THE LAST MOUNTAIN: The Battle Against Big Coal, Mountain Top Removal In WV, Appalachia
THE LAST MOUNTAIN (2011) Official Trailer.
In the valleys of Appalachia, a battle is being fought over a mountain. It is a battle over protecting our health and environment from the destructive power of Big Coal. The mining and burning of coal is at the epicenter of America’s struggle to balance its energy needs with environmental concerns.
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In the valleys of Appalachia, a battle is being fought over a mountain. It is a battle with severe consequences that affect every American, regardless of their social status, economic background or where they live. It is a battle that has taken many lives and continues to do so the longer it is waged. It is a battle over protecting our health and environment from the destructive power of Big Coal.
The mining and burning of coal is at the epicenter of America’s struggle to balance its energy needs with environmental concerns. Nowhere is that concern greater than in *COAL RIVER VALLEY, West Virginia, where a small but passionate group of ordinary citizens are trying to stop Big Coal corporations, like Massey Energy, from continuing the devastating practice of Mountain Top Removal.
MARIA GUNNOE, Boone County, WV resident and awarded environmental activist.
JOE LOVETT, activist, attorney, founder and exec. director, the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment.
THE LAST MOUNTAIN: FILM, SYNOPSIS, INFO. WEBSITE
http://thelastmountainmovie.com/film/
COAL RIVER MOUNTAIN WATCH, WEBSITE
http://www.crmw.net/
-Blankenship Sentenced to Year in Prison, Apr 8, 2016, Don Blankenship, the former CEO of Massey Energy who was convicted in December of the misdemeanor of conspiring to violate mine safety laws, has been sentenced to a year in prison and a $250,000 fine. Blankenship's prosecution resulted from the investigation of the Upper Big Branch mine explosion, which killed 29 miners, in the Coal River community on April 5, 2010.
-New Flyover Photos And TV News Report Of Our Work, Mar 12, 2016
On March 8, Coal River Mountain Watch's Vernon Haltom took WOWK TV reporter Hillary Hall on a flyover with Southwings volunteer pilot David Warner. This was David’s first Southwings flight and Hillary’s first flight in a small plane. We got a good look at the destructive expansion of mountaintop removal on Coal River Mountain, the areas not yet permitted or started, the dismal progress of “reclamation” at the idled Edwight and Twilight sites, and a quick look at the KD#2 and Rich Creek sites near Charleston.
FULL FILM, 'THE LAST MOUNTAIN'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141443135
where I also posted the Thread. Here's the same LIST OF RESOURCES:
Joe Lovett, activist, attny. and founder and exec. director of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment in Lewisburg, WV who appears in the film and other spokespeople involved. See the Last Mountain website, *thelastmountainmovie.com or the coal river mountain watch website in the Thread Link I posted.
JOE LOVETT, Legal Issues, Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment
http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060021831
RESOURCE Links:
THE LAST MOUNTAIN Film, Website
http://thelastmountainmovie.com/film/
Coal River Mountain Watch, Website
http://www.crmw.net/
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*PLUNDERING APPALACHIA.ORG--GET INVOLVED!*
http://www.plunderingappalachia.org/getinvolved.htm
The coal industry has dominated the economic and political landscape of the Appalachian coalfields for more than a century, while transforming the physical landscape from one of globally noteworthy natural diversity to an increasingly polluted, degraded landscape where future economic possibilities are few. But a growing movement of tenacious Appalachian citizens, proud of their mountain culture and willing to fight for their beloved landscape, is pushing back against the coal industry’s destructive practices.
Citizens from around the country are engaged in the fight, too, as the coal from blown-up Appalachian mountains is helping pollute the air and water, and cook the planet. Every living thing on Earth has a stake in stopping the plunder of Appalachia and make a quick transition away from coal-based energy. A comprehensive list of the grassroots and national organizations involved is not possible to include here, but the following resources should provide opportunities for every citizen to learn more about these issues and to join the movement for a more sustainable future for natural and human communities—across Appalachia and around the globe.
