September 11th, 2008 — The following email was sent to the 31,000+ supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.

Dear [[First_Name]],
Last year, we wrote to tell you about a new rule proposed by the Office of Surface Mining, Reclaimation, and Enforcement (OSMRE) that would legalize and expand the worst abuses of mountaintop removal.

If adopted, the new regulation would be one of the Bush administration’s biggest giveaways to Big Coal, exempting coal companies from a law that prohibits surface coal mining activities from disturbing areas within 100 feet of streams.

Changing this “stream buffer zone rule” would destroy thousands of miles of our nation’s mountain streams and accelerate the growth of moutaintop removal coal mining — destroying another 700 mountains over the next decade, according to one estimate.

More than 43,000 Americans like you spoke out during the public comment period on the new rule, with the “overwhelming majority” of the 43,000 comments opposed to the industry-backed proposal.

Nonetheless, the Bush administration is now trying to force the rule through in the final days of its administration.

The OSMRE proposal must be approved by the Environmental Protection Agency before it can be published into law.

Can you take action today and tell the EPA to stop this give away to Big Coal and instead stand up for mountains, clean water, and healthy communities?

Click here to take action:

http://www.ilovemountains.org/action/sbz

Please, take action today. Don’t let the Bush administration give a parting gift to its friends in the coal industry, by enshrining the worst abuses of mountaintop removal coal mining into law.

Mary Anne Hitt
iLoveMountains.org

PS Your contribution to iLoveMountains can help us keep the pressure on to end mountaintop removal coal mining. Click here to make a tax-deductible contribution.

In 2008, the United States stand to lose Blair Mountain,WV. Our loss may very well be at the hands of our own coal companies that want to see this special place turned into a mountaintop removal mining site. But before we can save it, we want people to understand why we believe the mountain deserves to stay.
…
On August 25th, 1921 in Logan County, West Virginia, began a skirmish which would quickly swell into the largest armed labor conflict in American history. On the 1,600-acre Spruce Fork Ridge of Blair Mountain, there was a showdown between an army of as many as 15,000 pro-union miners and a federally backed 2,000-man defensive force. The miners - abused, exploited, and upset by lack of decent working conditions, living conditions, and lack of collective bargaining ability, had taken up arms. The United Mine Workers of America had been working to organize workers in the coalfields, due to constant oppression and tight control of coal-towns in Appalachia, and a long-simmering tension exploded into armed conflict upon to the murder of pro-union Matewan Police Chief Sid Hatfield.

[Miners were] seeking the right not only to unionize but also to exercise civil liberties such as freedom of speech and assembly.

The anti-union defensive force was led by Logan County Sheriff Don Chafin and other law officers, many of whom were on the coal companies’ payrolls. Chafin’s men were “bolstered by private planes that dropped homemade bombs on the miners.” Blair Mountain remains the only place in our country where American’s have dropped bombs on other Americans from the air.

The New York Times archives reports: (9/3/1921) (html/.pdf)

Upon the arrival of federal troops, these coal-miners were quickly out-manned, outgunned, and surrounded. Enmeshed in the largest post-Civil War battle ever on American soil, the miners relented - refusing to fight their fellow veterans, whom many considered their fellow “brothers-in-arms” from WWI.

Across the invisible barriers of race and ethnicity, these coal-stained warriors had gathered enough support to be kept from unionizing only by the United States Army.

It turns out, however, that they may have ended up saving Blair Mountain. These days, the only way too keep Blair Mountain from being destroyed by the coal companies are by keeping it preserved as a historical site. In Fact, The National Trust for Historic Preservation recently recognized the Blair Mountain Battlefield, along with the neighborhoods of New Orleans, and the Vesey St staircase at the WTC, as one of the 11 most endangered historic places in the entire country.

Over the years, various local efforts to preserve the battle site have been blocked by the coal companies that own or lease the property where the conflict occurred. Now coal companies appear intent upon strip-mining Spruce Fork Ridge, which would completely obliterate the well-preserved and intact site. Only by drawing national attention to the importance of the events at Blair Mountain is this threatened battlefield likely to be saved.

Richard Moe, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, offers great perspective on the importance of this battle, and of the miners’ struggle because of its relation to current mining struggles.

“It is particularly important, given the recent mining tragedies in West Virginia, that we not lose this symbol of the bravery and determination of union miners to improve their working conditions.

