STOP MOUNTAIN TOP REMOVAL MINING

TAKE ACTION! Stand With These Three Appalachian Communities And Help Stop Mountaintop Removal Mining

My name is Donna Branham, and I live in Mingo County, West Virginia. I’ve seen first-hand the results of mountaintop removal mining, an extremely destructive form of coal mining that entails blowing up mountains, removing the tops, and dumping the rubble into streams, filling entire valleys and waterways. My family’s homeplace was destroyed by it, and the ruthlessness of the coal mining industry. Our drinking water was contaminated, and blasting shook our house and our community every day. We also dealt with extreme dust pollution and noise pollution, and flyrock, or large boulders that the explosion spits out through the air. I’m so thankful that people like you are getting involved in this fight. I’ve been in this for 20 years, and for so long, I felt like I stood alone. One voice doesn’t go very far. Many voices do. I am asking you to join this chorus of voices so that we are heard by our nation’s leaders.

Dear Amy, Please take action now and help stop mountaintop removal mining. Donna’s story is not unique—there are families across Appalachia who are living with the same injustice. Across this ancient mountain range, coal companies are blowing up mountains, burying streams, and contaminating waters—forever altering in the most extreme way possible our nation’s landscape and contaminating drinking water supplies for local communities. The health impacts of this radically destructive form of mining are staggering. No one can survive without clean water, and scientific research shows that people living near mountaintop removal mines face greater threats to their health and their lives. Cancer rates are two times higher in areas of mountaintop removal mining; babies born near mountaintop removal mining are 26 percent more likely to be born with birth defects as well. How long will we let this go on? President Obama and his administration have shown a strong commitment to the law and science by vetoing one of the largest mountaintop removal mines ever proposed, Spruce No. 1 Mine in West Virginia. But coal companies and their lobbyists are pushing for more than 100 new mountaintop removal mining permits, seeking permission to blow more mountains up and destroy more mountain streams in even more communities. When so many local communities are facing the same level of devastation, one permit denied is just not enough. If the Obama administration issues more unlawful and harmful permits, violating the very purpose of the Clean Water Act to protect the integrity of our nation’s waters, coal companies could fill over 300 more valleys, level over 30,000 more mountain acres, destroy over 100 miles of streams, and pollute many more local waterways. The stakes could not be higher. It’s not too late to stop more harmful mining permits from going forward. Please tell the Obama administration now to stop these mines. Read about three permits in particular that must be denied immediately: Ison Rock Ridge, VA Stacy’s Branch, KY Buffalo Mountain, WV Please take action now to tell President Obama and his administration to follow the Clean Water Act and to stand up for clean water and justice in every one of its individual permit decisions across Appalachia. Every mountaintop removal mining permit that is issued flies in the face of our nation’s bedrock clean water laws and in the face of the science we have today. Tell the President, his Army Corps of Engineers, and his Environmental Protection Agency to stop these permits, stand up for justice for Appalachian families who depend on clean water, and not give in to political pressure from coal company lobbyists. Sincerely, Liz Judge Campaign Manager, Earthjustice