I landed at the airport in Jacksonville, FL., on Saturday afternoon, April 14, 2012 at the behest of Jason Fults who invited me to be part of the second Gainesville Loves Mountains series of events and activities. The image of two smokestacks near Jacksonville, seen from high above the earth, seemed to drive their image into my chest as we descended. It haunted me for quite awhile but quickly dissipated by the warm and wonderful people I met afterward.

Saturday night was devoted to getting to know my extraordinary hosts, Jason Fults and Laurel Nesbit, and I was thankful for that time to unwind slightly before we wound ourselves up again for what has proven to be a whirlwind of events.

The very next morning, I attended service with amazing people at UC Gainesville. It was a beautiful service, amazingly inclusive, a wonderful sermon by a seemingly “too young to be a minister” young man named Vince Amil. The repetitive words from a song stuck with me: “When the worship is over, service begins.” After crossing a very inviting courtyard, we met at 11:00 in a separate room for an Adult Education Class on Mountaintop Removal. How cool is that? I left them with a book for the church library accessible to all to remind others of the consequences of burning fossil fuels in this country, the consequence that is most often left out and ignored, the consequence of the extraction process on the Appalachian region and its people. I left there knowing in my heart that these intelligent, thoughtful people would engage and continue to be creative in ways not yet imaginable by me.

Circles close quickly when we are open to others and will have heartfelt conversations with them. I met a woman in the Church who was born in Wise, VA, where I have lived nearly all my life.

After a swift change of clothes, we headed down town to the ongoing Arts Festival to pass out flyers for the Monday night event, the screening of the documentary “The Last Mountain” at the Civic Media Center on Main Street. Most folks at the festival were receptive, few blew us off, and I also walked away with a couple of pieces of local pottery that will continue to remind me of Gainesville far into the future.

All of this was followed by a ride into the country to visit the Nesbit farm, probably one of the very few hills in Florida, do a bit of walking, visit chickens, pigs, lots of vegetables, an ongoing project for a Cobb oven and have a wonderful dinner underneath a hand built pavilion outside, with almost everything on our plates coming from the farm. Thanks to Rick and Jane Nesbit for wonderful food, wonderful friendship, and such genuine warmth and obvious love of family.

On Monday morning as planned, I met up with a young, vibrant Ph.D. student from the University of Florida who escorted me on campus to make sure that I arrived at the Sociology Class, to which I would deliver a MTR presentation, on time. Thank goodness for Robert Perdue and a special thanks to Ginger, the professor of the class, for inviting us and helping with setup. Robert had paved the way with this class by priming them on the process of mountaintop removal (previously only five had raised their hand when asked if they knew what mountaintop removal was). The clock ticked too quickly, we left time for Q & A, of which there was several. Some students were shocked by reality, but the all important question was asked, “What can we do?” We spoke of the future, a bigger dream, a much bigger plan, but in the meantime, a national initiative, the Clean Water Protection Act, and local initiatives afoot through Jason’s group here. The group has pushed GRU (that’s the local utility) to use 0% mountaintop removal coal, and are busy as bees working on a local energy efficiency ordinance that would help renters have lower electric bills and the home owners have more profit while helping the environment. That will be a win, win, win.

Robert and his wife and their young family were gracious to invite me to lunch at their home, including some “patentable” chicken salad and handmade biscuits before I began an afternoon of calls to the press to invite them to cover our screening at the Civic Center that evening.

In a scurry then, we packed our “stuff” and headed to the Media Center. The room swiftly filled. It was a great evening with joint participation by several different groups.

There are so many whom I wish to personally thank for making these events such special occasions: UC Gainesville Church, Sierra Club Suwannee St. Johns, the Civic Media Center, Scott Camil and Sherry Steiner, Kim Ross, Jason Fults and Laurel Nesbit, Anna Grace Sampson for her art which I must now explore, Robert Purdue and Ginger Jacobson from the university, Russ Anderson, and so many more.

We had a full house at the Center, it was a special evening and I walked away feeling like we are in the same boat fighting for a just and fair future in an environmentally sound produced energy supply. I spotted a representative of the Swallowtail Farm present and remember imagining the chickens flying the “movable coop” hailing banners against mountaintop removal and messages about the Appalachians being a national treasure.

