Mountain Justice Summer in Tennessee!
August 1-28 – MJS in Tennessee - Camping in the New River
Gorge & doing/learning plant identification, water-testing.
Over the month MJS participants may choose from a broad
range of actions including: direct actions, banner-hangs,
blockades, canvassing, Listening Projects, grassroots
organizing, public outreach, rally, concert, meetings with
the governor, and much much more. There are paying
opportunities available, volunteer opportunities, victory
garden project & lots of scouting and organizing. There is
also a LBGT friendly camp (with space for six).
August 6 – Anti-nuclear weapons protest, march and rally
to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the bombing of
Hiroshima. Oak Ridge, TN. For more info see
www.stopthebombs.org. Many of us in Tennessee have worked on
this campaign over the years and it is an excellent
networking and tabling opportunity.
Sun, August 7 - MJS meeting in Knoxville
August 10-16 - MJS in Nashville, TN - tentative dates in
middle TN for protesting the corrupt state legislature,
governor, etc... and demanding an end to MTR.
Sat, August 27 - Day long Victory Concert in downtown
Knoxville, TN
Sun, August 28 - Clean up, head home.
Tennessee Contacts:
Chris or Paloma 865-633-8483
mountainjusticesummer@yahoo.com
john johnson 865-522-6527 johnjef@bledsoe.net
Abigail Singer 865-385-1204
Matt mattlandon2001@yahoo.com
(Elk Valley contact, the coal community near Zeb Mountain)
September - Rest and Recuperate.
October - Resume Campaign Against King Coal and Mountain Top
Removal!
www.mountainjusticesummer.org
July 8th Call to Action - Please spread far and wide!
MOUNTAIN JUSTICE SUMMER
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION ON THE ROOT CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE,
EAST COAST CONVERGENCE AGAINST MASSEY COAL AND MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL
July 8th Monroe Park--Richmond, VA
On July 8th as the rulers of the eight most powerful nations
meet in Scotland to decide our fates, communities around the
world will take to the streets to fight back against the
fossil fuels industry’s devastation of our Earth and its
people. No longer can we stand by as our air is polluted,
our water poisoned, our mountains destroyed, and our
communities terrorized by these careless corporate thugs. On
this day, in conjunction with Venezuelan communities
fighting coal mines in their country, the people of
Appalachia and folks from all across the east coast will
descend on Richmond, VA to confront one of the most ruthless
coal companies in the US, Massey Energy Co. Massey is
systematically destroying the mountains and people of
Southern Appalachia through a form of mining called
mountaintop removal (MTR). With this form of mining Massey
literally blows the tops off mountains to get to the thin
seams of coal that lie beneath. The leftover rock is then
pushed into valleys, burying the life-giving streams many
Appalachian communities depend on for food and water. In
West Virginia alone, MTR mining has leveled over 500 square
miles of mountains and buried over 1,200 miles of streams.
More pounds of explosives are used to destroy the mountains
of West Virginia each day than were used during the entire
US invasion of Afghanistan! Too add insult to injury many
coalfield residents have been poisoned by the coal dust in
the air and heavy metals released into the water. Those who
have chosen to resist these atrocities have had their
children intimidated, their lives threatened, and their
houses shot at. On the other end of the productions line the
burning of coal has led to skyrocketing asthma rates,
rampant mercury poisoning, and contributed significantly to
global warming. But all is not lost; there is growing
resistance to the coal barons who have turned Appalachia
into a national sacrifice zone. And we want you to be a part
of it.
Massey Energy Co. Help the residents of Appalachia defend
their communities from coal company thugs and toxic waste.
Put an end to Global Warming. Demand the absolute abolition
of Mountain Top Removal Mining and help bring about a
sustainable and just future for the people of Appalachia and
the World.
MASSEY, YOUR TIME HAS COME!
For more information about the Richmond convergence,
contact: communitiesagainstcoal@yahoo.com
G8 International Day of Action Against Climate Change:
www.cca.movingpages.org
Info for the Venezuela Action: www.noalg8.contrapoder.org.ve
To find out more about Mountain Top Removal and what you can
do to stop it: www.mountainjusticesummer.org
*Historically coal companies have engaged in violence and
property destruction when faced with citizen opposition to
their activities. MJS is committed to nonviolence and will
not be engaged in property destruction.
Report on Actions in West Virginia:
Showdown in Coal Town.
For the third time in one week, residents of the Coal River
Valley of West Virginia and supporters from across the
country met at Massey Energy's coal processing plant behind
Marsh Fork Elemntary School to demand that it be shut down
and cleaned up. Sixteen of the 150 participants in the
Moountain Justice Summer campaign were arrested as they
attempted to deliver a list of demands to the site's
supervisor. Earlier in the day two campaign participants
delivered the demands directly to Massey's head offices in
Richmond Virginia.
Sundial, West Virginia
May 31, 2005
As part of the effort to protect Appalachian communities
from the destructive and often careless actions of coal
extraction companies engaging in Mountain Top Removal, local
residents were joined by Mountain Justice Summer
participants yesterday at a Massey Energy facility in Coal
River Valley, West Virginia where the children of Marsh Fork
Elementary School are threatened by the company's
irresponsible mining practices.
At this site, Massey's subsidiary, Goals Coal Company, has
placed an earthen sludge dam constructed of mining refuse
which holds back 2.8 billion gallons of toxic waste above
Marsh Fork Elementary a mere 400 yards away. State reports
have stated that the dam has multiple leaks. Just 160 feet
from the school stands a coal loading silo which releases
coal dust and toxic chemicals. Students and teachers at the
school regularly complain of headaches and respiratory
problems. The school is also known to have higher than
normal rates of learning disabilities.
As if this were not enough, Massey has requested a renewal
of the sludge dam's permit as well as a permit for the
construction of a second coal silo which prompted Coal River
Valley residents to organize this rally – the third such
event in a week.
This time, over 150 empowered local residents and their
Mountain Justice Summer supporters came to the Massey
facility to present a list of citizens' demands – which
follow below. A grandmother and a great grandmother of a
Marsh Fork Elementary student were among the first people to
present the demands and were arrested and removed by state
police at the request of a Massey employee. Fourteen other
local residents and Mountain Justice Summer participants
followed after them and were also arrested by state police.
The arrestees, both the locals and their supporters,
expressed their concern for the safety of the students as
they were taken away. Another concerned grandmother of a
student, Debbie Jarrell said, "The coal industry has used
these children as sacrificial lambs far too long. It's time
for the adults to step up and take their place."
While Coal River Valley residents confronted Massey on site,
two Mountain Justice Summer participants went to Massey
headquarters in Richmond, VA to present the same list of
demands. They were not allowed to speak with Massey CEO Don
Blankenship and were removed from the property while singing
Amazing Grace in honor of the teachers and students who have
died of cancer – apparently the safety and livelihood of
those living in the communities in which Massey operates do
not have a place in the company's busy schedule.