Fierce opposition from the coal companies that own or lease most of the ridge - Hobet Mining, Arch Coal, Massey Energy Company and Aracoma Coal Company, among others - have stopped previous preservation attempts. The coal companies are intent on strip-mining, which would destroy the battlefield.

By increasing public awareness of the significance of the Blair Mountain battlefield, preservation advocates hope to win support for permanently protecting the site with easements and developing a economically sustainable interpretive program, possibly through the National Coal Heritage Area, which would allow the region to take advantage of West Virginia’s fastest-growing industry - tourism.

Protecting Blair Mountain is important because of the fact that, besides being one of the oldest and most beautiful mountains in the world, its historical significance is unparalleled. A historic site that would bring tourists to this breathtaking place is a far better long-term solution than simply blowing up the mountain for coal, as Massey Energy would have us do. We owe it not only to the mountain herself, but to those who gave their lives.

Wikipedia:

Up to 30 deaths were reported by Chafin’s side and 50-100 on the union miners side, with many hundreds more injured. By September 2, however, federal troops had arrived. Realizing he would lose a lot of good miners if the battle continued with the military, union leader Bill Blizzard passed the word for the miners to start heading home the following day. Miners fearing jail and confiscation of their guns found clever ways to hide rifles and hand guns in the woods before leaving Logan County. Collectors and researchers to this day are still finding weapons and ammunition embedded in old trees and in rock crevices. Thousands of spent and live cartridges have made it into private collections.

Which leads us to the discoveries of Kenny King and many many others. Harvard Ayers tells us that archeology may yet have a lot to tell us about the Battle of Blair Mountain that we do not yet know.

Dr. Harvard Ayers:

But the archeological record does more than simply corroborate the historical accounts. It adds considerable depth to our understanding of the battle. Whereas the history tells us that heavy fighting occurred at the three key locations, it does not tell us much about how these areas were defended. It documents in a broad sense the number of combatants, the main types of armaments (machine guns are frequently mentioned), and the broad ebb and flow of the battles. But it does not tell us for instance, the exact locations where the defenders made their stands. It does not detail how many of what weapons were used or the likely number of combatants at the defensive positions. The archeological record for the Battle of Blair Mountain has already yielded important information that fills some of these gaps in the historical record and has the potential to add even more to our understanding of the battle with future research.

… Of the thirteen archaeological sites documented by the reconnaissance surveys of West Virginia University and Appalachian State University, all are stated to have potential for yielding further important information about the Battle of Blair Mountain.

The story of Blair Mountain deserves to be told fully. To learn more about what you can do to help, please visit FriendsofBlairMountain.org

1. Featured Activist: Kenny King
For over 17 years, one man has really been at the forefront of the charge to preserve Blair Mountain, and that is Kenny King. Mr. King has been the most passionate voice to fight for the preservation of this historic place, to tell people about the important battle that occurred there, and the attempt to ultimately list the 1,600-acre Spruce Fork Ridge on the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places. As a proud worker in the coal industry, he understands the significance of West Virginia’s coal heritage to the history of our country. Like many of us, he has a personal connection to the events at Blair Mountain – namely, relatives who fought on both sides of the battle. Please see the new America’s Most Endangered Mountain video about Blair Mountain to hear Kenny talk about his work to save Blair Mountain. A resident of Blair Mountain since 1962, Kenny explains how this historical site is threatened by a 333 acre mining permit. (h/t Greg Coble)

2. Virtual Flyover of Blair Mountain / Permit Area
As it is now, before the proposed mountaintop removal operations have started.
The boundaries of the historic area are outlined in yellow.

3. Appalachian Music of the Week
I just caught my first Martha Scanlan show last week and she was amazing. You may recognize her from the Reeltime Travelers, but I prefer her album West Was Burning. Live, her accompaniment (the Stuart twins) masterfully showcase a number of fiddle and old-time tunes, which makes their live show a real treat for anyone who likes contemporary or old-time acoustic music.

The West Was Burning:

September 24th, 2008 — The following email was sent to the 31,000+ supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.

Dear Supporters,

In September of 1921, 13,000 union workers marched to Logan County, West Virginia. More than 2,000 armed deputies met them at Blair Mountain.

The battle that followed represented the biggest armed revolt in America since the Civil War, and it prompted the passage of labor laws currently in effect in the USA.

To this day, Blair Mountain, West Virginia is steeped in the cultural and political history of Appalachia. Historic markers tell the story of the confrontation, and on the battlefield the artifacts from both sides of the armed standoff still lie where they fell.