Tuesday was free early in the day. Laurel and I both slept in and then headed to the prairie to enjoy the outdoors, spot bison and explore the area. I appreciate the lesson in the water aquifers of Florida, how the land across the prairie is really a drainage basin before the water sinks through limestone into Florida’s aquifers to be withdrawn when needed. We didn’t find bison, but found other animals to capture our interests. One needs to look closely for alligators, including small ones. They are quite elusive.

We did get quite an up close look at a group of wild horses with two colts, of different ages, and watched closely as they crossed the path right below and by us for a watering hole with gators. It reminded me of the line, “It takes a village to raise a child” as the larger of the horses seemed anxious to protect the colts. The gators, though one moved slightly, made no move on the pack. Thank you Laurel for such a great adventure into Florida’s nature and an introduction to Florida’s famous salamander.

Before an evening back at the University of Florida, Jason and I headed to the GEAC, the Gainesville Energy Advisory Council, in downtown Gainesville, to meet some very interesting folks. Jason had a valid interest in speaking to them and providing info about the proposed energy efficiency conservation measures, but mountain top removal had also found its way into its agenda for a short speaking opportunity. I was pleasantly surprised by the range of ages in the group — a good mix carries a good message: Get involved early! The reception was warm and cordial, they listened intently, with a couple of good suggestions coming from a young member of the group later.

From there, we headed in flight to UF, Rinker Hall Rm 210, for a screening of a different film this time: “The Electricity Fairy”. It chronicles the controversy over Dominion Virginia Power’s coal-fired plant in Wise County, where I live, currently under construction and shortly to go on-line. The Washington Post put it best when they said: “If it were possible to build a coal-fueled power plant in Virginia without controversy, it would happen here. In the state’s Appalachian southwest, there is coal in the hills, coal in the rail cars, and coal in family histories that stretch back to picks and shovels.” Apparently, it’s not possible. The crowd was not large but we had a very thoughtful and engaging conversation after the film and made new friends as well.

The following morning, Laurel and I headed out to the Volta downtown to a coffee shop I learned was owned, partially at least, by its workers. The coffee shop also provides a spot for folks to meet to talk. But this morning the subject was not mountaintop removal but grass fed beef. I met with a gentleman who works for the local Habitat for Humanity organization about possibilities for future collaboration. Not many questions or ideas were settled but certainly several were introduced and laid on the table. He is from UC Gainesville, so thank you once again. I must introduce Scott and Jason. I know they can be beneficial working partners.

I loaded my things, hopped in my rental, and headed back to Jacksonville for a flight home. I would leave the large stacks behind, try not to think of them, and take with me the warmth and the welcome of my new friends in Gainesville where we have solidified our renewed commitment: They love mountains too.

- Kathy Selvage, Wise, Va.

That’s an excerpt from the conversation in my head before deciding to write a post about the photo-essay that was posted on the front page of CNN.com on Monday with the teaser image of a burning cross. The link was titled “Everyday Life in Appalachia.”

Teaser Image for CNN's "Everyday Life in Appalachia"Photo Essay

I’ll spare you the righteous indignation and the pages of moralizing that virtually burst from my fingertips and get right to the point of why it’s worth calling attention to this particularly offensive piece of pseudo-journalistic garbage: misleading stereotypes have real world consequences.

In speaking with people all over the country for the last 10 years about the need to end the wholesale destruction of Appalachian mountains ,streams and communities from mountaintop removal coal mining, I often get the question: why are local people letting this happen? The answer, of course, is that they are not letting it happen. We — all Americans — are letting it happen.

We are allowing a unique and distinctly American culture and the oldest and most biologically diverse mountains and streams on the continent to be destroyed because it’s something we believe is happening somewhere else to somebody else. Of course it’s sad that these charming, albeit hopelessly degenerate cross burners, snake handlers and shirtless, barefoot hillbillies are being displaced by the march of progress, but it’s not like it’s something that is happening to people like me…

Except that it is. The real Appalachia looks a lot more like the photos on your smartphone than the photos of snake handlers and burning crosses that CNN billed as “Everyday Life in Appalachia.”

