Dear Friends,
Stand against violence to mountain defenders.
Paramilitary security personnel employed by Denver-based Newmont Mining's subsidiary Minera Yanacocha have allegedly beaten Maxima Acuna, 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize winner from Peru, and her husband on their own property. Approximately 80 personnel, with shields and helmets, entered the property to destroy the family's potato and yucca patch and assaulted them severely enough to require a trip to the hospital, according to the article here. Please sign the petition here to demand that Newmont respect Maxima's property, ensure her safety and drop their harassing lawsuit against her.
Maria Gunnoe, the 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize winner for North America and volunteer for Coal River Mountain Watch, sent a letter to Newmont, which you can readhere.
Come out to see the Moving Mountains movie Oct. 1 in Oak Hill, WV, for free.
The free screening is Oct. 1 at the beautiful outdoor Lively Family Amphitheater in Oak Hill. The movie begins at 7 PM. T. Paige Dalporto will play music beginning about 6 PM. You're in for a treat!
"'Moving Mountains,' based on Penny Loeb's 2007 award-winning book by the same name, is a masterpiece of contemporary activist cinema." - Steve Fesenmaier, Charleston Gazette film reviewer.
Watch our latest drone video.
Junior Walk made this video today to get a look at the "reclamation" on Alpha Natural Resources' 2,000-acre Edwight mountaintop removal site on Cherry Pond Mountain above our community. The WV Dept. of Environmental Protection issued a citation to Alpha on Dec. 15 for falling behind on their reclamation schedule, but then gave them an extension until today. From the video, it looks like they still have a long way to go. All that bare rubble puts deadly silica dust into the community's lungs when there's a dry day and a little breeze. It seems like more of that bankruptcy money needs to go toward hiring workers to do something about this mess instead of bonuses for executives.
Speaking of paying workers, can you pitch in $25 here to support Junior's work? Or you can sign up for a small automatic monthly donation to be a partner in keeping Junior's boots on the ground and eyes in the sky. Thanks!
Join us October 17 to save Coal River Mountain!
Stand with Coal River Mountain Watch and friends to tell the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection to end mountaintop removal coal mining on Coal River Mountain and everywhere. This ongoing process endangers public health with airborne blasting dust, pollutes streams, increases flooding, and deprives communities of traditional use of the mountains and forests.
Join us Monday, Oct. 17, at noon at the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection headquarters at 601 57th St. SE, Charleston, WV 25304.
Coal River Mountain has over 5,000 acres of active, approved, or pending mountaintop removal permits. Here's some drone footage taken Aug. 30, 2016, of the ongoing destruction. Over two dozen scientific health studies point to mountaintop removal as the culprit in elevated rates of cancer, heart disease, birth defects, and other causes of early death. WVDEP has passed the buck to the federal government to understand the science in a two-year review of existing studies. In the meantime, coal companies continue to subject residents to the fine and ultrafine silica dust emitted by blasting. WVDEP has said it intends to continue granting permits regardless of the health impacts and the companies' track record of permit condition violations. We call on the WVDEP to withhold new permits unless and until mountaintop removal is proven safe for neighboring communities, and to crack down on operating sites.
Share the invitation and bring a friend! More details will follow, but mark your calendar now!
Thanks for helping, and we hope to see you there.
You can stay up to date, take action, and share our posts with your friends.
Have a great weekend!
Vernon Haltom, Executive Director, Coal River Mountain Watch
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