Yet all of that history is under threat — as are the beautiful hardwood forests and the mountain itself — because Big Coal has plans to blow up Blair Mountain as part of a massive mountaintop removal coal mining operation.

That’s why Blair Mountain is the latest addition to the list of America’s Most Endangered Mountains.

Learn more about Blair Mountain by watching this short video:

http://www.iLoveMountains.org/Endangered

After you watch the video, please be sure to forward it on to 5 friends, and ask them to join us at iLoveMountains.org. They can join by clicking here:

http://www.iLoveMountains.org/Take_Action

Your efforts to help us spread the word are critical — and they make a tremendous difference. In the last year alone, you’ve helped us:

• Reach a total of 92,000 views of the America’s Most Endangered Mountains video series
• Recruit more than 600 bloggers for the iLoveMountains Bloggers Challenge, who are helping everyday to get the word out about the dirty secret behind “clean coal”
• Recruit more than 31,000 supporters at iLoveMountains.org

And what have we achieved by growing iLoveMountains.org and helping to spread the word about the devastation of mountaintop removal coal mining?

Despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent in PR and advertising by the coal industry, your actions– and the actions of tens of thousands of other activists working across the country — have delivered major setbacks to Big Coal’s plans. In the last year, people like you have:

• Stopped a proposed Coal-to-liquid fuels plant in West Virginia
• Haulted plans for the construction of over a hundred new coal power plants around the United States
• Led the way in proposing positive alternatives to mountaintop removal coal mining through the Coal River Mountain wind power project
• Helped us reach a record 150 co-sponsors in Congress for the Clean Water Protection Act, which would sharply curtail mountaintop removal coal mining

Big Coal has been dealt setback after setback by the combined actions of thousands of people like you who love our mountains.

So please, take just a moment to watch the video about Blair Mountain, and then take a moment to forward it to five friends:

http://www.iLoveMountains.org/Take_Action

Together, we can save Blair Mountain — and help turn this country toward a clean and sensible energy future.

Mary Anne Hitt
iLoveMountains.org

There have been some remarkable happenings in the last two weeks in the fight against mountaintop removal.

For the first time EVER, both major Presidential candidates are publicly against mountaintop removal coal-mining. Last week at a town hall meeting in Orlando, Florida Senator McCain re-iterated what he told Appalachian Voices back in February. When asked if he supported a ban on mountaintop removal mining, the Senator bluntly said “I do.” McCain raised the ire of many of the more anti-environmental members of his caucus, including WV-02 Representative Shelly Moore Capito. McCain’s response “caught me off guard,” and said “such a stance could hurt McCain in West Virginia.”

Senator Barack Obama first indicated his opposition to mountaintop removal last year, when asked by Appalachian Voices. Obama said:

We have to find more environmentally sound ways of mining coal, than simply blowing the tops off mountains.

The Green and Libertarian party candidates also oppose mountaintop removal.

In another HUGE testamant to the success of the national netroots and the barrage of regional activism and citizen lobbying, the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 2169), just hit 150 co-sponsors last week. That is 150 people from 30 states, 1 territory, and the District of Columbia. This legislation is now supported by 142 Democrats and 8 Republicans from Maine to Hawaii to Florida to Washington state, and that list is growing every week. See if your Representative is a co-sponsor of the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 2169).

In an important development in the fight for Coal River Mountain, local activists have proved that we could provide more jobs and more energy by using Coal River Mountain for industrial wind energy rather than turning it into a mountaintop removal site. Due to overwhelming public pressure, blasting was averted last week, and citizens are working with state and local officials to deliver sustainable solutions in the heart of coal country. Please drop Governor Manchin a line and let him know you support the efforts to put clean energy on Coal River Mountain instead of turning it into a mountaintop removal site.

Also, for the first time to my knowledge, a court ruled that global warming bore a higher cost than the operation of a coal-fired power plant. Six activists who wrote the Prime Minister’s name down the side of a smokestack with the intention of shutting down a coal-fired power plant in the UK had the “lawful excuse” that they were protecting the planet from global warming.

Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a “lawful excuse” to damage property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage caused by climate change. The defence of “lawful excuse” under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage – such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire.

Actions for this week:
1) Ask your Representative to join 152 members of Congress and co-sponsor the Clean Water Protection Act (HR 2169), to protect America’s headwaters from mountaintop removal mining waste.

2) Ask Governor Manchin to support clean, green, renewable wind energy on Coal River Mountain. With wind we can create more energy and more jobs than is possible with mountaintop removal.

