Holler from the Hollers
There is a lot going on in the federal government with regulations being repealed, policies revoked, protections eliminated and funding canceled. It can be really hard to keep track of, and even harder to know where to plug in and advocate for your community.
One of the most effective actions you can take is to simply pick up your phone and call elected officials to tell them what you’re concerned about. And when we’re all calling about the same issues, we’re making a bigger impact. We’re picking something specific to make calls about together in our Holler from the Hollers series.
We are hosting a series of Zoom events, where we share information about a topic we have chosen to make calls about and give you a script to call our leaders together. Once we’re done making our calls, we can chat and compare notes! We’ll post registration information for each event on this page when it is available. If you or your friends can’t make it, we’ll also provide a toolkit or action alert you can use to make calls on your own time.
Upcoming Hollers!
June 12 at noon ET: Holler about protecting miners' health and safety!
This year the presidential administration has made several moves that roll back miner safety and derailed important work on addressing black lung disease. Staff cuts at the National Institute for Safety and Health affected a health program that analyzes miner x-rays and allows them to work in less dusty areas of miners. A division at NIOSH that was working on a tool to prevent black lung was sent home in April and hasn’t returned to work. These cuts at NIOSH led the Mine Safety and Health Administration to delay implementation of the long-awaited rule to protect miners from silica dust that is driving the black lung crisis. Now the administration is proposing to cut 10% from MSHA’s budget, which will further impede the agency’s ability to keep miners safe from workplace accidents and illnesses like black lung disease.
Join us this Thursday at 12 p.m. to learn more and make calls to your legislators and let them know that you want them to stand up for miners’ health!
Previous Hollers
Members of Congress still need to hear from you about the following topics
Holler to stop the “polluters above people” bill!
On May 22, Republicans in the House of Representatives Congress passed an expansive budget reconciliation bill, H.R.1, with broad impacts shaping everything from energy development to health care to public lands. The bill is known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act or “Renewing the American Dream” Act. The details of these bills are concerning, with negative consequences for community health and safety, jobs and economic development, and protection of our public, natural spaces.
Specifically, the bill will:
- Allow pipeline, drilling and mining companies to pay a fee to speed through permitting processes that are in place to ensure the protection of people’s health and safety, sending the message that if you have enough money, you can pollute as much as you want.
- Require a 25% increase to timber harvests on national forest land, putting our communities at risk of increased runoff, worsening the impacts of flood events, and destroying vital outdoor recreation assets.
- Mandate more than 4 million acres of additional public lands, such as national forests and wilderness lands, be made available for coal mining.
- Mandate quarterly lease sales of public lands to oil and gas companies in “any state where there is land available for oil and gas leasing.”
- Repeal various energy and manufacturing tax credits that are reducing electricity costs for people across the country and creating jobs in coalfield communities. If Congress repeals the tax credits this year, by 2029, residential electricity prices will increase by an average of 7.3% and commercial and industrial customer prices would increase by 10.6%.
- Limit access to food assistance and Medicaid healthcare for low-income people. According to the Appalachian Regional Commission, 20% of people in Central Appalachia receive SNAP benefits. More than 40% of adults in Central Appalachia have health coverage through Medicaid.
Holler about keeping the A/C and heat on for low-income families!
Many people in our region struggle with high energy bills — sometimes 15% or more of a household’s income. A high power bill can make it hard to stay safe and comfortable in the heat of summer or cold of winter, or it can force hard choices between power and other essentials, like medicine.
The federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps qualifying households lower their energy costs through weatherization updates to windows, doors and insulation. But Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has cut all the staff positions running the program, and a leaked draft budget document shows that some members of Congress want to cut funding for LIHEAP entirely.
LIHEAP has long had bipartisan support. Not only does it help families stay safe during extreme temperatures, but it also supports energy efficiency jobs and helps lower the strain on the grid. Members of Congress need to hear from you that we want LIHEAP to keep helping neighbors who need a hand!
Holler about FEMA aid for Helene survivors!
People are still waiting for federal aid to recover from Hurricane Helene, which is unacceptable seven months after the storm. Lawmakers need to hear from constituents that FEMA must transparently deliver aid to people affected by Helene now. Survivors have told stories to news outlets about FEMA’s opaque processes and surprise rulings for minimal aid when people have dire needs and did everything correctly to fill out the right forms. Our community members need federal resources to recover from this unprecedented disaster in the region, and our lawmakers need to hear from constituents that FEMA can no longer delay its delivery of aid.
While communities continue to ask FEMA and other federal agencies for the resources they need to rebuild from Helene, there are ongoing discussions in the Department of Homeland Security (where FEMA is housed) about dismantling FEMA and limiting its scope of work to only providing disaster aid while forcing states to administer all programs for emergency preparedness.
It is critical for our region that FEMA continue to fund pre-disaster mitigation work and administer aid to survivors of disasters more quickly.
Holler about protecting clean energy tax credits!
The Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in 2022, created new tax incentives to promote investment in clean energy projects across the country. These credits are already having major impacts in Appalachia by boosting local economies, creating jobs with transferable skills, enhancing energy reliability, lowering people’s electricity bills, and cutting pollution.
Congress is now identifying programs to cut to pay for their tax cuts to billionaires, and, unfortunately, the clean energy tax credits are on the chopping block.
Members of Congress need to hear from their constituents that they don’t want their electricity bills to go up or to lose the new jobs in their communities created by the clean energy tax credits.
Holler about programs that protect coal miners from black lung!
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and its Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program provide essential health services to coal miners. It provides free, confidential screenings for black lung disease and supports clinics across the country. Last week, Elon Musk’s DOGE gutted NIOSH offices, including in West Virginia, where much of the work helping coal miners is done.
NIOSH operates a mobile black lung screening van that meets coal miners where they are, making it easier for them to get screened for deadly black lung. If black lung is caught early, coal miners have a better chance of managing their health. Hundreds of thousands of coal miners have used the program’s free screening services since the program’s creation over 50 years ago.
Lawmakers across the political spectrum say they support miners, and they need to hear from constituents like you. Tell your members of Congress to push back against cuts to miner safety!
Holler about defending EPA and our clean air & water!
The Environmental Protection Agency is the critical federal agency responsible for helping to protect people from things like toxic waste, dangerous air pollution, oil spills and more. In Appalachia, where communities are dealing with the negative impacts of numerous polluting industries such as coal, gas, and logging, the EPA has played a vital role in cleaning up the damage from these industries and protecting people from more harm.
The EPA is facing numerous attacks on its ability to do its work from billionaires who bought access to the Trump administration. These attacks will lead to worse health for people in Appalachia and beyond.
Members of Congress need to hear from their constituents that we don’t want out-of-touch billionaires putting our health at risk and that the EPA needs stable staffing and funding.
Holler about protecting miners’ health!
Everyone deserves to work without putting their health or safety at risk. But for miners across the country, going to work is still very dangerous, with at least nine mining deaths already this year. And the rates of black lung disease have increased for coal miners in recent years.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration is facing numerous attacks on its ability to do its work. The Department of Government Efficiency is closing at least 29 MSHA field offices across the country and firing mine safety inspectors. On top of that, the president has nominated a mining industry executive, Wayne Palmer, to lead the agency going forward — an executive that is on the record opposing the new black lung prevention rule.
Members of Congress need to hear from their constituents that we don’t want billionaires putting miners at risk and that MSHA needs stable staffing, funding and offices to be able to protect miners.