Next Up in January: A Month of Water
~Chemical spills~Acid mine drainage~Dead streams~Slurry spills~Contaminated wells~Inadequate municipal water systems~Liquid fracking waste~

All over West Virginia, citizens are fighting for cleaner water. Show your desire for clean water: come out Saturday, January 17 for the Water Unites US: Rally for Clean Water Statewide. Join us at 2 p.m. on the WV State Capitol steps (on the Kanawha Blvd. side of the capitol building). Come learn about the threats and what you can do to take a stand for clean water!

Enjoy inspiring speakers, music, puppets, a brief march and predicted weather of sunny skies and 50+ degrees. Learn more here.

Earlier, from 9 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., come to the Safe Water System Leadership Training at St. Marks United Methodist Church, 900 Washington St E., Charleston, WV. Learn more and register here.

Later, join the After Rally Party/Dinner, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. at Fireside Bar and Grill (above Little India, 1604 Washington St. E.). Suggested minimum donation $15. Proceeds benefit the Water Roundtable. Visit www.awarewv.org to register.

Come out! Clean water is a human right! The WV Legislature is in session, already at work against your interests, but already responding to citizen pressure. So, come out, let the legislators know you want protections for our water, not concessions to polluting corporations.

And remember another January: A Month of Water event, Looking Forward: Summit on Chemical Safety in West Virginia, hosted by People Concerned About Chemical Safety, January 23 – 24.

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Join Us for MLK Day in Huntington
Monday, January 19 is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The Martin Luther King, Jr. State Holiday Commission is hosting events in Charleston, WV. For details, click here.

In Huntington, WV, OVEC will again march with the Cabell-Wayne Branch of the NAACP. We assemble at 4:30 p.m. at the 16th Street Baptist Church at Elm Street and 9th Avenue in Huntington. At 4:45 p.m. we march to the Joan C. Edwards Theater (Marshall University Campus),where starting at 5:30 p.m., events include a recitation of Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech. Music and will include a performance by the Praise Team dance group.

Over in Ohio, veteran and OVEC member Dennis Lambert will be the keynote speaker for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration hosted by the Southeastern Ohio NAACP Branch that serves Gallia, Jackson and Lawrence Counties. The celebration is free and open to the public and will take place at Paint Creek Regular Missionary Baptist Church, 833 Third Ave., Gallipolis, Ohio at 1 p.m. on Monday. Learn more here.

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Save the Date: March 16
The People’s Foot is slamming down. Our health is at stake. End mountaintop removal! Be sure to save the date, March 16, and be ready to come out, along with friends and family, to the WV Department of Environmental Protection headquarters.

The DEP continues to issue mountaintop removal permits that allow the coal industry to blast West Virginia mountains with high explosives, unleashing fine particulates of silica, aluminum, and molybdenum dust. These dust particulates are proven to promote lung tumors. Communities near MTR mines have much higher rates of birth defects and all sorts of dire health problems. Enough!

Learn more here, and sign up to be at DEP on March 16 here.

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Upcoming Events
January 21: Final day of public comment on a legislative rule required by SB 373, also known as the water bill or the above ground storage tank rule. The 90-page rule proposed by the DEP, and open for your comment, is 47 CSR 63. Read it here.

Attend a public hearing at 6 p.m. on January 21 at the DEP headquarters in Kanawha City: 601 57th Street, SE
Charleston, WV, 25304.

Comments can also be emailed, by Jan. 21, to WVDEPtankrules@wv.gov. Be sure to write Aboveground Storage Tank Comments in the subject line.

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February 12: KFTC’s I Love Mountains Day

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See more upcoming events here.

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