There, wasn’t that easy!? Y’all have a great Monday

Thats all for this week!

peace,
JW

September 11th, 2008 — The following email was sent to the 31,000+ supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.

We urgently need your help — today.

We last wrote to tell you about an ambitious grassroots plan to save Coal River Mountain in West Virginia from mountaintop removal coal mining.

The plan calls for Coal River Mountain to become the site of a major wind farm facility — a facility that would demonstrate that our mountains can be preserved and can help meet our nation’s energy needs through the production of clean wind power.

But the Big Coal Company that has plans to blow the top off Coal River Mountain — Massey Energy — has since circumvented the law and altered their permits, and are set to begin blasting the mountain for coal today, September 10th.

If they are allowed to proceed, the blasting will eliminate some of the potential for the production of clean wind energy and the creation of good, green jobs on Coal River Mountain. And it will be harder for local residents to stop the continuation of the mining once it has started.

Can you contact West Virginia’s Governor Joe Manchin today, and ask him to issue a “stay of execution” for Coal River Mountain? He already knows that there is a real alternative to mountaintop removal at Coal River Mountain — but he needs to know that the state and the nation are watching him, and demanding that he act.

The best way to contact him is by calling 1-888-438-2731 — a sample message is included at the bottom of this email.

Alternately, click here to send a message to Governor Manchin via email:

http://www.coalriverwind.org/?page_id=119

We also need your help spreading the word about what is at stake. Please forward this email to your friends and family, and enourage them to watch the online video that explains the campaign to save Coal River Mountain. They can watch the video and learn more here:

http://www.coalriverwind.org/

Thank you for taking action today.

Mary Anne Hitt
iLoveMountains.org

PS If you plan to be in in West Virginia on September 16th, please consider joing a rally at the State Capitol. Click here for more info: http://www.coalriverwind.org/?page_id=117

Sample letter

Governor Manchin,

I am asking you to support the Coal River Wind Farm and halt blasting until you can look into this opportunity further. Massey Energy has issued notice for blasting at the site to begin today. Community members have requested for weeks that you put a freeze on the mountaintop removal mine and give citizens of West Virginia a chance to save Coal River Mountain.

Many people across southern West Virginia and across the United States were excited to learn recently that you are planning to make your case for renewable energy development in your upcoming “State of the State” speech, and that you have been publicly supporting the development of renewable energy in West Virginia in various speeches. During your 2008 State of the State address you pointed out “that the main ingredient to a successful energy future is sustainability” and encouraged the development of renewable energy like wind and solar. For this reason we hope you will be supportive of this landmark opportunity to put West Virginia on the renewable energy map.

Coal River Mountain in West Virginia has enough wind potential to provide electricity for over 150,000 homes and create 50 well-paying, good jobs, forever. The proposed wind farm would also help diversify the local economy in an area historically dependent upon sparse, temporary coal mining jobs. This opportunity depends upon the mountain being left intact.

We feel you could do no better than to highlight Coal River Mountain, and to lend your full support for the development of a utility-scale wind farm as an economically viable alternative to Massey’s proposed 6,000+ acre mountaintop removal operation that is currently planned for the mountain.

By supporting this project, you will show both the state and the nation that you are truly committed to diversifying West Virginia’s energy portfolio, and that you are willing to make tough choices in order to ensure the future of energy production and strong economy for the state and nation.

Citizens everywhere are concerned about the state of our economy and rising energy prices. Recent estimates produced by the U.S. Geologic Survey show that West Virginia has only 20-30 more years at which current levels of coal production in West Virginia can be maintained, so the time to begin developing these alternative energy sources is now, for as remaining coal runs out, the price of electricity will skyrocket.

However, we have a new and better option, and we are asking that you lend your full support for this project based on its long-term economic, social and environmental benefits, especially as they compare positively to the short-term benefits and long-term costs that will result from proposed strip-mining operations.

Governor Manchin, the choice is yours, and we hope that you make the right one Â- for the residents of Coal River Mountain, for West Virginia, and for the nation.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]
[Your Hometown, State]

We’ve reached a cross-roads in Appalachia. We can choose between the economically and environmentally destructive resource of coal, or clean, green, economically invigorating industrial wind power. Right now there is a battle going on at Coal River Mountain to decide whether to turn the mountain into a mountaintop removal site or an industrial wind farm (learn more), and in order to save this mountain and the surrounding communities, we need your help.

