A new group called Pennies of Promise joins the movement to help Marsh Fork Elementary School. Check out the video of their trip to the governor’s office. See if the governor’s eye’s can convince you that theres no problem. He sure didnt convince the residents.

This is Marsh Fork Elementary School in Sundial, WV.

(Yes, that is a coal silo 150 feet from the school)
In the past 10 years, five school employees, and one 17 year old former student have died from cancer. Another 17 year old is now recovering from ovarian cancer. Toxins are in the air, water, and lungs of every single one of these children.

400 yards above Marsh Fork Elementary School, there is an earthen dam. On Mountaintop Removal sites, these are called “impoundment dams.” This particular impoundment dam holds 2.8 billion gallons of toxic sludge.

Here is the impoundment dam looming right above the dwarfed Elementary school.

Heres another picture. Note that the larger facility directly below the hill is the huge coal processing facility. The school is the smaller building with the large lawn.

Impoundment dams have burst before, most famously at Buffalo Creek – an incident which killed 125 people, erased the town of Saunders, WV off the map, and made 4000 residents homeless. The Marsh Creek Impoundment is over 21 times larger than the Buffalo Creek Dam was.

These kids arent safe.

Residents have been fighting this American embarrassment for quite some time, and have started making national press. The movement is now growing, with a new group called Pennies of Promise. The group is working to get the Marsh Fork school moved to another site, and they are working to raise the money themselves (after being ignored by the governor.)

“Kayla,” a fifth grader, gave the governor her piggy bank because she is tired of being sick.

Media: Is that your money?
Kayla: Now its money to build a new school.

This is what the governor is ignoring…

Pennies of Promise did a survey of 60 homes that had children at the school.
Of those 60 homes…
53 homes had sick children
48 of those homes children with regular respiratory problems, headaches, and sore throats.

“It. Just. Goes. On.”

No testing. No new school. The governor said its up to the school board.
The school board says they don’t have the money.

Help out Pennies of Promise, and watch a video of them delivering money to the Governor here