Dear Friends,
Independence Day is over, but the ongoing blasting doesn’t feel like freedom.
Imagine an 11-ton “Mother of All Bombs” blasting the mountain above your home into clouds of dust every day except Sunday. Would the nerve-rattling blast and lung-crippling dust contribute to your life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness?
We didn’t think so, but that’s the effect of mountaintop removal coal mining, and it’s spreading. We at Coal River Mountain Watch work for an end to this devastation, but the agencies that should halt this abomination instead work against The People and give coal companies like Alpha Natural Resources a license to pollute. Really. Here’s the WV Surface Mine Board’s final ruling in which they determined that it would be “unfair” to ANR for the “sophisticated group” Coal River Mountain Watch to have our appeal of the 853-acre Long Ridge #1 mountaintop removal permit heard. Their reasoning? We should have known better than to rely on WVDEP officials to give us the correct time frame to appeal.
If you’d like to help support our work to end mountaintop removal, please consider a $100 donation here, or whatever you’re comfortable with. We’re not yet as “sophisticated” as the WVDEP, funded by tax dollars, or the coal companies, funded by mining the health of communities. We rely on the generosity of people who really care about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
With author and former miner Gary Bentley, we’ll discuss moving Appalachia forward. Directed by Tom Hansell, “After Coal profiles inspiring individuals who are building a new future in the coalfields of eastern Kentucky and South Wales. This hour long documentary invites viewers to the front lines of the transition away from fossil fuels.” Of course, we still have the ongoing impact to communities from the coal industry, and I’ll be talking about that. The film starts at 3:00 at the Ohio Theatre in Toledo, 3106 Lagrange St, Toledo, OH 43608.
Can you chip in $25 for gas to get me there? We unfortunately still rely on that dirty fossil fuel to get around. Someday, though, we’ll all have solar-charged electric cars. Until then, we have to work with what we have.
Come to the 3rd annual Solar Powered Music Festival hosted Keeper of the Mountains Foundation this weekend at Cantrell Ultimate Rafting in Fayetteville, WV.
The "Our Day in the Sun" festival is July 7-8. From 3:00 today until midnight (?) tomorrow, it’s a family-friendly event with loads of talent, including Elaine Purkey, Kathleen Coffee, T. Paige Dalporto, Whistle and Fish, and more. See more details here, and have a great time!
CREEK’s Rodeo on the River is July 15!
Our Coal River Environmental Education for Kids (CREEK) program is having a Rodeo on the River, with inner tubes, a cookout, and a little cleaning up with the Tadpole Project. If you’d like to participate, call the office at 304-854-2182 or email coalriver@crmw.net. And if you could chip in $25 here to support wholesome outdoor learning fun for kids, we’d appreciate it.
Mark your calendars for the herbal medicine clinic July 25-28 and the Mountain Music and Medicinals event July 27!
We’re again hosting the Herbal Medics organization at the Judy Bonds Center for Appalachian Preservation in Naoma (the Coal River Mountain Watch office and community center), and they’ll also be at the Salamy Building in Whitesville. Join us for the popular herbal clinics to receive herbal and nutritional counseling. Come and find out how herbs can help your body recover and heal! More details are here.
On July 27 at 6 PM, join us for an evening of live music, herbal health education, and free food! The Commonwealth Center for Holistic Herbalism in Boston will lead a workshop on easy herbs for digestive health. Acclaimed Nashville duo Nora Jane Struthers and Joe Overton will perform their blend of old-time and bluegrass-infused roots music. This event is 100% free. See more details at the Facebook event here.
If you could help support the Judy Bonds Center as a community asset for these kinds of activities, we would very much appreciate it. A gift of $100 covers a week’s worth of mortgage, but no amount is too small or too large.
Then join us July 29 for the fifth annual Peachtree Falls cleanup!
It just gets better every year with the Tadpole Project making steady progress to keep Peachtree Falls as a place the community can be proud of. This stunning waterfall and surrounding area is the sort of place where memories are made. Bring the kids and a camera, and be ready for swimming and fun! Lunch is provided.
For more details, call the office at 304-854-2182 or email coalriver@crmw.net. And please consider a gift of $25 here to support this worthwhile project for clean streams and community pride.
Can we count on you to support our work in the trenches?
Tax-deductible gifts of all sizes are greatly appreciated and badly needed. You can send your gift to CRMW, P.O. Box 303, Naoma, WV 25140, or you can donate securely online here, or on our Facebook page here, by Network for Good here, or by Razoo here. We can also accept donations of stock.
We badly need to enlarge our base of regular monthly sponsors. If you would sign up for automatic recurring donations here, we would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks very much for your help.
Vernon Haltom
Executive director
Coal River Mountain Watch
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