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April 1 protest—Please help us get people out
Other valley fill action reminders.
April 1 protest—Please help us get people out
OVEC needs your help to get people out for the Monday, April 1 Valley Fill Protest at the Army Corps of Engineers headquarters in Huntington. 11:30 a.m., corner of 5th Ave. and 8th St. downtown.
The protest will be followed by a lunch meeting at which we’ll discuss the Stop Mountaintop Removal Campaign. The 1 p.m. lunch meeting will be in the Cabell County Library, 459 9th St., Huntington, Rooms 1 & 2, on the 3rd floor. OVEC will provide lunch.
WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP GETTING PEOPLE OUT OVEC will soon hire an organizer to fill the position made vacant by the tragic death of Laura Forman. As many of you know, on Dec. 10, 2001, Laura collapsed and died just minutes after she spoke at the beginning of a protest against the Army Corps of Engineers’ highly questionable practice of issuing valley fill permits. Laura had organized the protest, calling people, arranging carpools, carrying out all the many tasks associated with organizing a protest.
Laura’s husband Mike, OVEC staff and many volunteers agree that Laura would have wanted us to go back and finish the protest. Since our new organizer isn’t hired yet, we need you to help us get folks out.
Please call friends to ask them to come to this event! Please arrange a carpool of friends and neighbors! Please print off a flyer from www.ohvec.org/temp/corps_protest.html (scroll to bottom, “click on PDF format”)and post the flyer in store windows and on bulletin boards on campus and elsewhere.
For the protest, the easiest parking is at the parking garage on the corner of 8th St. and 3rd St. in downtown Huntington. Take I-64 to the Hal Greer Blvd. exit. Head toward downtown. Turn left on Third Avenue. Watch for the parking garage on the corner of 8th Street, across from the Civic Center. We can walk from there to the Corps headquarters, which in across from City Hall, on the corner of 5th Ave. and 8th St.
Why Protest?
The Army Corps of Engineers is the agency that issues permits so that former mountaintops can be dumped into streams. The Corps says all that scalping and dumping results in “no significant (environmental) impact.” The US Fish and Wildlife Service and the US Environmental Protection Agency have blasted the Corps for allowing this ecocide to continue. These two agencies blame the Corps for allowing coal companies that practice mountaintop removal / valley fill strip mining to take an excessive toll on Appalachia.
Worse Yet!
The Bush Administration, with a nod and a wink to its chief campaign donors, the fossil fuel industries, is poised to make rule changes to the Clean Water Act that would legalize illegal valley fills. Your presence and organizing help to get others out on April 1 will help us have national influence! News coverage of a strong turnout at this protest will help us send a message to DC—don’t you dare legalize valley fills!
The Clinton Administration got over 17,000 public comments from citizens opposing this very same rule change. So, that administration did NOT change the Clean Water Act definition of “fill.” But Bush and Co. have dusted off this rule change, thumbed their noses at all the concerned citizens, and put this rule change on the fast track. Senators in DC need to see that Appalachians won’t tolerate the annihilation of our waterways. Americans need to understand that not only are the streams and rivers of Appalachia in grave danger, but also this proposed rule change would allow industries to dump their harmful wastes into streams, rivers and wetlands all across the nation. For the mountains, please come out on April 1!
Reminders on related valley fill actions
March 20 is national call-in day on the rule changes. Read our previous action alert on that issue by clicking here.
Please also send faxes about the rule change. See that action alert by clicking here.
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