What would happen if Americans realized that people just like them – accountants, engineers, welders, professors, miners, truckers, teachers, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters – are living with polluted drinking water, are three times as likely to have children born with birth defects and have a life expectancy comparable to that in developing countries like Iran, Syria, El Salvador and Vietnam? At Appalachian Voices, our theory has long been that bringing Americans to this realization is a crucial prerequisite for mustering the national will to end the destruction of Appalachian mountains and communities by mountaintop removal coal mining. For this reason, CNN’s prejudiced and exploitative treatment of Appalachian culture is not just offensive, but extremely damaging.

It’s hard for a small, under-resourced organization in Appalachia to compete with CNN’s megaphone, which is why we need your help. We set up a facebook page and a twitter hash tag #realappalachia for our friends and allies to show CNN and all Americans what the real Appalachia looks like. Here’s your assignment: post, tweet or e-mail a few of your favorite pictures of Appalachia and we’ll compile them here, on facebook and share them with the editors of CNN.com.

I had the amazing opportunity to be on a team of students at Appalachian State University that has been working over the past school year to create a miniature wetland to install in the local salon Haircut 101. Bobbie Jo Swinson, the project’s student leader, received a $15,000 grant for the project last year from an EPA P3 Phase I grant. The purpose of EPA’s P3 — People, Prosperity, and the Planet — is to inspire students to design sustainable solutions for world issues and bring their ideas into the marketplace.

Our project, Grow Clean Water, was inspired by Bobbie Jo’s work as a hair stylist and her experience watching chemicals from hair treatments lost down the drain. Students from appropriate technology, biology, chemistry, interior design, and sustainable development worked to design the biological graywater system to treat the hair salon water using aquatic plants before being recycled through the salon’s toilets for flushing. Graywater is the water from sources such as baths, sinks, and laundry machines; it is not to be confused with blackwater, which contains fecal matter. Aside from removing contaminants, we also wanted the system to function as living art that would educate the community about recycling graywater.

About 500 gallons of salon water were collected from Haircut 101 and used on eight different species of aquatic plants that had been growing all year for the project. The plants were selected based on their use in other phytoremediation studies and ability to filter water in natural wetland settings. All but 2 of the species are native, the others were donated by the plant supplier. Although we knew the plants had some chemical tolerance, we thought the harsh compounds in the hair treatments would kill them off fairly quickly. Our results were surprising; within a matter of days the plants exploded with color and growth, meaning they were actually thriving off of the salon water, and remained that way for the months to follow.

Better still, chemical analysis of the water samples showed that 40% of contaminants were removed with just one pass through the living system, and 60-100% of contaminants were removed after several days. A beautiful working model was also completed as we prepared our findings to compete for a grant for Phase II.

We traveled to D.C. on April 20 to compete for three days at the EPA’s Sustainable Design Expo with 44 other teams from across the country. Judging was conducting by a panel of national experts, and appearances were made by Lisa Jackson and Lek Kadeli from the EPA. Grow Clean Water won one of the $90,000 grants for Phase II, and a $1,000 award from the Youth Council on Sustainable Science and Technology. Over the next two years, we will use the Phase II award to optimize the system design, install the first prototype into Haircut 101, and search for other applications of the project in the market. A living system is also going to be incorporated into the school’s next home for the Solar Decathlon.

One of the greatest parts of the competition was seeing so much creativity and motivation to solve common global problems. It was also empowering to see that there is a demand for this creativity and a willingness to invest in it; over $1 million in awards was given to student projects that weekend.

Our small project in Haircut 101 will save 35,000 gallons of potable water annually from being lost down the toilet. We’ve also talked about how living systems could be used in laundromats and car washes. What if every small business or home had its own version of a living system? What if we could change legislation so graywater could be reused for more than just toilet flushing or watering a yard? The salon is just one of the activities that is daily bombarding local waters, and it’s important to give attention to all the problems, those as small as the graywater stream from a hair salon and as large as the drainage from a coal mine.

Learn more at http://growcleanwater.blogspot.com/

- – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -
Contact:
Tom Cormons, Appalachian Voices, 434-981-6506, tom@appvoices.org
Sean Sarah, Sierra Club, 330 338-3740 sean.sarah@sierraclub.org
Sam Broach, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, 276-523-1702, sbroach1@verizon.net
- – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -

Coalition Acts to Protect Virginia Rivers and Streams from Mining Pollution
Groups Challenge A&G Coal’s Unpermitted Discharges of Toxic Selenium

Wise County, VA – Today, a coalition of groups took action to stop A&G Coal Corporation from polluting local waterways.

