As you may recall, a lively protest took place on the streets of Chicago’s financial district last November 30, on the 10th anniversary of the “Battle of Seattle” and a week ahead of the big UN climate summit in Copenhagen.  Several groups from across the city had come together to demand just, equitable, and effective solutions to the climate crisis, starting with the shut-down of the Crawford and Fisk coal plants in Chicago’s Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods.  The November 30th (N30) event also targeted “false solutions” to climate change like carbon trading, nukes and agrofuels, and was part of a national day of action for climate justice.

Now, the city has decided to charge these folks $8,340, with a deadline of mid-August to pay the fines.

Please help us raise the funds we need by donating what you can!

Following visits to several local “climate criminals,” including JP Morgan Chase (one of the leading funders of mountain top removal coal mining), Midwest Generation (the owner of Chicago’s two coal-fired power plants), and the Board of Trade (which trades in palm oil, one of the leading drivers of rainforest destruction), the N30 march arrived at the main target, the Chicago Climate Exchange.

The Chicago Climate Exchange is the first and largest carbon trading institution in North America.  Carbon Trading is a system of trading in carbon that intensifies social injustice, does not reduce emissions in a meaningful way, results in more pollution and more displacement for communities on the ground, and acts as a dangerous distraction from the real climate solutions we urgently need.  (It does succeed in making a bunch of money for big polluters and their cohorts.)  Unfortunately, participation in this fraudulent market has become the primary way that governments, corporations, and mainstream environmental groups have attempted to “solve” the climate crisis.

To draw attention to carbon trading as a false solution, 12 people locked their arms together in lockboxes, formed a large circle, and took over the intersection of Adams and LaSalle, outside the offices of the Chicago Climate Exchange, for several hours, encircling a banner that read, “Chicago Climate Exchange – the Air is Not for Sale!”  (Check out photos and video from the action at http://howgreenischicago.org.)

Now, the city has decided to charge these folks $8,340, with a deadline of mid-August to pay the fines.  We need your support!!  Please consider donating whatever you can to support the N30 defendants.  Throw a benefit party, pass a hat, sell some cupcakes — it all adds up!

You can donate online below,  or send a check payable to LVEJO with “N30 Legal Defense” in the memo line to:

LVEJO – Little Village Environmental Justice Organization

2856 S. Millard Ave.

Chicago, IL 60623

Thank you!  All donations are much appreciated!!!

Love,

The Climate Exchange 12

Please help us raise the funds we need by donating what you can!

Today on the Global Day of Climate Justice Action, a rowdy march in San Francisco made it’s way to Bank of America’s skyscraper (the tallest building in San Francisco), where dozens of activists blockaded the doors all around the building. Over 200 marched and rallied with at least 22 being arrested in the blockade.

Some locked themselves within the revolving doors to disrupt Bank of America’s business for the day. Bank of America is one of the largest funders of coal plants, oil and gas in the country. They also play a leading role within trade associations pushing for cap and trade.“The world’s largest corporations are blocking an agreement to address the climate crisis that is endangering our common future,” stated organizer David Solnit. “Meanwhile, Bank of America profits from financing dirty energy and carbon trading schemes that subsidize pollution and poverty.” According to Bloomberg, Bank of America is the third largest financier of oil, gas, and coal in the world, and is heavily involved in financing mountaintop removal coal mining.The activists, organized as The Mobilization for Climate Justice, also targeted carbon traders, and five of the largest contributors to climate pollution: JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Chevron, BP, and American Electric Power.The Mobilization blames these corporations for contributing to the climate crisis and promoting false solutions such as carbon trading, “clean coal”, nuclear energy and bio-fuels. Through direct lobbying, and support of lobbying institutions like the Chambers of Commerce and the US Climate Action Partnership, these corporations have prevented democratic domestic and international climate negotiations. Moreover, companies like Chevron, whose Richmond oil refinery is the single largest emitter of climate pollution in California , continue to dump toxic pollution in poor communities with impunity.This protest marks the 10th anniversary of the massive mobilization in Seattle that effectively derailed the corporate agenda driving the World Trade Organization’s trade liberalization policies. “We cannot allow the world’s largest corporate polluters to continue robbing our children’s future,” stated Carla Perez of Movement Generation, marching with a parade of children and the Raging Grannies carrying clean up equipment. “US corporations have been holding climate solutions hostage, while burdening our communities with ongoing attacks on our health and livelihoods.”Protestors demand that Bank of America and the other corporations stop polluting the climate and promoting false solutions at the UN and in the halls of Congress.

