" He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it." Martin Luther King Jr.
It is easy to write posts and complain about the myriad of things that are unjust and just plain wrong with this nation today while sitting inside at a computer. The hard part is putting your money where your mouth is and doing something. For those of us raised on working hard and playing by the rules it often feels like we have sucker tatooed on our foreheads.
There are some things however, that make you say I have to do something. For me Coal River Mountain is that thing.
Coal River Mountain is the last great mountain in the Coal River Valley. Mountain top coal mining was recently begun on this mountain, though activists shut down the mining.
If allowed to continue it will destroy the mountain, place lives in jeopardy, and also destroy a great opportunity for new green jobs from wind energy.
Dr James Hansen stated, " If the Obama Administration is unwilling or unable to stop the massive environmental destruction of the historic mountain ranges and essential drinking water for a small amount of coal, can we honestly believe he will be able to phase out coal emmissions at levels necessary to stop global climate change."
The protest will be on Dec. 7, 2009 at the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, which has presided over one of the greatest environmental disasters. According to Jeff Biggers on Huffington Post on 11/23/09. As a bare minimum nearly 1.2 million acres of hardwoods have been destroyed as well as the mountain ranges themselves and the valleys and thousands of miles of streams from pollution from mountain top coal removal and the heavy metal pollutants that come from extraction of the coal.
Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, makes a very willing bad guy. He has been involved in some of the worst lying to deny global climate change and some of the most fraudulent schemes to promote the idea that there is something called clean coal. He also either doesn't think or he really does believe profits are more important than people because Massey is blasting within 100 yards of the worlds largest coal slurry pond.
It is The Brushy Fork slurry pond, which is the worlds largest and possibly one of weakest. It is built over top of abandoned underground mines that if the blasting collapses their ceilings will cause about 8 billion gallons of coal slurry to come out of the side of the mountain.
If the walls give way a 72 foot wall of water will descend down the valley. Some people would have no more than 15 minutes to get out. Massey itself believes 900 to 1000 people could be killed.
Directions to the 2 pm protest on December 7, 2009 are as follows:
from I-77 North or South or I-64 east or West exit Maccorkle Ave West ( exit 95 ) left on 57th St. approximately 1/3 mile from exit. The Building housing West Va, Environmental Protection is on the right as soon as you turn onto 57th street.
contact: savecoalriver@gmail,com
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