1) Visit CoalRiverWind.org to get involved!
2) Sign the petition to save Coal River Mountain, and help us start up the first industrial wind power site in the coalfields of West Virginia.
3) Join 600 other bloggers in the iLoveMountains Bloggers Challenge and help us spread the word about mountaintop removal

Lowell at RaisingKaine has an appropriate post this morning called “Wait, Wasn’t Coal Supposed to be Great for Southwest Virginia?” which is Virginia specific, but supplies an apt description for a plurality of the Appalachian coalfield communities.

Isn’t it wonderful how, when debating mountaintop removal or new coal-fired power plants in southwestern Virginia, the argument that seems to trump all others is the “economic benefit” all this coal digging and burning will bring to SWVA communities? Well, so much for that theory:

The coal-fired power plant under construction outside St. Paul, Va., was not the first to promise jobs, economic development and prosperity for Southwest Virginia. The same promises were made here 50 years ago when the Clinch River Plant was built.

“The coming of the plant into Southwest Virginia will stimulate other plants to locate in the area and to utilize the vast natural resources. It will mark the beginning of a new era,” said American Electric Power President Philip Sporn at the plant’s groundbreaking on May 16, 1956.

[…]

In half a century, the jobs have not materialized, and there is a sharp difference in opinion on whether the company has kept its promises.

The people who live here in the shadow of the smokestacks say the plant’s negative effects go beyond dust and noise. They say it has destroyed their community’s spirit and reduced its numbers, and many claim that there are high numbers of cancer cases among Carbo residents.

Einstein famously said, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

More investment in coal means more mountaintop removal.
More mountaintop removal in Appalachia means more poverty.
More mountaintop removal in Appalachia means fewer mining jobs.
More mountaintop removal in Appalachia means more toxic waste our drinking water.
More mountaintop removal in Appalachia probably means more toxic waste in your drinking water if you live in the eastern US.
More mountaintop removal in Appalachia means fewer mountains.
More mountaintop removal in Appalachia means more global climate change.
Its established that there are NO good consequences for this pillaging of our homeland.

So why in the world, in the face of skyrocketing coal prices and decreasing production, should we blow up Coal River Mountain? Especially when we have a chance to create more energy and more jobs with industrial wind at the same site. Please join the fight and help us change Appalachia and move our country away from mountaintop removal coal.

Thats it for this morning. If you care to add a link to, or video of your favorite Appalachian music in the comments, I’m sure we’d enjoy hearing it.

peace,
JW

Appalachian coal is a dead end road. With coal production declining across the Appalachian region and prices nearly tripling since 2007, economists and energy analysts are increasingly saying that Appalachian coal is the wrong investment for America. In Appalachia alone, we’ve seen over 1 million acres of America’s oldest mountains destroyed forever, 1200 miles of headwater streams buried, and some of the highest poverty in the nation due to mountaintop removal mining. But, though we have lost much, the people of Appalachia are fighting back through organizing and advocacy from Charleston to Frankfort to Washington DC.

Coal River Mountain, located in Raleigh County, West Virginia is one of America’s Most Endangered Mountains. The communities surrounding the mountain have a rich and mixed history with America’s most polluting fossil fuel. As the name implies, many of the towns in the Coal River Valley grew up with the expansion of coal-mining. But, 150 years after coal-mining began in Appalachia, much of the central and southern Appalachians stand devastated by mining, and impoverished by coal companies hell-bent on keeping coal “cheap” at the expense of our land and people. The communities of the Coal River Valley are no different. The people of the Coal River Valley - having seen and experienced firsthand the devastation that the mining and processing of coal causes - have seen enough to know that they need to take a new direction in choosing their future economic path.

When you’re talking about Appalachia and coal, the word “battle” is not used lightly. From Matewan, to Harlan County, to Blair Mountain, violence and bloodshed are a very real part of our history. Now the inherently American legacy of the miners of Blair Mountain, courageous coalfield labor organizers, and the grassroots movement that led to surface mining laws in the 70s has reached a head. The Appalachian people have drawn our line in the sand. We stand here together to tell companies that would practice mountaintop removal to stop NOW. We have popular support for clean energy, a better economic alternative, and literally everything at stake, and the Appalachian people will win this battle of wind vs. fire.

The Battle for Coal River Mountain…

—

There are two potential futures for Coal River Mountain, WV and the people of the Coal River Valley.

Industrial Wind Power (potential shown below) OR a Mountaintop Removal site (permit area in black)

Remember that mountaintop removal does the same thing to our economy that it does to the environment. Industrial wind development will create more jobs in the short AND long-term, as well as more energy in the long-term.