Today on the Global Day of Climate Justice Action, a rowdy march in San Francisco made it’s way to Bank of America’s skyscraper (the tallest building in San Francisco), where dozens of activists blockaded the doors all around the building. Over 200 marched and rallied with at least 22 being arrested in the blockade.

Some locked themselves within the revolving doors to disrupt Bank of America’s business for the day. Bank of America is one of the largest funders of coal plants, oil and gas in the country. They also play a leading role within trade associations pushing for cap and trade.

“The world’s largest corporations are blocking an agreement to address the climate crisis that is endangering our common future,” stated organizer David Solnit. “Meanwhile, Bank of America profits from financing dirty energy and carbon trading schemes that subsidize pollution and poverty.” According to Bloomberg, Bank of America is the third largest financier of oil, gas, and coal in the world, and is heavily involved in financing mountaintop removal coal mining.

The activists, organized as The Mobilization for Climate Justice, also targeted carbon traders, and five of the largest contributors to climate pollution: JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Chevron, BP, and American Electric Power.

The Mobilization blames these corporations for contributing to the climate crisis and promoting false solutions such as carbon trading, “clean coal”, nuclear energy and bio-fuels. Through direct lobbying, and support of lobbying institutions like the Chambers of Commerce and the US Climate Action Partnership, these

corporations have prevented democratic domestic and international climate negotiations. Moreover, companies like Chevron, whose Richmond oil refinery is the single largest emitter of climate pollution in California , continue to dump toxic pollution in poor communities with impunity.

This protest marks the 10th anniversary of the massive mobilization in Seattle that effectively derailed the corporate agenda driving the World Trade Organization’s trade liberalization policies. “We cannot allow the world’s largest corporate polluters to continue robbing our children’s future,” stated Carla Perez of Movement Generation, marching with a parade of children and the Raging Grannies carrying clean up equipment. “US corporations have been holding climate solutions hostage, while burdening our communities with ongoing attacks on our health and livelihoods.”

Protestors demand that Bank of America and the other corporations stop polluting the climate and promoting false solutions at the UN and in the halls of Congress.

]]> http://www.beyondtalk.net/2009/11/san-francisco-climate-justice-action-at-bank-of-america-200-rally-with-at-least-22-arrested/feed/ 0 http://www.beyondtalk.net/2009/11/chicago-climate-activists-target-carbon-trading-chicago-climate-exchange/ http://www.beyondtalk.net/2009/11/chicago-climate-activists-target-carbon-trading-chicago-climate-exchange/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:47:05 +0000 deadlyvine http://www.beyondtalk.net/?p=299

*More details and photos coming soon!*

Chicago climate activists returned to the streets today – this time in the financial district in downtown  Chicago – in a colorful demonstration against cap and trade, carbon offsets and other “false solutions” to climate change.  Building on the long-term campaign to shut down the Crawford and Fisk coal-fired power plants in the city, community and environmental groups from across Chicago and beyond have come together to demand just, equitable, and effective solutions to the climate crisis.

The main target of today’s action is the Chicago Climate Exchange, the first and largest carbon market in North America.  Several other “climate criminals” were visited during a march, including JP Morgan Chase, one of the leading funders of mountain top removal coal mining; Midwest Generation, the owner of Chicago’s two coal-fired power plants; and the Board of Trade, which trades in palm oil, one of the leading drivers of rainforest destruction.

The event kicked off at 11a.m. at Federal Plaza (Adams and Dearborn Street), and is part of a national day of action called for by the Mobilization for Climate Justice in the lead-up to the UN climate summit in Copenhagen and on the 10-year anniversary of the successful shutdown of the WTO in Seattle in 1999.

“From Chicago to Copenhagen, powerful companies are cashing in on the climate crisis, taking advantage of public concern over climate change in order to make a buck.  Carbon trading institutions like the Chicago Climate Exchange are privatizing the air we breathe and handing over rights to the atmosphere to the biggest polluters,” stated Angie Viands, of Rainforest Action Network (RAN) Chicago.  “Carbon Trading is a fraudulent market that intensifies social injustice, does not reduce emissions in a meaningful way, and acts as a dangerous distraction from the real climate solutions we urgently need.”

Event organizers seek to highlight the connections between the global drivers of climate change and local struggles for environmental justice and climate stability.

“The solution to climate change isn’t carbon trading; it is a just, rapid transition away from the industries that are poisoning our communities and the planet.  We can begin by shutting down the Crawford and Fisk coal plants right here in Chicago,” said Dorian Breuer of the Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization (PERRO).

