A First-Hand Look at Mountaintop Removal

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Via email from Mary Anne Hitt, iLoveMountains.org...

A First-Hand Look at Mountaintop Removal


I just got back from the state capitol steps in Charleston, West Virginia, where two-time Grammy winning country star Kathy Mattea spoke out against mountaintop removal coal mining after taking an arial tour and hiking up Kayford Mountain.

Both of Mattea's grandfathers were coal miners, and she is among West Virginia's most famous native daughters. A the press conference Tuesday, she told the crowd that her visit to iLoveMountains.org shocked her (Click here for the video). As part of her own project to bring attention to the issue of mountaintop removal coal mining, Mattea came home this week to see the area again with her own eyes.

The scale of the destruction stunned her. "You know it's also a picture of our appetite for energy right now, which is a problem, our appetite for energy is so big that we think this is okay," said Mattea.

Mattea's visit and press conference has brought critical renewed attention to mountaintop removal. (Video reports and an NPR story are available.)

Mattea is the latest in a long line of celebrities to add their voice to the movement to end mountaintop removal coal mining. But it's the combined effort of all our voices that is making a tremendous difference:

We last wrote to ask you to tell your representatives to stand up for Clean Water, not liquid coal. Since then, more than 3200 letters have been sent to Congress through iLoveMountains.org -- and not a single coal-to-liquid-fuel bill has made it out of committee. Click here to keep up the pressure.

Since our Week in Washington in May, when more than 100 citizens from across the country traveled to our nation's capital to lobby for the Clean Water Protection Act (which would limit the ability of coal companies to dump mountaintop removal waste in our valleys and streams), nearly 3,000 people like you have sent letters to representatives asking them to support the bill. Thanks to your efforts, we now have a record 88 co-sponsors for the Clean Water Protection Act. Click here to see if your representative is standing up for clean water.

The second major court victory for mountain supporters in as many months came on June 14th when a U.S. District judge ruled that mill ponds -- a 40 year old technique of waste and sediment removal in which coal companies turn small streams into waste treatment systems -- are a violation of the Clean Water Act. Click here to read about this major court victory.

More exciting news - I was recently in New York for the launch of Google Earth Outreach, a new initiative by Google to make it easy for nonprofits to use Google Earth. Google is featuring our mountaintop removal information as one of the best nonprofit uses of Google Earth, so be sure to check it out!

In the 10 months since we launched iLoveMountains.org, these victories have been made possible by your participation. We've got great plans for the coming months -- including a new online tool that will allow you to see how your power company's energy supply is connected to mountaintop removal coal mining -- but the continued success of this movement is in your hands.

Please take a moment right now to invite one more friend to join our growing movement to stop mountaintop removal coal mining.

Thank you for making all of these victories possible,

Mary Anne Hitt
iLoveMountains.org

Additional links:

Appalachian Voices: http://www.appvoices.org

Coal River Mountain Watch: http://webpages.charter.net/crmw/index.htm

Kentuckians for the Commonwealth: http://www.kftc.org /

Mountain Justice Summer: http://www.mountainjusticesummer.org/index...

OHVEC: http://www.ohvec.org /

Pennies of Promise: http://www.penniesofpromise.org

Save Our Cumberland Mountains: http://www.socm.org /

Sludge Safety Project: http://www.sludgesafety.org/index.html

Online Video:

Moyers on America: Is God Green? (Bill Moyers / PBS): http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/media_players/chapter2-1.html

National Memorial for the Mountains (from AppalachianVoices): http://youtube.com/watch?v=MpSDY6r2BVc

Mountaintop Removal Movie (from iLoveMountains.org): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPixjCneseE

Keeper of the Mountain (by symbolman): http://www.tbtmradio.com/video/mtrgibson.wmv

Ed Wiley on Marsh Fork Elementary (from Pennies of Promise): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9afd2K6xx_I

Ed Wiley Visits with Senator Byrd (from Pennies of Promise): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6974iOVCsFk

[melody]

1. excellent post and information n/t

[Sapphire Blue]

2. ..

:kick: