October 20 |
OVEC Action
Alert Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition |
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Oct. 24: 350.org International Day of Action; Informational Mtg. in Charleston, WV
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Oct. 25: Rally to Celebrate Appalachia’s Sustainable Future in Huntington, WV
Today,
Oct. 20: National Call-In Day for the Mountains
Please take a few minutes today, Tuesday Oct. 20, to take action for
the mountains.
The movement to end mountaintop removal is stronger than ever! Thanks to years of work from folks in Appalachia and across the US we're finally seeing movement on this urgent issue -- the Obama administration is looking more closely at mountaintop removal permits and the science that shows that valley fills are destroying our nation's water. However, there's one area where we're stuck, and we need your help to get moving again.
The Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310) would end valley fills and protect our water from mountaintop removal - permanently. We have 160 co-sponsors on the bill and we think we have the votes to move this important bill out of its sub-committee - the first step on its journey to become a law.
We are asking Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, the chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure sub-committee, where HR 1310 is currently stuck, to get this bill out of sub-committee. We need to show the sub-committee how urgent this issue is , and we need to show the national support we have to end mountaintop removal.
So many people have done the legwork to build up to this moment. Now, let's get this bill rolling!
Please call Congresswoman Johnson's office at (202) 225-8885 and leave this message:
Hi my name is __________ and I'm calling to show my support of the Clean Water Protection Act. We are ready to move this bill out of the sub-committee. This issue has never been more urgent -- mountaintop removal is destroying our mountains, our water and making people sick today.
We need to pass this bill out of the Water Resources Sub-committee this fall, and we need Congresswoman Johnson's support to do that.
Thank you.
Please take a few minutes and make the call today, for the mountains, for our streams and for a healthy future -- to protect our streams and our health for years to come.
Please, Please
Comment by Oct. 26
Please, take another few minutes out
of your day to contact the Army Corp of Engineers to let the agency
know you support its proposed elimination of the streamlined
permitting process, known as the Nationwide 21 Permit. These permits
allow coal companies to seek quick approval for valley fills at
their mountaintop removal coal mining operations. The deadline
for comments is October 26, 2009. Nationwide 21 Permits are only
supposed to be used when the operation to be permitted will have
"minimal impact."
Those of us who attended the Army Corps of Engineers Oct. 13 "public hearing" on Nationwide 21 Permits in Charleston, WV were pretty much unable to deliver our comments - due to heckling from the mostly-coal-worker crowd, the official transcriber could not clearly or consistently hear those of us speaking in favor of the Corps proposal. Some of us were unable to even get into the building due to an angry mob of coal workers blocking the entrance. In either attempting to enter the "hearing" venue or leave it, many people encountered pure hostility. Coal workers screamed obscenities, spat on shoes, pushed people, and made death threats. One woman was pushed to the ground. People had to restrain coal workers after they laid hands on at least three people, including OVEC volunteer Michael Morrison and organizer Maria Gunnoe. OVEC is compiling stories of what happened the evening of October 13. Individual groups and The Alliance for Appalachia are filing complaints regarding the Army Corps of Engineers failure to conduct this "public hearing."
Hearings on the proposal were held in several coal-bearing states. At every "hearing," people supporting the Corps' proposal felt unsafe. The hearings were very inconsistent from state to state as to how security and the "hearing" itself were conducted.
Shouting, threatening and bullying do not get in the administrative record - comments do. Please take the time to comment, and state your support for the Army Corps' decision to stop issuing rubber stamp permits.
Some points you can make are:
1. I applaud the Army Corps of Engineers for its proposal to end the use of the one-size-fits-all NWP 21 permit which allows for a streamlined approval of mountaintop removal operations in Appalachia. For decades, mountaintop removal and valley fills have had a devastating impact on local communities, the economy, and our environment.
2. No grandfathering of permits should be allowed. Past permits should be reviewed to make sure they meet the spirit and intent of the Clean Water Act.
3. NWP 21 should never have been issued, because filling these streams has more than minimal individual and cumulative adverse environmental effects.
4. EPA’s own scientists have determined that valley fills at mountaintop removal operations are causing cumulatively significant degradation of streams and riparian zones in Appalachia
– including the destruction of ecologically valuable headwater streams and the pollution of downstream waters.7. The Corps has long recognized that "the purpose of the NWP program is to reduce regulatory delays and burdens on the public, to place greater reliance on state and local controls, and to free our limited resources for more effective regulation of other activities with greater potential to adversely impact the aquatic environment." 56 Fed. Reg. 14, 598
—14, 605 (Apr. 10, 1991).a. Constantly fighting coal companies and failed agencies to protect our homes, lives, water, and communities is a much greater burden on the public.
b. We have no state or local controls. WVDEP is a failed agency that fails to control illegal coal company activity.
c. Nothing adversely impacts the aquatic environment more than burying it.
8. The impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining are significant and permanent. The Army Corps should not issue any additional authorizations under NWP 21 while the agency finalizes the process of modifying the permit to prohibit its use in Appalachia.
By Oct. 26, file your comments electronically by clicking here.
Or snail-mail your written comments to:
U.S. Army Corp of Engineers
Attn: CECW-CO, Ms. Desiree Hann
441 G Street, NW., Washington DC 20314-1000
Oct. 24: 350.org International Day of Action;
Informational Mtg. in Charleston, WV
Saturday, Oct. 24 is an International Day of Action on Climate
Crisis. Find an event near you, or create your own event -
learn more here.
In Charleston, WV from 6 - 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 520 Kanawha Blvd W., the UU and 1Sky West Virginia will hold a informational meeting. The event will include films about climate change and a call-in to Senators so that they will vote for strong climate legislation this fall. During this time there will also be a potluck, so bring your favorite covered dish and your desire to change the world.
For more information, please contact Andrew Porter at andrew@greencorps.org.
Stay or come later for super concert: Anne Feeney and David Rovics in Concert, 7:30 p.m. Accomplished singer-songwriters 'Union has made us Strong' Midwest Tour, supporting environmental, labor, women’s and anti-war movements. Both regularly tour throughout North America, Europe, and Australia. Admission $15, no one turned away for lack of funds. Phone 345 5042 or visit
www.uucharlestonwv.org for some more details. Oct.
25: Rally to Celebrate Appalachia’s Sustainable Future in
Huntington, WV
~Rally for the Future of Oour Kids: A Celebration of
Appalachia’s Sustainable Future~
Pumped about the green initiatives at schools like Marshall University and want to see clean energy and sustainability at your school? Ready to dance in the streets at the thought of ending Nationwide 21 Permitting of mountaintop removal? Come join in the party!
Where: Starting at Buskirk Field, Marshall University, 18th St and College Ave, Huntington, WV
Marching to Army Corps of Engineers Huntington District Office, 502 8th St
When: 1 p.m. Sunday, October 25
What to bring: musical instruments, nice clothes, signs celebrating a sustainable Appalachia: wind power, solar power, an end to mountaintop removal mining
Speakers: Libby Callicoat, Green for All Fellow Matthew Petty, Mountain Keeper and OVEC board member Larry Gibson, former WV Congressman Ken Hechler
Music: live bluegrass
Invite your friends to the biggest environmental justice shindig in Kentucky and West Virginia! This is part of Powershift 09.
Directions:
From Lexington, KY: Take I-64 East/I-75 South. Keep LEFT to take I-64 E
via EXIT 111 toward WINCHESTER/ASHLAND (Crossing into WEST VIRGINIA).
Merge onto US-52 N via EXIT 6 toward WEST HUNTINGTON/IRONTON, OH. Take
the US-60/ADAMS AVE. exit toward W. HUNTINGTON.Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto
ADAMS AVE/US-60 E. Continue to follow US-60 E. Turn RIGHT onto 18TH ST.
From Charleston, WV: Take I-64 West. Take the US-60 exit, EXIT 15, toward 29TH STREET EAST.Merge onto US-60 W/MIDLAND TRL toward HUNTINGTON/FOOTBALL STADIUM. Take a LEFT onto 5th AVE.
www.ohvec.org 304-522-0246 vivian@ohvec.org |
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Thank you for taking action for the mountains!
Here's more information, if you'd rather make shorter comments:
1) Nationwide permits can only be used when impacts including those to human health or welfare; aquatic life and other water dependent wildlife; aquatic ecosystem diversity, productivity, and stability; or recreational, aesthetic, and economic values are minimal.
2) Studies have shown significant individual and cumulative impacts from MTR.
3) Attempts to mitigate this harm are not based on known scientific principals and have totally failed to offset the harm done.
4) Thus, mountaintop removal projects should never be permitted let alone through the streamlined NWP 21 program.
5) New problems such as selenium toxicity and golden algae fish kills threaten many streams and communities in central Appalachia, because of the reckless and thoughtless permitting of valley fills by the Corps.
If you'd like to see yet another set of points to make, reply to this e-mail.