While carbon trading is the centerpiece of plans to deal with the climate crisis both in the UN, and in the US Congress and Obama Administration, many civil society organizations consider this market-based approach to be ineffective and unacceptable from a climate justice perspective.  “The air is not for sale!” declared Abigail Singer of the Mobilization for Climate Justice.  “Cap and trade plans are an unprecedented and opportunistic attempt to privatize the atmosphere; in reality, many offset projects embody a new form of colonialism in the developing nations that are most heavily impacted by climate change.  We reject these plans as inherently unjust as well as ineffective at reducing emissions.”

Criticism of carbon trading has been mounting, most recently from sources like top NASA climate scientist Dr. James Hansen and EPA attorneys Laurie Williams and Allan Zabel, who between them represent over 40 years of experience analyzing cap and trade and offset programs.  Both were recently muzzled by the EPA for their outspoken criticism of Administration plans to pursue cap and trade and offsets which appeared as a Washington Post editorial.

Activists will also confront Midwest Generation LLC, owner of the Fisk and Crawford coal-fired power plants in Pilsen and Little Village, Chicago. Local residents attribute numerous adverse health effects to the continued operation of the plants, prompting community groups LVEJO and PERRO to actively campaign for their closure.  This demand has been heard by Ald. Joe Moore (49^th Ward), who announced plans on October 24^th to introduce an ordinance which would effectively shut the plants down. The Fisk plant was the target of a large community demonstration in October on the 350 International Day of Climate Action.  Together, Fisk and Crawford’s emissions represent one-fifth of Chicago’s carbon footprint.

“We are here today as a community demanding a transparent and truly renewable clean energy future.  Our environment’s future should not be dependant on a market based system, it should be reliable to save our future. We demand our voice be heard!” said Kim Wasserman, Coordinator for the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO)

“We have lived in the shadows of these coal plants for far too long.  The recent lawsuits against the plants for health violations show that government is willing to move, but we need them to move faster and stronger,” Wasserman said.

“To bring atmospheric carbon into the safe zone of 350 parts per million (ppm), we must phase out dirty coal, invest in clean, decentralized, renewable energy, and adopt agriculture and forestry practices that sequester CO2. False solutions like carbon trading, so-called “clean coal” and nuclear power are not going to solve the climate crisis,” states Debra Michaud of Rainforest Action Network Chicago.

Organizers express opposition to currently proposed U.S. climate legislation which relies heavily on can and trade and carbon offsets.

“The current climate legislation is fatally flawed, setting weak targets and creating inappropriate tools,” remarks David Kraft of Nuclear Energy Information Service. “It should be modified to exclude false climate solutions, or else rejected; and certainly should NOT in its current form serve as the blueprint for the U.S. negotiating position in Copenhagen,” insists Kraft.  A co-signed letter in opposition will be delivered to the offices of Sens. Richard Durbin and Roland Burris before the rally, and formal meetings requested of the Senators before they vote on the Senate version of the climate bill.

Some participants will take part in nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience at one of the sites along the march route.

Photos and updates from the event will be available at:http://howgreenischicago.org and http://www.actforclimatejustice.org.  The procession will include a marching band and many colorful banners, props and signs.

Today’s action is one of nine major protests taking place across the US organized by the Mobilization for Climate Justice, Rising Tide North America, and the Climate Pledge of Resistance.   Locally, five organizations that helped organize the October 24^th protest rally at the Fisk coal-fired power plant in Chicago are endorsing today’s action and are participating in the march and rally: Rainforest Action Network Chicago, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Nuclear Energy Information Service, Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization, and Eco-Justice Collaborative.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 30, 2009

Contacts:
Brian Bernhardt; CU Graduate Student; 703-439-0725; brian.bernhardt@colorado.edu
Amy Guinan, CU-INVST; 303-999-6374; amyguinan@yahoo.com

Denver, CO – This morning, approximately fifteen local citizens, representing a diverse coalition of groups, demonstrated at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (DPHE) to demand the denial of the Cherokee coal plant’s permit to pollute. The early morning protest greeted DPHE employees as they arrived for work and called on the department to close down Cherokee. Protestors did a ‘die-in’ in front of the building’s main entrance to highlight the grim consequences that coal has on our lives and those of future generations. At the same time, other activists in hazmat suits roped off the area with “Global Warming Crime Scene’ tape and chanted against coal plants.