Coal companies have been to the neighborhood before, and still have a heavy presence in the area, having destroyed several nearby mountains and leaving Raleigh County with an 18.5% poverty rate.

Coal River Mountain remains one of the most potentially productive spots in the surrounding coalfields for wind. You’ll notice many areas of class 4, 5, 6, and even class 7 wind potential here. This is a prime spot for wind power, and the future of Appalachia’s clean energy economy.

Coal River Mountain is approximately 20,550 acres in size, and 30 miles of if its ridges receive commercially viable wind speeds. There is room on Coal River Mountain to place 220 2.0MW wind turbines. Such a project would have the potential to produce 1.16 Million Megawatt-hours (MWh) every year, or enough to power 150,000 homes, forever

On Coal River Mountain, four surface-mining permits either approved, pending or in formation, together span 6,000 acres. As currently proposed, these “mines” would reduce wind potential to a point that a Coal River Mountain Wind Farm would become commercially unviable. The ensuing ecological devastation will be immense.

According to Coal River Mountain Watch:

These mines [on Coal River Mountain] will be at the heads of Horse Creek, Dry Creek, and Rock Creek, and will surround nearly the entire length of Sycamore Creek, considered to be the most pristine stream in the area. Communities are situated at the mouth of each of these streams.

But if coal companies have their way, they would blast Coal River Mountain right off the map. In fact, by overlaying permit data onto a topographical map in Google Earth, we can show you what the hypothetical coal company vision of Coal River Mountain would look like. On the left side of the image, you can see what a mountaintop removal site on Coal River Mountain would look potentially like.

There is so much at stake in Appalachia. Wind power is cheaper to extract. Wind power is cheaper to produce. Wind power has zero emissions. Wind power does not require us to tear down our mountains. Wind power will provide greater economic benefit. Wind power will provide more jobs. Wind power will provide more energy. The benefits are endless. Mountaintop removal has to end and it has to end now.

We all stand to gain by supporting the efforts of CRMW to save Coal River Mountain from mountaintop removal by setting up industrial wind energy.

If you can join the effort, and would rather see a windmill than a toxic mountaintop removal mine, please sign the Coal River Wind Petition and check out CoalRiverWind.org.

1. This week’s featured Blogs
Kate Sheppard over at Grist gives us On a Wind and a Prayer:

“This is the first alternative ever proposed that has a strong economic component, that has real benefits to it that could be brought to local communities,” said Rory McIlmoil, campaign coordinator for Coal River Wind. “The wind potential would be destroyed if they continue with the strip mining.”

The advocates from Coal River Wind are still open to allowing Massey to mine there as long as it’s at least 300 feet below the surface. They argue that the underground mine would actually create more jobs for local residents than an MTR site, which relies mostly on heavy machinery.

2. MTR Fact of the Week
According to Dr. Matthew Wasson of Appalachian Voices, energy produced by the Coal River Mountain Wind farm would be cheaper than energy produced by Duke Energy’s proposed “Cliffside” coal-fired power plant in North Carolina. So much for “cheap” coal.

Cliffside Energy Cost: $0.150 / kWh
Coal River Mountain Wind Energy Cost: $0.094 / kWh

3. Mountain Video
(Congratulations to the production team. This was one of the top 15 non-profit videos on YouTube last week!…)

Coal River Mountain, as featured on America’s Most Endangered Mountains

I also highly recommend watching these:
Rory McIlmoil and Lorelei Scarboro on this weeks’ Decision Makers:
Part I
Part II
Part III

4. Featured Activist
Lorelei Scarboro

Lorelei Scarbro was born and raised in the Coal River Valley of West Virginia. She is the daughter and wife of coal miners, and has been active in the fight to save rural schools in West Virginia. She is now fighting for a clean just energy future for West Virginia and the Nation. Her writing, such as Winning with wind: Hope for Coal River Mountain in the Coal Valley news is spreading hope for people in the valley that they can save their economy and their mountains simultaneously by ending mountaintop removal and supporting industrial wind energy.

From an interview on Grist:

“My father was a coal miner. My grandfather was a coal miner. I have two brothers that are coal miners, my son-in-law is a coal miner,” says Scarbro, a life-long West Virginian and probably not someone you’d expect to be an outspoken opponent of coal. But Scarbro says, “I believe that the time for coal has come and gone, and I think we’re destroying our earth with fossil fuels. That’s the reason that we’re in the climate crisis that we’re in. I believe that we need to start transitioning.”

