Press Release

March 22, 2007

Contact: Vivian Stockman 304-522-0246

OVEC wins E-Appalachia Award

HUNTINGTON, W.VA. – OVEC likes to take its hits.

The website for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition is averaging over 500 “hits” a day, meaning over 500 different people visit www.ohvec.org  daily.

Starting Sunday (March 25), OVEC website readers will be visiting an award-winning website.

The Appalachian Studies Association will award OVEC its e-Appalachia Award during the association’s 30th annual conference, held March 23 -25 at Maryville College in Maryville, TN. (See

The e-Appalachia Award is given annually in recognition of an outstanding website that provides insight on Appalachia and its people or provides a vital community service to Appalachians.

Huntington resident and OVEC board member John Taylor, his wife Lynda Ann Ewen and Wilma Steele, an OVEC member from Mingo County will accept the award during the annual awards ceremony brunch on Sunday. The award includes a $250 cash prize.

Dr. Emily Satterwhite, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech, informed OVEC of its award. She e-mailed, “I have personally used your website in teaching Appalachian studies here at Tech and am delighted to be able to offer this small contribution to your continued efforts.”

Freelance journalist Peter Slavin nominated OVEC for the award.

“OVEC’s website will knock your socks off,” Slavin said. “It’s a veritable feast of information and pictures. A person who knew nothing about the struggle over Appalachian coal mining who immersed himself in the website would emerge very savvy indeed.”

Spencer, WV resident Don Alexander does the technical work for the website, with OVEC staff and volunteers providing content.

“Our ‘official’ acronym is OVEC, but increasingly people refer to us as OHVEC, which is an indication of our strong Web presence,” said Vivian Stockman, adding that the oveec.org Web address had already been taken by another group when OVEC registered for website years ago. Stockman updates OVEC’s energy-related news links daily at www.ohvec.org/ovec_news.html.

Visitors to OVEC’s website can view photos of mountaintop removal and volunteers’ efforts to end the extreme form of coal mining. People can also sign up for OVEC’s e-mail “action alerts” and find out about area environmental events on the calendar page.

OVEC’s latest webpage is www.ohvec.org/globalwarming.

“This new page is very much a work in progress,” Stockman said. “Our intent is to explore global warming effects here in West Virginia and to spur change at the local level.”

OVEC also maintains the websites for two projects it works on in coalition with other groups. The Citizens for Clean Elections website is www.wvoter-owned.org/ and the

Sludge Safety Project website is www.sludgesafety.org/.