“The Department of Public Health and Environment needs to stand up for public health and the environment. They can do this by beginning to phase out coal-fired power plants,” said Kate Clark, a graduate student in Environmental Studies at CU-Boulder.

The DPHE’s Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) recently held a public hearing on the Cherokee coal plant, in which citizens overwhelming called for denial of the plant’s air pollution permit. In addition, over 200 citizens turned out to express their opposition to the Valmont coal plant in Boulder this past July and over 300 participated in a protest of the plant on October 24th. Beyond that, activists, dressed in Gov. Ritter masks and clown suits, demonstrated in Denver calling on the governor to not be a ‘climate clown.’ Today’s action was meant to amplify public opposition to the Cherokee coal plant as the AQCC prepares to make a decision on the future of Cherokee in the coming weeks or months.

“The Air Quality Control Commission has an opportunity to put Colorado on the path for a clean energy future. We hope they have the courage to do the right thing,” said Amy Guinan, a student in the CU-INVST program.

Today’s protest is part of a national day of action called for by the Mobilization for Climate Justice, a coalition of some 50 environmental and human rights groups. The day of action – called N30, referring to Nov. 30 – hopes to build grassroots momentum for climate justice in the lead-up to the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen this December. Climate justice refers to the effort to repower our world in ways that fairly distribute the burdens and benefits of energy production by promoting local solutions, sustainable technologies and democratic communities.

“For our health, our plant and our future, it is clear that we need to begin the process of decarbonizing Colorado. To do that we have to start closing down coal plants and Cherokee is the right place to start,” said Brian Bernhardt, a graduate student in Political Science at CU-Boulder.

Climate justice advocates points out that our current system of energy production places a disproportionate impact on poor people of color. Globally, those nations who have done the least to contribute to climate change bear the greatest risks from rising sea levels and droughts. Locally, the Cherokee coal plant pumps mercury and other pollutants into neighborhoods in North Denver that are 90 percent people of color.

The coalition of groups organizing N30, along with those who are organizing historic protests in Copenhagen to coincide with the conference, are demanding real action on climate change that address the root causes of the crisis and promote solutions that are far-reaching, effective and fair.

November 30th is also significant because it is the 10th anniversary of the shutdown of the World Trade Organization’s meeting in Seattle in 1999.

***

Additional Information:
*Photographs available throughout the day at:
www.flickr.com/photos/powerpastcoalcolorado/
*Information on the National Day of Action for Climate Justice:
http://www.actforclimatejustice.org/
*Key facts on the Cherokee coal plant and renewable alternatives:

• Cherokee coal plant is the second largest greenhouse gas contributor in Colorado and releases over 160 pounds of mercury and 10,000 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxide (equivalent to 550,000 cars) every year.
• Cherokee coal plant has violated clean air laws 10,000 times in the last five years
• Approximately 63,000 people live within three miles of the coal plant; the neighborhoods closest to the coal plant are 90 percent people of color.
• Xcel has already received solar and wind energy bids which would total twice the company’s peak generating capacity – more than enough to offset Cherokee.

*** Statistics provided by Jeremy Nichols at WildEarth Guardians***
#####

Climate justice activists march on polluters and lobbyists in downtown Washington DC

Feisty unpermitted march blocks traffic, marks the tenth anniversary of the WTO shutdown in Seattle, demands “Corporations out of Copenhagen” one week prior to the UN climate summit

Washington DC – Climate justice activists this morning marched through downtown Washington DC to visit climate polluters and the K Street lobbyists who represent them, joining thousands more in cities across the country for actions marking the November 30th Mobilization for Climate Justice. The march occurred just one week before the beginning of international climate negotiations in Copenhagen and marked the tenth anniversary of the historic day when activists converged in Seattle to non-violently shut down the meetings of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

[Click to view PHOTOS of today’s climate justice march in Washington DC]

“Oil companies, lobbyists, and banks are driving climate change and using their influence to prevent us from taking swift action to stop climate change. They are accelerating us off of a climate change cliff by promoting business as usual. They’ll just save themselves with their golden parachutes, leaving the rest of the world in free fall,” said organizer Lacy MacAuley, “We are calling for ‘Corporations out of Copenhagen,’ asking businesses and their lobbyists to step aside and let us create meaningful solutions to climate change, solutions that place people before profit.”

The march in Washington began at the US Chamber of Commerce, the top lobby group representing corporate CEOs at the expense of people and the planet, and then visited many sites of climate destruction throughout the city. Activists marched to the American Petroleum Institute, banks funding climate destruction such as Bank of America, and lobbyists for oil companies like Shell, Chevron, BP and Conoco Phillips. Mini-rallies were held outside the buildings.

At each location, speakers at the mini-rallies splashed cups of the water from melting glaciers on the floor or outside of the buildings, demanding that representatives at the businesses cancel their plans to travel to the Copenhagen climate summit. Speakers also debunked corporate-led false solutions to climate change such as “clean” coal, nuclear energy and carbon offsets, promoting real sustainable solutions such as wind and solar energy.

Marchers chanted “Corporations out of Copenhagen” and “stop your looting, polluting and lobbying,” circulating through the K Street corridor where energy companies, lobbyists, and climate change funders have their offices.

“The Copenhagen climate summit must be about our future, about survival of the world’s most vulnerable people, not corporate profits,” said Julie Erickson, an organizer with the Mobilization for Climate Justice. “These climate criminals, corporate polluters and their lobbyists should cancel their plans to go to Copenhagen next week and get out of the way of a clean energy future.”

The Washington DC march is part of the nationwide Mobilization for Climate Justice to demand real, just and effective solutions to the climate crisis. It is one of several actions today in cities across the US, including Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, New York, Portland, ME and Washington, DC. These actions were called for and organized through the Mobilization for Climate Justice (www.actforclimatejustice.org).

# # #

Photos available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/climatejusticedc/sets/72157622777575235/

For more information on the Mobilization for Climate Justice: www.actforclimatejustice.org

Top 5 Reasons Why Corporations are Climate Criminals:

1) Corporations put profits before people, often exploiting people of color, low-income communities, and Indigenous people – We need to put people before profits!

2) They are the biggest carbon polluters. By extracting and burning oil, coal, & natural gas, they perpetuate our addiction to fossil fuels – We need a clean energy economy!

3) They seek to profit from climate change through lax carbon regulation, tax loopholes, and public financing for private industry projects – We need binding emissions targets, not corporate handouts!

4) They have weakened and stalled U.S. climate legislation through millions of dollars of lobbying, reducing the likelihood of a fair, ambitious, & binding treaty at Copenhagen – We need strong climate legislation from Congress now!

5) They work with the World Bank and IMF to expand free trade policies that damage local economies, ecosystems, and communities – We need free people, not free trade!

Update: Four have been arrested: 2 who were locked down and 2 others. About 20 others are still at the site with banners. Pictures coming soon.

For Immediate Release

November 30, 2009

Press Contact: Liz Veazey 919-627-7324 ashevillerisingtide@gmail.com
Onsite Contact: Attila Nemecz 919-889-1261www.asheville.risingtidenorthamerica.org

Concerned citizens block shipment of generator to Cliffside Coal Plant.

Greenville, SC Two protestors have locked themselves to the 1.5 million pound generator destined for Duke Energy’s Cliffside coal plant in Rutherford County, North Carolina. Protestors are vowing to prevent the generator, which has been traveling across South Carolina on a 300 foot trailer, from reaching the coal plant. “Our nation has no choice, we must stop burning coal. The only choice that we can make is whether we do that in time to still have breathable air, drinkable water, a livable climate, and standing mountains,” said, Catherine Anne. Protestors also draped a large banner from the top of the generator reading, “Stop Cliffside.”

The controversial Cliffside coal plant would emit over 6 million tons of carbon dioxide ever year in addition to toxic levels of heavy metals such as mercury, greatly exacerbating global warming and our abysmal air quality. Duke Energy is seeking to raise electricity rates in order to pay for the construction of Cliffside at a time when record numbers of families are struggling to put food on the table due to the recession.

This act of civil disobedience comes a week before world leaders meet in Copenhagen to hash out a global climate agreement. “Any agreement made in Copenhagen will be meaningless if the US continues to build coal plants such as Cliffside. It is time to tear down coal plants, not construct new ones,” said Rachel Scarano. There are currently 43 coal plants proposed or under construction in the US, though over 100 others have been canceled due to widespread protests.

Since it was first proposed, there has been massive opposition to Cliffside. In the past year and a half over 60 people have been arrested protesting the plant, and they vow to continue the fight. “Since politicians and corporations refuse to take serious action to stop climate change, citizens must step in to shut down coal plants,” said Attila Nemecz. The protest was organized by Asheville Rising Tide and Croatan Earth First! and is part of a national day of action with dozens of protests around the country including Chicago, New York City, Washington DC, and San Francisco.

Directions to site: From I-85 in Greenville, exit onto US 25/ White Horse Rd. Go South on 25 for 2 miles. Left at Augusta Rd. Protest is .5 miles down the road on right.

