Mountaintop removal, the world’s worst strip mining, is unacceptable. Period. Join the fight to end mountaintop removal coal mining on June 23rd.
Blowing the tops off of mountain ranges to harvest dirty coal harms the people and places of Appalachia, destroys the economic potential of the Appalachian mountains for clean energy opportunities and furthers the burning of climate killing coal.
Mining companies are clear cutting thousands of acres of some of the world’s most biologically diverse forests. They’re filling local rivers and streams with blasted debris, poisoning drinking water with toxic waste, increasing the risk of flooding and sacrificing the safety of countless communities. This destructive practice has damaged or destroyed nearly 2,000 miles of streams and threatens to destroy 1.4 million acres of land by 2020.
By sacrificing the Appalachia’s mountains for the country’s coal addiction, we undermine the investments in 21st Century clean energy solutions that will protect our planet, produce more jobs and preserve our natural resources.
on June 23rd Dr. James Hansen, a leading climate scientists and environmental hero, will join community members in Coal River Valley West Virginia to launch a year of activism to end mountaintop removal coal mining.
Dr. Hansen and the people of Coal River need you on June 23rd in West Virginia.
People from WV to DC concerned about community health, the survival of the Appalachian mountains, clean energy and climate change will be joining Dr. Hansen, 94-year-old former US Representative Ken Hechler and the residents of Coal River Valley for a rally, march and act of civil disobedience.
Dr. Hansen and the people of West Virginia need you and as many friends as you can muster to come to West Virginia on June 23rd to help build launch the wave of activism needed to stop mountaintop removal this year.
This is the year we must stop the most ecologically and culturally destructive form of strip mining on earth.
WHEN: 12:00pm-3:00pm, Tuesday June 23rd
WHERE: Marsh Fork Elementary, 8801 Coal River Rd
Naoma, WV 25140
WHAT: There will be a rally at Marsh Fork Elementary a 12:00 noon. The elementary school is just 400 yards downslope from a mountaintop removal mine operated by Massey Energy; threatening children with chemicals and coal dust as well as a 2.8 billion gallon coal sludge impoundment (if the impoundment were breached there would be less than three minutes to evacuate the School). At 1:00pm the crowd will march a short distance to Massey Energy�s office of operations. Standing in defiance at the Massey Energy property line of a mountaintop removal mining operation Dr. Hansen, Representative Hechler and dozens of Coal River Valley residents will risk arrest in a line corssing civil disobedience, the next big step in stopping mountaintop removal where it starts.
For more information, please contact Annie Sartor {annie@ran.org).