Water monitoring conducted by the groups shows that A&G’s Kelly Branch Mine in Wise County is dumping the toxic pollutant selenium into streams at levels above state water quality standards, even though the mine’s permit does not allow such pollution. The groups’ lawsuit alleges that these unpermitted discharges violate the Clean Water Act and Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.

Selenium pollution is a problem for coal mines across Appalachia, but today’s lawsuit represents the first such action to protect rivers and streams in Virginia from this harmful byproduct of mountaintop removal coal mining. The groups bringing today’s lawsuit are the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Appalachian Voices, and the Sierra Club.

“The more we learn about mountaintop removal mining, the more we understand how this destructive practice pollutes our rivers, streams and communities,” said Glen Besa, Director of Sierra Club’s Virginia Chapter. “Companies like A&G Coal must be held accountable for cleaning up this pollution, and must bear the true costs of the harm they’re causing.”

Selenium, a toxic element that causes reproductive failure and deformities in fish and other forms of aquatic life, is discharged from many surface coal mining operations across Appalachia. Selenium accumulates in the tissues of aquatic organisms over time, and experts predict that waterways across Appalachia could be on the brink of collapse due to increasing levels of the pollutant.

“It’s a shame that it falls to groups like ours to make sure that companies are complying with the law,” said Sam Broach, President of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards. “Why aren’t state regulators like the DMME stepping up to protect our communities from this pollution?”

“The people, land and water of Appalachia have been forced to pay the externalized costs of mountaintop removal for far too long, with local communities suffering life-threatening health problems and a damaged ecosystem,” said Tom Cormons, Virginia Director for Appalachian Voices. “Appalachian communities should not be forced to subsidize wealthy coal corporations that are violating the law.”

Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Appalachian Voices, and the Sierra Club are represented in this matter by Isak Howell and Joe Lovett of Appalachian Mountain Advocates.
###

“BREAKING: Daring Action at Bank of America Stadium,” read the first email in my inbox this morning. Immediately, I thought what a crazed football fan might be capable of — in the offseason no less — if they were to break into the complex.

Turns out my imagination had taken the wrong course. The “daring action” at Bank of America Stadium targeted the bank itself. This morning, five activists from the Rainforest Action Network scaled the stadium walls before unfurling a banner suggesting a more appropriate name for the corporation. The “Bank of Coal” banner is a reminder to shareholders, board members and thousands on their daily commute, that the Charlotte-based bank cannot hide its long-standing relationship with coal industry under fluffy pronouncements of corporate responsibility.

Bank of America is the largest financier of the mining, transportation and burning of coal, a fuel that causes 80 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation in the United States. It has given hundreds of millions in loans to Arch Coal and Peabody Energy — the two largest coal companies in the nation, and underwrites billions to coal-heavy utilities such as Southern Company.

Just yesterday, RAN released its Coal Finance Report Card for 2012. Apparently, all of the largest banks in the United States have not been doing their homework by considering human health or the environment in their coal-financing decisions. Over the past few years, Bank of America alone has underwritten $4.3 billion in the coal industry, significantly more than any other U.S. bank.

Under its mountaintop removal coal mining policy, announced in 2008, Bank of America claimed that it would “phase out financing of companies whose predominant method of extracting coal is through mountaintop removal.” Then, in 2011, the bank participated in a $1.6 billion loan to assist Alpha Natural Resources’ effort to raise the capital needed to buy Massey Energy, the largest mountaintop removal mining company.

The banner was promptly removed and the climbers arrested. But the action may be the start of months of protests in The Queen City. And the protesters aren’t the only ones preparing. As shareholder meetings of Bank of America and Duke Energy, and especially the Democratic National Convention approach, the city of Charlotte will be testing out expanded police power. In preparation for the DNC, the shareholder meetings have been designated “extraordinary events.”

On Wednesday, May 9, citizens will gather outside Bank of America headquarters during a shareholders meeting to put the bank on notice for targeting minority communities in the sub-prime mortgage crisis, for investing in private prisons and immigrant detention centers, and for destroying the environment and contributing to climate change by continuing to finance destructive projects of the coal industry.