###

]]> http://www.beyondtalk.net/2009/11/citizens-block-shipment-of-generator-to-cliffside-coal-plant/feed/ 0 http://www.beyondtalk.net/2009/10/mountaintop-removal-protests-going-national/ http://www.beyondtalk.net/2009/10/mountaintop-removal-protests-going-national/#comments Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:22:36 +0000 deadlyvine http://www.beyondtalk.net/?p=262

13 lock down at EPA headquarters (DC) alongside 50 Appalachian coalfield residents

Published October 30, 2009 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Activists with Mountain Justice, Rainforest Action Network and other groups planned protests atEnvironmental Protection Agency headquarters and across the country Friday to demand the end of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia.

An online map showed more than two dozen planned events from California to Maine, including demonstrations at a regional EPA office in Philadelphia and a New Jersey office of JPMorgan & Chase Co., a bank environmentalists say is the biggest financier of the destructive form of strip mining.

It was the third attempt at a national protest since June, and evidence the environmentalists believe the tide is turning in their favor under the Obama administration.

”The end of mountaintop removal is almost here,” declares the Rainforest Action Network on its Web site. ”Political and financial decision-makers in New York, Washington D.C. and across the country continue to hear our message.”

Chris Hamilton, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association, was out of the office Friday and did not immediately return a cell phone message.

Mountaintop removal is a form of strip mining that blasts apart ridge tops to expose multiple coal seams. Operators level off the peaks, then dump rock and debris into valleys, sometimes covering intermittent streams and changing the contour of the land.

Coal operators say it’s often the most efficient and sometimes the only way to get to reserves, but many people who live near the mines say they suffer unacceptable damage to the environment and their homes.

West Virginians Bo Webb and Chuck Nelson were in Washington, D.C., with at least two dozen other protesters, hoping to deliver a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

”I do think it’s turning in our direction. They’re starting to look at scientific evidence showing what filling in the streams and valleys does to our headwaters, to the whole ecosystem,” said Nelson, a disabled underground coal miner from Glen Daniel. ”But we need to stress to the EPA that they need to make a decision soon because the longer this goes on, the more danger they’re putting us in.”

The EPA recently revoked a permit for what could have been West Virginia’s largest mountaintop removal operation, citing ”very serious concerns” about possible Clean Water Act violations. It was the first time since 1972 the agency had used its authority to review a previously permitted project.

Two weeks ago, unruly crowds took over what were intended to be public hearings in Kentucky and West Virginia on an Army Corps of Engineers proposal to suspend or end a streamlined permitting process for mountaintop removal mines. They shouted down and intimidated the few environmentalists who showed up to support individual reviews of operations.

”As long as there’s that uncertainty, not knowing what’s going to happen, it’s going to keep causing tension in the communities and in the industry,” Nelson said. ”The threats are becoming more intense because they’re uncertain what the future holds for them.”

EPA administrators ”need to make a quick decision about what is and what is not going to be allowed.”

——

On the Net:

Rainforest Action Network: http://ran.org

W.Va. Coal Association: http://www.wvcoal.com/mountain-top-mining/what-is-moutain-top-mining .html

Mountain Justice: http://mountainjusticesummer.org/

Coal River Valley Residents Declare State of Emergency, Meet with Governor Joe Manchin; Seven Sit-In at Governor’s Office

Video: 7 Arrested in Peaceful Sit-in at WV Gov’s Office Resisting the Destruction of Coal River Mountain

Climate Ground Zero For Immediate Release Contact: Dea Goblirsch or Garrett Robinson (304-513-4710) Email: news@climategroundzero.org

CHARLESTON, W.Va.- Coal River Valley residents and supporters associated with Mountain Justice and Climate Ground Zero delivered a letter to Governor’s Manchin’s office in the State Capitol building at 12:15 p.m. today. The statement from Coal River Valley residents calls on Manchin to use his executive powers to halt mountaintop removal mining operations on Coal River Mountain, one of the last intact mountains remaining in the Coal River Valley area.Governor Manchin met the letter deliverers in the antechamber of his office and spoke with Lorelei Scarbro of Rock Creek and Chuck Nelson of Glen Daniel. As of 2:30 p.m. seven young people are sitting in the antechamber, refusing to leave until Manchin moves to halt MTR on Coal River Mountain or they are forcibly removed.Security guards conveyed to them that they have permission to remain until the close of normal business hours at 5 p.m.

