Fwd: [EAC Community] Last Chance - Sign On Letter - Support Coal River Mountain!

[Timothy DenHerder-Thomas]

I'd encourage you to get your groups to sign on to this!

Coming in the wake of the Big News on BigStone II, this is a key next step ...

Timothy DHT

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dana Kuhnline <dana.k...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 10:33 AM
Subject: [EAC Community] Last Chance - Sign On Letter - Support Coal River Mountain!
To: eac-co...@googlegroups.com, eac-chall...@googlegroups.com

If you haven't already added your organization's name to this, please send your organization's contact info to: Lorelei Scarbro <lor...@crmw.net> by tomorrow, November 4th!

Thanks, and please pass along!

Dear Lisa Jackson, Ken Salazar, Terrence Salt, Nancy Sutley and President Obama,

      We are writing to ask that you intervene in an emergency situation we are facing in southern West Virginia.  As you read this, Coal River Mountain in Raleigh County, WV is being blasted, so that Massey Energy can extract the coal through mountaintop removal mining. This is the area’s last mountain untouched by mountaintop removal. The blasting not only threatens communities in the vicinity of the mountain, it will also destroy a prime opportunity to create permanent jobs and renewable energy through ridge-top wind power.

      Massey Energy is blasting the containing ridge of the Brushy Fork slurry impoundment, which is permitted to hold over 9 billion gallons of toxic coal slurry and is the tallest dam in the hemisphere.  The impoundment sits above a network of abandoned underground mines. Residents downstream from the dam live in fear that the blasting could cause the dam to fail and create one of the greatest industrial disasters in our nation’s history. The emergency evacuation plan for the Brushy Fork sludge dam states that, should the dam fail, a wall of water 50 feet high would hit the town of Whitesville and nearby communities.  Such a failure would likely result in the deaths of at least 998 people. 

      According to a report by a contracted hydrogeologist, as well as admissions by Massey Energy’s own engineering consultants, the pillars supporting the dam are not guaranteed to withstand the pressure of the dam – much less blasts on the containing ridge in close proximity to the dam.. As former Mining Safety and Health Administration engineer Jack Spadaro stated, "Blasting in the vicinity of a coal waste impoundment can cause problems, can cause fracturing of rock and create situations where there might be stability problems with the impoundment.” 

      Not only does blasting near this unlined impoundment increase the risk of impoundment failure, but it will almost certainly cause more of the toxic coal slurry to enter the groundwater.  In nearby Prenter Hollow, dozens of residents have become ill from drinking water contaminated with coal slurry.

      At the same time, we stand to lose one our most valuable natural resources – wind power.  Coal River Mountain has enough wind potential to house a 328-megawatt wind farm, which would be the largest in the East. Yet each blast is lowering the elevation of the ridges, reducing the available wind resource.  The blasts also turn the solid bedrock into rubble.  Because stabilizing large turbines in this rubble is so costly, large turbine placement is economically prohibitive.  Each blast destroys existing potential for clean energy, permanent jobs, and a stronger and more diverse regional economy.

      We urge you to take action before it is too late.  You have the power to direct your agencies and use your influence on West Virginia politicians to halt the blasting, defend the safety of your people, and preserve some of our region’s most valuable resources. 

      As the United States and other nations prepare for the United Nations Climate Conference in December in Copenhagen, Denmark, many allies around the world view the status of blasting at Coal River Mountain as the symbol of a government’s choice between remaining stuck in its old ways or building a healthy, prosperous future. At the UN conference, world leaders will watch Google Earth’s flyover tour of Coal River Mountain, as one of a series of virtual tours of global crisis hotspots.  The leaders will wonder why our government is allowing out-of-state coal companies to place the lives of local residents in danger and destroy one of our region’s best chances for renewable energy, stable jobs, and economic diversification. You have the power to show the whole world that the United States can blaze the way forward, – choosing permanent jobs and clean energy, instead of threatening the lives of its own residents.

      Again, we urge you to halt the blasting and protect your nation’s people, land, and renewable energy resources.  

Sincerely,

Chuck Nelson, Glen Daniel, WV

Linda Nelson, Glen Daniel, WV

Lorelei Scarbro, Rock Creek, WV

Diane Hodge, Ameagle, WV

Delbert Gunnoe, Rock Creek, WV

Judy Gunnoe, Rock Creek, WV

BJ Lesher, Naoma, WV

Jim Lesher, Naoma, WV

Gary Anderson, Colcord, WV

Barb Anderson, Colcord, WV

Mike Maynor, Dorothy, WV

Lessie Maynor, Dorothy, WV

Emmett Withrow, Colcord, WV

Roger Fraley, Dorothy, WV

Kay Howell, Naoma, WV

Danny Howell, Naoma, WV

Debbie Jarrell, Rock Creek, WV

Ed Wiley, Rock Creek, WV

Ruth Gallimore, Naoma, WV

Sherry Geisler, Rock Creek, WV

George Geisler, Rock Creek, WV

Robert Workman, Rock Creek, WV

Alan Workman, Rock Creek, WV

David Workman, Rock Creek, WV

Lonnie Burnside, Rock Creek, WV

Eddie Burnside, Rock Creek, WV

Mark Ross, Naoma, WV

Betty Ross, Naoma, WV

Bill Ross, Naoma, WV

Pauline Canterbury, Sylvester, WV

Frank Underwood, Rock Creek, WV

Charles Ballard, Dry Creek, WV

Damon Scarbro, Rock Creek, WV

Rick Bradford, Edwight, WV

Ben Webb, Naoma, WV

Bo Webb, Naoma, WV

Joann Webb, Naoma, WV

Mary Miller, Sylvester, WV

Denny Tyler, Glen Daniel, WV

Nick Regalado, Rock Creek, WV

Nancy Lares, Dry Creek, WV

Russell Lares, Dry Creek, WV

Judy Bonds, Rock Creek, WV

[Laura Bartolomei-Hill]

I would support TEAM MN signing onto this letter. Coal river mountain needs to stay a mountain. It's one of the last mountain in the county, and this may be happening in West Virginia, but you better believe it's happening to us too. A clean energy future means not blowing up mountains, it means investing in wind power instead, and it means that when something like this happens in West Virginia, the midwest stands up too.  I'm copying and pasting what timothy wrote to MacCares about this:

Please read below an organizational sign-on letter voicing opposition to Coal River Mountain blasting. I think it would be a very good thing for us to sign on to. I don't feel the need to be the person listed, but they DO need Organization name/ contact information BY TOMORROW T NOON (Wednesday). Can we do this by:
1. If anyone opposes TEAM signing this letter, email this group by noon Wednesday
2. If anyone wants to volunteer to complete the sign on and represent TEAM, email this group by noon Wednesday, and send after noon (so we can be sure there's no opposition to doing so.

Please respond if you disagree with process.

Timothy DHT
(aka LAURA since im sending this)

--
--
Laura Bartolomei-Hill
Sierra Student Coalition -- Executive Committee and Support, Outreach and Community (SOC)
Macalester College Student Government, Financial Affairs Commission, Chair
Macalester College '10
Laura...@gmail.com
www.ssc.org

[John Smith]

This is excellent. I am in full support of us signing on. 

- John