Please support the work of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards by clicking this link to keep up the pressure on the EPA in order to Keep Ison Rock Ridge Standing.

Late Monday morning, June 1, 2010, around 20 Wise County residents gathered at the offices of the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy in Big Stone Gap, Va to rally in opposition to A&G Coal’s proposed Ison Rock Ridge surface mine. Picketers held signs with slogans including, “Ison Rock Ridge is families. Keep it standing!” and “Don’t blast our homes.” As part of the rally, two individuals delivered a “Certificate of Failure” to the DMME for failing to protect communities.

Residents of Inman, Derby, Arno, and Andover – communities that are directly adjacent to the pending 1,200+ acre mountain-top removal mine – took turns addressing the crowd to express their disapproval of the DMME’s apparent support for the project..”

“The DMME and the state of Virginia seem to be ignoring regulations protecting our waterways. It’s a shame we have to contact Washington DC to get our state officials to obey the law,” said Jane Branham a resident of Big Stone Gap and Vice President of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards (SAMS), the Wise County-based community group that organized the demonstration.

Ben Hooper, a resident of Inman added, “The DMME’s not there to protect us. It’s their job to keep the coal money flowing to Richmond not to make sure the coal is mined responsibly.”

The event was held on the heels of the DMME’s May 12th statement of “approval” for a portion of the proposed mine above the community of Inman. The state regulatory agency’s action was taken despite the fact that the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers continue to hold the pending mine’s NPDES permit for review due to evidence that strip-mining of such scale invariably violates the Clean Water Act. If operated, this particular mine would destroy three miles of streams and fill nine valleys with more than 11 million cubic yards of rock and dirt. The EPA has sent a letter to the DMME reiterating that the pertinent permits remain under federal jurisdiction.

“This thing would have happened nearly three years ago if it hadn’t been for us.” declared Dorothy Taulbee, a former resident of Stonega, referring to the previous successes of SAMS’ work to preserve the communities surrounding Ison Rock Ridge. The organization was formed in 2007 and has been fighting the Ison Rock Ridge permit since the beginning. In 2008, SAMS secured meetings between community members and EPA representatives and mobilized dozens of local residents to speak out against the proposal at public hearings. These efforts led to the EPA’s intervention in the permitting process, halting the mine thus far.

On Tuesday and over the course of this week, supporters of SAMS from across the state will be visiting Senator Jim Webb’s offices in Roanoke, Virginia Beach, and Falls Church to deliver a message from coalfield residents asking for the Senator’s support in defending the communities adjacent to Ison Rock Ridge. A similar event will take place at the EPA’s region 3 offices in Philadelphia where allies of the local organization will deliver a letter thanking the agency for affording adequate scrutiny and oversight to the proposed mountain-top removal mine, and asking that the NPDES permit be ultimately denied.

The Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards supports deep-mining and other industries that provide jobs for the people of Wise County. Mountaintop removal mining employs very few workers, instead favoring explosives and heavy machinery to extract coal. SAMS is concerned about the impacts A & G’s Coal Company’s proposed mine would have on nearby streams that have already exceeded acceptable levels of pollution from mine discharge, and will regard the issuance of the Ison Rock Ridge Permit by the DMME to be in violation of the Clean Water Act. The Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards will continue to fight for the people of Appalachia and surrounding communities until the permits for the Ison Rock Ridge mine are denied once and for all.

Please pass this story onto your friends and neighbors and take a moment to support the work of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards by clicking this link to keep up the pressure on the EPA in order to Keep Ison Rock Ridge Standing.

Update 1: Citizens with Rising Tide Philadelphia paid a visit to the Region 3 offices of the EPA to deliver letters from directly impacted coal-field communities. Solidarity in action:

Filed under: Coal, Dirty Energy, Impacted Communities, mountain top removal

In preparation we painted, we sew, we practised, we inflated, we printed and by 9.30 we were ready (if a little cold). There was a crowd of international media gathering and we got everything in place for the arrival of the European politicians.

Who showed up?  There was a selection of  ministers from around Europe including from Germany, The U.K, Lithuania, Norway and The Netherlands. Want to see pictures too?

We displayed our beautiful huge banners of the individual messages with pride and showed the ministers around, followed by a presentation of one individual message (with a copy of our demands of course).
The media agency Reuters liked the action so much that they wanted to spread details of us and our action across the world’s media.

With the negotiations continuing here in Poland, hopefully ministers will think of us (and you young people) when they are discussing the international climate deal.

Come on guys, wrap it up!

The Countdown group has been really buzzing recently. We have been meeting country’s delegates and presenting our demands and urging actions. We want a strong climate deal in Copenhagen to include:

• 40% Greenhouse emission reductions by 2020 for developed countries (Annex I)
• 100% Greenhouse emission reductions by 2050 for developed countries (Annex II)
• The issue of climate justice to be addressed

Members of the group have discussed the issues and policies with their national delegations, but is has not all been lobbying though. We got together with 350.org and look at what we did!

Aerial photo in Freedom Square, Poznan, Poland

We as Young Friends of the Earth Europe joined the colourful demonstration:

You can find pictures here too!

We as “Young Friends of the Earth Europe” produced this video for the Climate Conference (COP14) in Poznan, and action afterwards.  We want to convince as many delegates as possible in order that our demands will be singned in Copenhagen (COP15) next year. The international change have been negotiations on the climate in hibernation so we campaign for an effective international agreement on climate change which has to start now.