“We are delivering this letter to our governor with residents of the Coal River Valley,” said Miranda Miller and Angela Wiley of Morgantown, W.Va., two of the seven sitters, “We are West Virginia citizens standing in solidarity with the people who submitted comments for this letter, voicing their concerns on the dangers of blasting on Coal River Mountain.”

For years, local residents have expressed their concerns over the long-term health effects of their proximity to coal mining and processing operations, while scientists have stated that it devastates local ecosystems and contaminates groundwater with carcinogens and heavy metals. One of the most imminent dangers associated with the proposed Coal River Mountain operation is its proximity to the Brushy Fork sludge impoundment dam, which holds seven to nine billion gallons of toxic coal slurry.

Many Coal River Valley residents have put forth the idea of constructing of an industrial-scale wind farm on the mountain instead of MTR. The ridges on Coal River Mountain are rated as Class 7 wind sources, the highest and most productive rating. Research by the Coal River Community Wind Project has shown that a wind farm on top of the mountain could generate approximately 1.2% of West Virginia’s total energy needs and would create at least 300 jobs in the area. A wind farm will produce energy for as long as the wind blows, unlike coal – reserves of which, according to the U.S. Geologic Survey, will last only another 14 years. “By blasting away our wind potential, we risk losing the opportunity to have jobs that would last forever,” Chuck Nelson, a retired coal miner, said, “As we face the climate crisis, we need to set an example in creating renewable energy.”

Coal River Valley Residents Declare State of Emergency, Meet with Governor Joe Manchin;
Seven Sit-In at Governor’s Office

Video:
7 Arrested in Peaceful Sit-in at WV Gov’s Office Resisting the Destruction of Coal River Mountain

Climate Ground Zero
For Immediate Release
Contact: Dea Goblirsch or Garrett Robinson (304-513-4710)
Email: news@climategroundzero.org

CHARLESTON, W.Va.- Coal River Valley residents and supporters associated with Mountain Justice and Climate Ground Zero delivered a letter to Governor’s Manchin’s office in the State Capitol building at 12:15 p.m. today. The statement from Coal River Valley residents calls on Manchin to use his executive powers to halt mountaintop removal mining operations on Coal River Mountain, one of the last intact mountains remaining in the Coal River Valley area.

Governor Manchin met the letter deliverers in the antechamber of his office and spoke with Lorelei Scarbro of Rock Creek and Chuck Nelson of Glen Daniel. As of 2:30 p.m. seven young people are sitting in the antechamber, refusing to leave until Manchin moves to halt MTR on Coal River Mountain or they are forcibly removed. Security guards conveyed to them that they have permission to remain until the close of normal business hours at 5 p.m..

“We are delivering this letter to our governor with residents of the Coal River Valley,” said Miranda Miller and Angela Wiley of Morgantown, W.Va., two of the seven sitters, “We are West Virginia citizens standing in solidarity with the people who submitted comments for this letter, voicing their concerns on the dangers of blasting on Coal River Mountain.”

For years, local residents have expressed their concerns over the long-term health effects of their proximity to coal mining and processing operations, while scientists have stated that it devastates local ecosystems and contaminates groundwater with carcinogens and heavy metals. One of the most imminent dangers associated with the proposed Coal River Mountain operation is its proximity to the Brushy Fork sludge impoundment dam, which holds seven to nine billion gallons of toxic coal slurry.

Many Coal River Valley residents have put forth the idea of constructing of an industrial-scale wind farm on the mountain instead of MTR. The ridges on Coal River Mountain are rated as Class 7 wind sources, the highest and most productive rating. Research by the Coal River Community Wind Project has shown that a wind farm on top of the mountain could generate approximately 1.2% of West Virginia’s total energy needs and would create at least 300 jobs in the area. A wind farm will produce energy for as long as the wind blows, unlike coal – reserves of which, according to the U.S. Geologic Survey, will last only another 14 years.

“By blasting away our wind potential, we risk losing the opportunity to have jobs that would last forever,” Chuck Nelson, a retired coal miner, said, “As we face the climate crisis, we need to set an example in creating renewable energy.”

Aug. 21st Richmond, CA – Hundreds of Richmond community members joined climate change advocates, public health experts, local government and labor leaders today in a colorful march, protest and non-violent civil disobedience at Chevron’s Richmond refinery. After a festival outside the Richmond BART station with music, dancers and speakers, and an hour-long march that wound through the city streets, a mass die-in and nonviolent civil disobedience took place at the refinery gates. Thirteen people were arrested.