Considering that today businesses of all sizes hail transparency as their highest ideal, perhaps RAN’s suggested rebranding to “Bank of Coal” isn’t that far of a stretch. On a bad day, the “Bank of Coal” Stadium seats about 74,000 disappointed football fans, just a fraction of the number of people fed up with Bank of America’s irresponsible investments. Join us in Charlotte on May 9 to tell Bank of America and its shareholders that it’s time to rethink their responsibility to citizens and to the environment.

Appalachian Voices is joining with Rainforest Action Network and other partners in Charlotte next Thursday, May 9, to rally and march on Bank of America’s annual shareholder’s meeting. We will be asking that Bank of America stop bankrolling dirty coal and shift their financing towards cleaner energy sources.

Please let us know if you are interested in attending and we will send you more information. For more info, contact Sandra, N.C. Campaign Coordinator at sandra@appvoices.org.

WHAT: Bank of America Shareholder Meeting Protests
WHEN: May 9th, 8 a.m.
WHERE: Downtown Charlotte
RSVP: Please let us know you want to join us and we will send you more details.
Click here for Facebook invite.

There’s the personal side of this, of course – everything from financial planning to the apple and pear trees my four-year-old and I planted in the backyard earlier this year and the new garden beds we’re building. But there’s no escaping the fact that, prepare individually as we might, the fates of our families and offspring – and everything else we care about – are tied to the future of our communities, our society, and the planet itself. To be sure, contemplating this reality can lead to despair for those attuned to the array of threats to our common future. But despair get us nowhere, and there’s something far more useful that comes just as naturally: the excitement of working together to lay the foundation for a bright future in the face of these threats.

Opportunities to do this abound, and a central part of Appalachian Voices’ role is to engage people willing and able to take at least a little time for this exciting work.

There’s an important opportunity right now, actually. Virginia is currently reviewing Dominion Virginia Power’s 15-year plan for providing the electricity we use. In other words, this is the time for Virginians to make our voices heard regarding how Dominion will be investing the money from our electric bills when my twins are teenagers. Will they still be pouring our cash into dirty energy sources like coal that wreck havoc on our mountains, air, water and climate? Well, according to Dominion’s 15-year plan, they will be. Although the plan does call for retiring some of Dominion’s oldest coal-fired power plants (a good first step), it also involves no large-scale wind or solar projects and falls far short of Virginia’s conservative goal for increased energy efficiency! In other words, Dominion plans to continue locking us into dependence on the fossil fuels that are one of the greatest threats to our children’s future.

Fortunately, the State Corporation Commission (SCC) is accepting comments from Virginians on the plan. And we’ve made it easy for you to submit a comment on the Wise Energy for Virginia website demanding that electricity ratepayers’ money be invested in a transition to clean energy. And, for those of you able to go the extra mile to voice your desire for a clean energy future, please consider attending our coalition’s Rally for a Clean Energy Future in Richmond scheduled to take place outside the SCC building next Tuesday, May 8, the day the SCC begins its hearing on Dominion’s plan.

Can you imagine watching a clean energy future for Virginia growing over the years along with the children, trees and gardens in our communities? We can – and must – work together to make this a reality. Please take the time to submit a comment, and I hope many of you can make it to Richmond next Tuesday, May 8!

That case was brought about in October 2010 when we filed a Notice of Intent to Sue against Frasure Creek Mining, and International Coal Group (Now an Arch Coal subsidiary) for 20,000 violations of the Clean Water Act with potential penalties of over $700 million. The bulk of these violations relate to false and potentially fraudulent reporting of water pollution levels. Under the Clean Water Act companies have limits on the amount of pollution they are allowed to release, and they are required to monitor their pollution to make sure they meet these limits.

In an effort to keep us from being able to bring a case in federal court, the coal companies reached settlements with the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, but those settlements needed to be approved by a state court. The settlements amounted to little more than a slap on the wrist; they have minimal fines and no meaningful measures to ensure that the same problems will not continue. Through the citizen suit provision of the Clean Water Act, citizen are allowed to participate in legal actions to protect public waters. Using this provision, we intervened in the state court case in order to argue that the state’s settlement was not fair, adequate and in the public interest.

Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision upheld the lower court’s decision to allow us to intervene in that case, and provides clarification for citizens wishing to intervene in future Clean Water Act enforcement cases in Kentucky.

