricity if it means killing them and killing the life around them?”

Friday, May 5 at the United Nations building in New York, coal field delegates will provide key testimony on a panel titled, “Sustainable Production and Consumption of Energy: Views from Civil Society.” They will present alongside community and government representatives from other parts of the world.

Randy Wilson, a coalfield delegate from Kentucky and a traditional mountain musician, will perform at the General Theological Seminary in New York on Thursday at 7pm in a presentation titled, “Missing Mountains,” to be followed by a reception for the Appalachian Coalfield delegates. The Public is welcome.

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