Photo by Jeff Paterson

The actions outside Chevron were organized by a new coalition–The Mobilization for Climate Justice-West–whose goals are to get Chevron to “cap the crude” at its Richmond refinery and to get al l corporations, including Chevron, out of the international climate talks in Copenhagen in December. Chevron wants to process heavier crude at its Richmond refinery. Refining heavier crude will result in more air pollution, greater greenhouse gas emissions and disease.

“Chevron has the opportunity to do the right thing,” said Mayor of Richmond, Gayle McLaughlin. “They just need to agree to capping the crude at the level they currently refine. We want them to put Richmond’s residents to work modernizing and replacing the 80 year old boilers, which sadly they chose to remove from the project several months ago. ” “We want Chevron to build a cleaner and safer refinery,” said Ana Orozco of Communities for A Better Environment. ”We want the union jobs to continue to build a refinery that is cleaner and safer for our community. Our community has been put at risk for too long.”

“Chevron has clearly attempted to drive a wedge between workers and the Richmond community in order to avoid being held accountable to the community’s demand for clean air and a healthy environment,” said Charles Smith, Chief Steward of AFSCME Local 444, “We support the community in this struggle.”

Photo by Brooke Anderson

After a peaceful, celebratory march through the streets of Richmond, the marchers arrived at the gates of the refinery and were met with a heavy police presence. Participants staged a mass die-in while Suanu Bere of Nigeria, Nyunt Than of Burma, Nathan Brinley, a US veteran of the Iraq War, and speakers from Richmond described the death caused by Chevron and its operations around the world. “What is unique about Chevron is the network of Chevron-affected communities that have joined together in opposition to the brutality of the company’s operations,” said Antonia Juhasz, director of the Chevron Program at Global Exchange. “We are here with groups from across the Bay Area and around the world, banding together to create a mass people’s movement to achieve meaningful policy change to force Chevron and the entire oil industry to be cleaner, safer, more humane, and equitable everywhere.”

After the die-in, a “clean-up crew” entered into the refinery through the police barricade in an attempt to make the refinery cleaner and safer. Thirteen “cleaners” were arrested, including Reverend Kenneth Davis of Richmond, while rally participants supported them with chants and songs. The chalk outlines of the dead remained after the protesters left the refinery.

“The North Richmond community is on the frontline of Chevron’s chemical assault. We have experienced a lifetime of chemical exposure, asthma, cancer and death. These are human rights violations. West County Toxics Coalition will fight until there is no net increase in emission from the Chevron Hydrogen Expansion Project,” said Henry Clarke, the Executive Director of the West County Toxics Coalition.

The protest at Chevron was part of a campaign to generate political pressure and “s treet heat” leading up to the international climate change talks to be held in Copenhagen in December. Other protests will be held later in the year and in other parts of the country.

“People, not corporations, should drive the critical climate talks in Copenhagen,” said Ananda Lee Tan, a member of the Mobilization for Climate Justice spokescouncil and the U.S. Campaign Coordinator for the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. “To date, at the United Nation’s climate talks, corporate lobbyists have outnumbered representatives of governments and civil society groups by a ratio of as high as 4 to 1. We want Chevron and all corpor ate lobbyists banned from, and frontline community voices represented at these talks.” ”The MCJ seeks to empower community-based activist groups and networks to lead a global climate justice movement in confronting the root causes of climate change at home,” said Torm Nompraseurt of theAsian Pacific Environmental Network, “while defining community priorities and self-determination pathways for a new energy economy.”

The Mobilization for Climate Justice-West includes more than 35 diverse groups: AFSCME Local 444, Amazon Watch, Art in Action, Asian-Pacific Environmental Network, Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace and Justice, Bay Localize, Burmese American Democratic Association, Communities for a Better Environment, Contra Costa Greens, Direct Action to Stop the War, Earth First!, Environmental Justice & Climate Change Initiative, Filipino American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity (FACES), Forest Ethics, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Global Exchange, Global Justice Ecology Project, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, Greenpeace, Headrush, International Forum on Globalization, International Rivers, Justice in Nigeria Now!, Movement Generation, Pacific Environment, Poor Magazine, Rainforest Action Network, Richmond Mayor’s Task Force on Environmental Justice and Health, Progressive Bengali Network, Richmond Progressive Alliance, Ruckus Society, Rising Tide North America, Solidarity, West County Toxics Coalition, Youth In Focus, 350.org

For more information, see west.actforclimatejustice.org

For photos of today’s rally, march and non-violent civil disobedience, seewww.actforclimatejustice.org/west