In September of 2011 a three day trial, for the case in which we intervened, was held to determine whether or not the settlement should be entered. The court has yet to rule on that matter, and ordered all the parties to mediation. Settlement talks are still ongoing.

The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet’s role in this case has been an interesting one. They opposed our intervention (contrary to federal law), and they joined Frasure Creek in appealing the decision to allow us to intervene. It seems odd that an agency whose duty is to protect citizens from pollution has been spending its limited resources trying to prevent citizens from intervening to protect streams they use and enjoy. Yesterday’s Ruling even stated, “an interested citizen’s not being permitted to so intervene can be a factor casting doubt upon the ‘diligence’ of the state’s enforcement efforts.”

We hope that this case will be a step towards cooperation between the Cabinet, Kentucky coal companies and citizens, so Kentucky can have coal jobs and clean, safe water.

-Click here to see the KY Supreme Court Ruling

-Click here to find out more about the history of this case

Reserve your ticket now!

Thanks for being a friend of Appalachian Voices — we appreciate the time you devote to staying updated and taking action on environmental issues in the region!

We’re gearing up for Artists for Appalachia, a special annual membership meeting and 15th anniversary celebration June 21 in Charlottesville, Va., and you’re invited.

Throughout the evening, we’ll celebrate Appalachia’s natural and cultural heritage with a host of special guests, including renowned environmental defender Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., country music legend Kathy Mattea, Michael Johnathon of internationally syndicated Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour, singers and songwriters Daniel Martin Moore and Trent Wagler, the producer and director of the award-winning film The Last Mountain, Clara Bingham and Bill Haney, Charlottesville folksingers The Honey Dewdrops, and more!

Receive a ticket to Artists for Appalachia by becoming a member of Appalachian Voices or renewing your membership for $35. Special reserved seating is available for an additional $15 donation, but these seats are limited and expected to go quickly. Click here to purchase a ticket and membership.

We hope you can join us in Charlottesville, Va., June 21, to celebrate the region we all love and to prepare for the next 15 years of protecting Central and Southern Appalachia.

For the mountains,

Willa Mays
Executive Director

There’s Coal Ash in the Transportation Bill?

That’s right. The U.S. House voted to attach a provision to their version of the Transportation bill that would stop the EPA from ever issuing minimum safeguards on coal ash, leaving us with a dangerous version of the status quo. Hopefully the Senate will see that coal ash doesn’t belong in our Transportation bill — or in our nation’s waterways.
 [ Read more and contact your senators. ]

Dominion Needs a Brighter Idea

Dominion Virginia Power, the Commonwealth’s largest utility, is seeking approval for a 15-year plan that fails to even meet the state’s conservative benchmarks for energy efficiency and renewable energy. We need Virginia residents – especially Dominion customers – to let the commission know that you expect more from Dominion! [ Make your voice heard at our Rally for a Clean Energy Future in Richmond on May 8 and submit a public comment to the state demanding that Dominion make plans for a clean energy future!]

Coal Lobby Delays Mountaintop Removal Ban

In Tennessee, the coal lobby once again successfully delayed efforts to protect mountaintops and Appalachian communities. Despite the request for an up-or-down vote on the Scenic Vistas Protection Act, an unfriendly motion killed the bill by sending it to "summer study," where the Committee is charged with taking an in-depth look at the impacts of surface mining’s impact on Tennessee. [ Learn more about the Tennessee legislature's coal-fueled cowardice. ]

Appalachian Voices Roundup….

KY WATER CHECK-UP: Our Appalachian Water Watch team recently met with members of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth to help with baseline water quality monitoring in Harlan County and acid mine drainage sampling in Floyd County. [ Read more about these water quality tests. ]

SOUTHEAST TO NORTHWEST: Our Appalachian Treasures team is out West with Amber Whittington of Ameagle, W.Va., educating new friends about mountaintop removal. Before heading back East, the team has a few more presentations in Washington state. [ Check out the tour schedule. ]

ABOVE BOARD: Our amazing Board of Directors members are staying busy outside of their great work for Appalachian Voices. Latest accomplishments include: Van Jones releasing his exciting new book, Reclaim the Dream, Dot Griffith placing as a finalist in the 2011 Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition, and Silas House co-writing and publishing a moving coming-of-age-novel, Under the Same Sun.
Congratulations to all three!

