Call EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and ask her to Intervene at Coal River Mountain
Mountaintop removal blasting has begun on Coal River Mountain.
These operations are happening only a few hundred feet away from the Brushy Fork impoundment dam, which holds over 8.2 billion gallons of toxic coal sludge above Pettus, WV. If the dam bursts, nearly a thousand people in the Coal River Valley would likely lose their lives within minutes.
At the same time, Coal River Mountain is the proposed site of an industrial wind farm. Studies have shown that its ridges have the highest and most productive wind potential. The Coal River Wind Project has done research to demonstrate that a wind farm on top of the mountain could generate approximately 1.2% of West Virginia's total energy needs, create 300 jobs in the area, and generate a long-term tax revenue stream. Every day that blasting happens, the possibility for the wind farm diminishes.
The state of West Virginia refuses to do anything about this destruction. Please contact the EPA and ask them to intevene at Coal River Mountain.
Call Lisa Jackson's office at (202) 564-4700.
Sample Script
"Hi, I'm calling to ask the EPA to intervene at Coal River Mountain in West Virginia. Coalfield residents are reporting that blasting and mountaintop removal operations have begun there. We need the EPA to act due to the imminent danger to the local community and to our clean energy future."
Talking Points
- Coal River Mountain is one of the last mountains in southern West Virginia not touched by mountaintop removal.
- Massey Energy has started mountaintop removal operations there. The blasting is happening near the Brushy Fork sludge impoundment which holds 8.2 billion gallons of toxic coal waste near the town of Pettus, WV. If it were to burst, it would threaten the lives of 1000 people and be an environmental disaster.
- Studies have shown that Coal River Mountain's ridges have the highest and most productive wind potential. A wind farm on Coal River Mountain could generate 1.2 % of West Virginia's total energy needs, create hundreds of jobs in the local area and generate a long term tax revenue stream for the state. Everyday that blasting happens, the possibility for the wind farm diminishes.
- Already, more than 500 mountains and 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams have been destroyed by mountaintop removal mining operations.
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