“It’s like living in a war zone when you have to sit in you home, you hear the blasting, and you breathe in the coal dust and you breathe in the rock dust,” says Scarbro. “To live with your house shaking every day, the foundation cracking, the windows rattling, it is really like living in a war zone.”

Learn more about Lorelei by watching this video on CoalRiverWind.org and this video on iLoveMountains.org.

5. Mountain Music
Check out Tim O Brien and Kathy Mattea original of “Walk the Way the Wind Blows” here

Walk the Way the Wind Blows (performed by David Grisman, Tony Rice, Bob Wasserman, and Mark O’ Connor)

Also couldn’t help but put up a link to Bob D’s Subterranean Homesick Blues.

You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows!

Thats all for this week.
peace,
JW

August 21st, 2008 — The following email was sent to the 30,000+ supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.

CLICK HERE to watch the video

Instead of blowing up mountains, what if we harnessed the wind that blows through the mountains to meet our energy needs?

That’s exactly what a major new campaign is proposing:

http://www.CoalRiverWind.org

Coal River Mountain is one of the most beautiful mountains in the Coal River Valley of West Virginia.

But Big Coal has plans for a major mountaintop removal coal mining operation at Coal River Mountain. If their plans go through, nearly 10 square miles of the mountain would be destroyed, and 18 valley fills would devastate the Clear Fork River watershed.

Fortunately, there is an alternative to mountaintop removal mining on Coal River Mountain — and it’s literally hanging right there in the mountain breeze.

In 2006, a study of the wind potential on Coal River Mountain demonstrated that Coal River Mountain is an ideal location for developing utility-scale wind power.

Building a wind farm at Coal River mountain would produce enough wind power to keep the lights on in 150,000 homes… pump $20 million per year in direct local spending during construction and $2 million per year thereafter… create hundreds of jobs…. and preserve Coal River Mountain for generations to come.

Click here to watch a short video about Coal River Wind.

Starting today, citizens from the Coal River Valley and across the country are launching a major new campaign to to move our nation toward the production of clean energy by making this unique opportunity a reality.

But we need your help to make this happen.

Click here to add your voice to the movement to produce a clean alternative to mountaintop removal mining at Coal River Mountain.

And please, take a moment to forward this email on to your friends and family. We need your help in spreading the word about this incredibly important new initative.

Mary Anne Hitt
iLoveMountains.org

Over the last year, we’ve seen the price of Appalachian coal nearly triple. In 2007, Appalachian coal prices hit a low of around $40/ton on the spot market. But last month, at the end of July 2008, we saw Appalachian coal hit $150/ton.

With regional coal production in a long-term decline, we’ll be seeing a lot more of this in the upcoming months and years.

AEP needs to hike Ohio rates 45% over 3 years
COLUMBUS, Ohio - American Electric Power said Thursday it must raise electricity rates 45 percent for its nearly 1.5 million customers in Ohio over the next three years, to cover soaring coal prices and the cost of modernizing its systems to keep them reliable.

TheGreenMiles over at RaisingKaine, a progressive Virginia blog, says:

From EnergyCentral in Kentucky, we hear similar news:

On Wednesday, TVA Chief Executive Officer and President Tom Kilgore said that rising production costs will drive up the price it charges local distributors for that power. TVA is allowed to make such fuel cost adjustments quarterly, and this one could increase individual bills by 10 percent to 20 percent, Kilgore said. A 15 percent boost would be TVA’s biggest rate jump since 1977.

That means an extra $12 to $25 charge per month for the average household, he said. Local utilities expect to pass that increase directly on to their customers.

And with production declining, and renewable energy becoming more cost competitive, we may soon see states who hope to protect their consumers begin to invest in conservation, efficiency, and real renewable energy in a serious way.

1. This weeks featured blogs…
David Roberts expands on the topic of coal prices over at Grist

After gas prices, electricity bills are probably the most salient energy price indicator for average folk (albeit a distant second), so the current gas price hullabaloo offers a decent preview of what we can expect.

There will be outrage. There will be demands for increased mining. (Mine here! Mine now!) There will be Republican demagoguery on behalf of coal companies (and as a bonus, coal-state Democratic demagoguery too). There will be promises that coal mining and burning aren’t like they used to be, because these days super shiny technology makes them clean. There will be expert testimony saying that coal prices are rising because of structural economic forces that won’t be affected by an uptick in mining; that testimony will be disregarded by the demagogues. Greens and their legislative friends will push back with a scattered, incoherent message that involves half capitulation to mining and half boosterism of alternatives.

