Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition Action Alert

May 9
2008
Alert Archive

OVEC Action Alert
Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition

Below:

 Tonight and May 19: Tune in to CNN's Anderson Cooper 360
Word has just come in that CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 show will air a segment on coal and the presidential campaign tonight.

CNN has been in West Virginia this week, shooting footage for a couple of segments on the election, mountaintop removal and coal. Our good friends at SouthWings took a CNN crew on a flyover of mountaintop removal sites, and the news crew talked with OVEC volunteer Chuck Nelson, Appalachian Voices director Mary Ann Hitt and the mayor of Beckley.  Our understanding is that Anderson Cooper 360 will air one segment tonight, focusing on the presidential  campaign and coal, and another on May 19, focusing on mountaintop removal. So please watch for these segments--with the understanding that pre-taped news segments can be bumped by other, breaking news.

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 May 12: West Virginia Public Broadcasting to Air Segment on Selenium Pollution
No matter where you live, you can tune in (on the air or online) to West Virginia Public Radio at 7:30 a.m. Monday, May 12 to hear a story on selenium pollution from mountaintop removal operations.  Hear interviews with, among others, OVEC members and West Virginia Highlands Conservancy mining chair Cindy Rank.  The Charleston Gazette recently reported on the issue and our lawsuit.

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 "Burning the Future" on Sundance Channel May 13
At 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13--primary election day in West Virginia--please tune in to the Sundance Channel for the national television premiere of "Burning the Future: Coal in America." The documentary features, among others, OVEC volunteers Donetta Blankenship and B.I. Sammons, OVEC board member Larry Gibson, our organizer Maria Gunnoe and Coal River Mountain Watch volunteer Bo Webb. The film airs as part of  Sundance Channel's weekly show "The Green," which is a diverse block of environmentally-themed programming that combines heavy issues with snapshots of success stories around the globe.

For other times the documentary will air on Sundance Channel, click here.

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 Postponed Items and May 13 Massey Energy Webcast
Several items we mentioned in our last action alert have been postponed. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals moved oral arguments in our major lawsuit about mountaintop removal from May 13 to sometime in September. The rolling fast for peace in the coalfields has therefore been delayed and we are working on a new summer date for our de-escalation / non-violence training. We will keep you posted here and on our website's calendar page.  Massey Energy's annual stockholders' meeting is still on for May 13, though, and you can listen to it on the Internet. Don't be surprised if an OVEC booklet ends up in stockholders' hands...

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 May 11 to May 17: Appalshop Film 'Sludge' to Air on Kentucky TV
Watch for OVEC members in Appalshop's documentary film "Sludge," which will air four times in May across the Commonwealth on Kentucky Educational Television's (KET) Kentucky Channel. Shortly after midnight on October 11, 2000, a coal sludge pond in Martin County, Kentucky, broke through an underground mine, propelling 306 million gallons of sludge down two tributaries of the Tug Fork River into the Big Sandy. The Martin County sludge spill killed all aquatic life along 30 miles of river, damaged municipal water systems, and caused millions of dollars in property damage.

Appalshop filmmaker Robert Salyer follows the government agencies and community members through their clean up efforts and their attempts to understand the causes of a disaster thirty times larger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Filmed over four years, the documentary chronicles the aftermath of the disaster, the Mine Safety and Health Administration "whistleblower" case of Jack Spadaro, and the looming threat of coal sludge dams throughout the Appalachian mountains.

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 More Events
Upcoming events near and far include the Mountain Justice Summer Training Camp and Heartwood's Forest Council. Many more events are listed on our online calendar.

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www.ohvec.org       304-522-0246        vivian@ohvec.org

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