1,000 Rednecks Marched on Blair Mountain!

The following email was sent to the 51,000+ supporters of iLoveMountains.org. To sign up to receive free email alerts, click here. Just a few weeks ago citizens of Blair, WV climbed to the crest of Blair Mountain with over 1,000 new allies. Movement leaders from surrounding states, union workers, students, archaeologists, activists, and friends from…

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Cheating Democracy: Suspending Your Right to Clean Water

By Rachel Goss Appalachian Voices Development Associate / Director of Foundations, 2011 The coal industry’s war on water got another boost on June 22nd, when the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act (HR 2018). The bill, resonant with blatant disregard for scientific data and human health, would effectively remove…

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Kentucky Coal Companies Remind Us Why We Really, Really Need the EPA

The latest episode in the saga known as Big Coal’s Watergate began today when environmental and citizen groups filed a second notice of intent to sue the two largest mountaintop removal mining companies in Kentucky. Appalachian Voices, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, Kentucky Riverkeeper, and Waterkeeper Alliance notified ICG and Frasure Creek Mining of their intent…

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Job Offer: Virginia Coal Campaign Organizer for the Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition

Wise Energy for Virginia is a growing coalition of national, regional and local organizations committed to securing a clean energy future for Virginia. Since 2007 Appalachian Voices, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the Sierra Club’s Virginia Chapter, the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards joined together to fight against newly proposed…

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Coal: From Surry, Va to Blair Mountain, Wv

In 1921, more than 10,000 coal miners marched through southern West Virginia for their right to unionize, for their right to a decent wage, for reasonable hours and other rights that we take for granted today. On Blair Mountain the march erupted into a violent skirmish between the marchers and local authorities and hired coal…

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Massey and Alpha: The Great Merge or a Buyout Splurge?

By Jillian Randel Alpha Natural Resources announced on June 1 that it will acquiesce Massey Energy—a much anticipated move that has left many outraged. Massey Energy—one of the largest coal operators in the nation—is also one of the most shameful players in the industry. Violations of human safety and environmental health get kicked around their…

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Wise County, Va: Local Residents March in Downtown Appalachia to Celebrate Ison Rock Ridge and Protest Mountain’s Pending Demise

This press release about today’s march is posted on behalf of our friends at the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards in Wise County, Va. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: Hannah Morgan, Sierra Club, 276-494-5686 Judiana Clark, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, 276-523-3094 Local Residents March in Downtown Appalachia to Celebrate Ison Rock Ridge and Protest Mountain’s Pending Demise…

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Voice Your Support for Cleaner Air

Coal plants = #1 source of mercury into our air. Bonding with water and falling from the air, mercury deposits in our lakes, rivers, streams, and other water bodies that provide drinking water, fish, recreation and ecological habitats. Read here & learn about mercury’s toxic effects. Right now, you can take a stand to reduce…

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Dominion Shareholders Begin to Ask for an End to Buying Mountaintop Removal Coal

Last week shareholders of one of the nation’s largest utilities, Dominion, which serves Virginia and 13 other states, introduced several resolutions intended to move the massive energy company toward greener energy. The shareholder resolutions included one to get Dominion to commit to installing 20% renewable energy by 2024, another would stop the planned construction of…

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And the Hits Just Keep on Comin’! More Flagrant Clean Water Violations By Another Appalachian Coal Mining Company

As part of our Appalachian Water Watch initiative, Appalachian Voices, with partners, officially filed a federal lawsuit against Nally & Hamilton Coal Company for over 12,000 violations of the Clean Water Act at more than a dozen of its operations in eastern Kentucky. As we have witnessed before, there is evidence that Nally and Hamilton…

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