April 25, 2012 ~ Vol. 4, No. 4

Become our Fan on or follow us on

Keep Coal Ash Out of our Water and the Transportation Bill!

West Virginia Rep. David McKinley is a man on a mission — to save the coal industry from the bullies at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. McKinley’s afraid that the EPA may eventually require coal-fired utilities to contain their coal ash so it’s not allowed to continue to pollute our waterways. But McKinley is not alone — he had some help from the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, the organization currently under fire for providing industry the means to unduly influence our elected officials.

McKinley’s bill, H.R. 2273, would literally prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from protecting families from the water and air pollution associated with poor storage and disposal of coal ash, the toxic remnants of coal-burning.

Last Wednesday, McKinley attached the entire toxic bill as an amendment to the “must-pass” House version of the Transportation Bill. With the Senate version already passed a few weeks ago, there will now be a conference of House and Senate members to hammer out the final Transportation bill.

Please contact your Senators and ask them to reject any amendments that would gut federal coal ash protections.

The passage of this coal ash bill would have real consequences for real people. Just ask Steven Johnson, Gloria Dorsett, Robert Deveaux and Donna Keiser, whose lives have been forever changed by the toxic menace of coal ash.

Steve Johnson and his daughter on his coal ash covered driveway

In Florida, we have Steven Johnson, whose dream home near a preserved wetland in northeast Florida is now ruined from toxic coal ash that was sold to him as structural fill. When his soil was “…compared to the median level of metals in soils across Florida, arsenic was tested to be 45 times higher than the median level in soils.”

………………

Gloria Dorsett of Juliette, Ga. “recently sold her white brick house on Luther Smith Rd. to Georgia Power and moved away. She had spoken to The Telegraph and written letters to a local paper in prior years, complaining of the ash eating away at her home and causing her to have nosebleeds, among other health problems.” Dorsett lived across the street from Plant Scherer, the largest power plant in the country.

Researchers from the University of Georgia recently found high levels of uranium in drinking water wells in Dorsett’s community. The story recently garnered national coverage as a CNN story.

………………

63-year-old Robert Deveaux had plans to retire to his family’s land in Richland County, S.C. “As a kid, I grew up fishing in that river,”he told The State Journal. In 2009 it was discovered that “arsenic-tainted runoff that in places measured several feet wide” were leaking from SC&G’s coal ash ponds directly into the Wateree River.”

Deveaux’s reaction? “This makes me very angry and very frightened.” And rightfully so. The Southern Environmental Law Center is now suing SC&G to hold them accountable.

………………

In North Carolina, dried coal ash dust floats onto Donna Kaiser’s home and patio in Arden, N.C., just south of Asheville. Her community of Julian Trails lays just several hundred feet from the edge of one of the coal ash ponds owned by Progress Energy; in fact, you can see the ponds from her bedroom. She says her vegetables in her garden came out deformed and she hadn’t put two and two together until the French Broad Riverkeeper came knocking on her door to ask her about the coal ash ponds.

Watch a TV report about the Progress Energy coal ash pond (opens in new window).

………………

Curt Havens and his wife are afraid to eat their vegetables because they live so close to Little Blue coal ash pond

McKinley’s own constituents in Chester, W.Va. are suffering from the impacts of coal ash from Little Blue coal ash pond, the largest coal ash pond in the country. “At a congressional hearing last spring, resident Curt Havens described how the toxic ash impoundment was gushing water contaminated with cadmium, a cancer-causing metal, near his home. He also explained to Rep. McKinley and the subcommittee that he had thyroid cancer and his wife has thyroid disease—illnesses caused by cadmium exposure.”

………………

These cases are only the tip of the coal-ashberg. Most people do not even know if they live near a coal ash pond, even though there is a 1-in-50 chance that you will develop cancer if you do.

But the unfortunate truth is that there are more standards for your kitchen trash than for toxic coal ash ponds. Coal ash is so unregulated, you can even buy some off of Craig’s List.

“I have as much coal ash as you can haul it can be used for alot of different things. Take all you want or all of it if you want free you load.”

Please email your Senators today and ask that they vote against any amendments that weaken federal protections on coal ash.