How will it all shake out?

Well, let’s wait and see how the gas-price thing goes. That will tell us a lot.

Climate Progress points out some of the dangers of continuing our current polices by looking at McCain’s pros and cons (their take is mostly cons on energy).

And at all the small things we learn about a Wendell Berry facebook group, which I fully endorse:

For those who enjoy the work of the farmer-poet, Wendell Berry, and/or agree that we are steadily losing a part of what makes us human in our rush to embrace technology and uber-industrialism. For those that retain agrarian values in the face of mass development and rampant consumerism.

2. MTR Fact of the Week
Mountaintop removal has a devastating impact on local economies in Appalachia. Communities around MTR have some of the highest poverty rates in the country, as well as population decline, and lower levels of education than other areas of their states and the United States.

3: Mountain Image/Video

Wise County, VA virtual flyover

4. Featured Activist
Donna and Charlie Branham of Mingo County, West Virginia:
Donna, a retired nurse, and Charlie, a member of the United Mine Workers of America, have successfully organized with their neighbors to keep valley fills and strip mine permits away from their home in Lenore, West Virginia for the past ten years. They have worked with other Mingo County residents to form a new citizens group, West Virginia Future. With support from OVEC members across the state, the group launched an outreach media effort with two bill boards along highway 119, encouraging other residents to join together and protect their mountain heritage.

“We aim to ensure good paying green jobs through deep underground mining, reclamation, renewable energy, and sustainable industries. We recognize how hard our people have fought in the past for our rights and freedom and are working today to carry out that tradition.”

Right now the group is organizing against a mountaintop removal permit that will flatten five miles of Buffalo Mountain and fill in 14 streams. Donna, Charlie, and their neighbors are also beginning to plan for alternative jobs in the county. To learn more about the group and find out how you can help Donna, Charlie, and the Mingo County Group, call (304) 475-2529 or visit WestVirginiaFuture.org

(In the photo above, Donna and Charlie pose with Larry Gibson, founder of the Keeper of the Mountains Foundation).

5. Mountain Music of the Week
Larry Keel and Natural Bridge sing Buffalo Creek

Addendum: Many thanks to Kentuckians for the Commonwealth for organizing the mountaintop removal flyover tour with Congressmen Ben Chandler of Kentucky and Norm Dicks from Washington State.

August 7th, 2008 — The following email was sent to the 30,000+ supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here.

Here’s a question.

With Congressional Representatives heading to their home districts for the August Recess at the end of this week, is there anything we can do to keep the momentum going in Congress on the Clean Water Protection Act, whose passage would sharply curtail mountaintop removal coal mining?

The answer is yes. Last summer, many citizens just like you visited their Congressional representatives’ local office while he or she was at home.

These volunteers for the mountains spoke with their representatives about the damage done to our environment and the culture of Appalachia by mountaintop removal coal mining — and their efforts played a crucial role in helping us get to our current record 146 co-sponsors for the Clean Water Protection Act.

Would you consider visiting your representative during the August Congressional recess? We’ll guide you through the process of setting up the meeting, and supply you with materials that you can give to your representatives to make sure they understand the scale and scope of mountaintop removal coal mining:

http://www.ilovemountains.org/action/visit_your_rep/

Congressional interest in mountaintop removal coal mining has never been higher, which is why your efforts this summer can make a tremendous difference.

Just two weeks ago, for example, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks from Washington State — the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that has oversight of the Office of Surface Mining’s budget — joined Kentucky Congressman Ben Chandler in a flyover tour of mountaintop removal sites in Kentucky. This is the first time a member of Congress in such a powerful position has gone to Kentucky to view large-scale surface mining and meet with citizens affect by mountaintop removal.

To read more about the Congressional flyover of mountaintop removal coal mining site, click here and here.

If you have any questions about how you can meet with your representative this August, email outreach@iLoveMountains.org.

Finally, I wanted to let you know about a recent radio show worth listening to.

Two weeks ago, NPR affiliate KDHX in St. Louis featured iLoveMountains organizer Benji Burrell and retired miner Cary Huffman for to talk about America’s Most Endangered Mountains and to talk about the threat mountaintop removal poses to the Gauley River, which I recently wrote to you about.

To listen to the interview, click here.

Thank you for all that you do.

Mary Anne Hitt
iLoveMountains.org