~ RESOURCES ~
I Love Mountains is an invaluable online resource for news, education, and information about how individuals can get engaged in fighting mountaintop removal. The website has pioneered a number of innovative movement-building communication tools.
www.ilovemountains.org
~ *The Alliance for Appalachia is a collaboration of thirteen (13) organizations in central Appalachia working to bring an end to mountaintop-removal coal mining. The Alliance for Appalachia also seeks to promote a just and sustainable economy and a clean, renewable energy future in the region. Member groups include:
The Appalachian Citizens Law Center
www.appalachianlawcenter.org
*Appalachian Voices
www.appalachianvoices.org
Appalshop
www.appalshop.org
Coal River Mountain Watch
www.crmw.net
Heartwood
www.heartwood.org
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
www.kftc.org
Mountain Association for
Community Economic Development
www.maced.org
*Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition
www.ohvec.org
Save Our Cumberland Mountains
www.socm.org
Club’s Central Appalachian
Environmental Justice Program
[email protected]
Southern Appalachian Mountain
www.samsva.org
SouthWings
www.southwings.org
West Virginia Highlands Conservancy
www.wvhighlands.org
~*OTHER GROUPS, CAMPAIGNS AND ONLINE RESOURCES (2009):
*The Appalachian Center for
the Economy & the Environment
www.appalachian-center.org
Christians for the Mountains
www.christiansforthemountains.org
Earthjustice
www.earthjustice.org
Greenpeace
www.greenpeace.org/usa
Kentucky Resources Council
www.kyrc.org
Mountainjustice
www.mountainjustice.org
Mountaintop Removal Road Show
www.mountainroadshow.com
Natural Resources Defense Council
www.nrdc.org
The Sierra Club
www.sierraclub.org/coal
Sludge Safety Project
www.sludgesafety.org
Stop Mountaintop Removal
www.stopmountaintopremoval.org
United Mountain Defense
www.unitedmountaindefense.org
Valley Watch
www.valleywatch.net
(List Dated 2009) http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1280&pid=193663
thing is to adjust our views and take some action if possible.
West Virginia was a thriving labor economy based on coal from the early 20th century into the 1960s when JFK campaigned there for president and remarked that West Virginia was a very rich state. But in the decades since the economy has declined to rank WV as one of the three poorest states in the US sorry to say.
Causal factors, especially since the 1980s are many; the collapse of the domestic US steel industry impacting Pittsburg, PA, Weirton, WV and other places and the increase in automated equipment in mining and explosives for mountaintop coal removal that greatly reduced the need for miners. Major employers like Inco, International Nickel based near Huntington and the C & O Railroad/CSX left the state in the 1980s. Walmart has been the one of the main employers for a while but is closing down somewhat in WV and other places according to what I've read here. Tourism and skiing have been fairly successful but not enough of course.
Rust Belt, West Virginia
http://www.coalcampusa.com/rustbelt/wv/wv.htm
Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy campaigned in largely rural and heavily Protestant West Virginia in Spring 1960. He won the hearts and minds of the people whose primary election votes gave him the Democratic nomination that year and the path to win the presidential election for which he was always grateful.
Opposition to the coal industry which pollutes and destroys the environment, is lethal to human health and relates directly to climate change is known and accepted by many in WV, yet seen as a threat to the economy and jobs by others. The dominant business and political establishments in the state also largely maintain a dependence on Big Coal energy and thwart efforts to bring in new employment opportunities and renewable energy alternatives like wind power which Bobby Kennedy discusses in the film 'The Last Mountain' and many others advocate. Also impacting the future of coal there is the less expensively mined coal taking place in Wyoming recently and natural gas fracking as an energy source in the last several years in the Appalachian region and other areas.
FDR campaigned in West Virginia during the Depression and his New Deal programs and support for unions greatly improved the lives of many. Eleanor Roosevelt was involved in the New Deal 'back to the land' Arthurdale subsistence community to help lift unemployed people out of poverty that was established in the northern part of the state. The Roosevelts were revered in WV; families had portraits of FDR and Union leader John L. Lewis displayed in their homes.
FDR Greets Coal Miner and Residents of West Virginia.
Labor Leader, and Head of the UMWA since 1919 John L. Lewis with Eleanor Roosevelt in 1938.
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The resource list of Appalachian improvement associations posted here I hope was helpful. The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) has been around since 1970, is well known and still active.
Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC)
http://ohvec.org/
Arthurdale, WV Heritage
http://arthurdaleheritage.org/
of poverty, 'sacrifice zones' to corporate capitalism in their book, 'Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt' (2012). One of the areas they visited was the coalfields of southern West Virginia where conditions continue to deteriorate, worsened by mountaintop coal removal. They also focused on the Native American community in Pine Ridge S.D., and deindustrialized Camden, N.J.
That so many Americans are unaware of this hollowing out of American communities concerns me and I'm glad to see efforts by Bobby Kennedy, Jr. and the makers of 'The Last Mountain' film, and also Hedges and Sacco who've called attention to the reality that's been taking place for some time. ~ So glad you're involved; I want to do more and will. 
'DAYS OF DESTRUCTION, DAYS OF REVOLT', by Chris Hedge and Joe Sacco.
Website, http://perseuspromos.com/hedges/daysofdestructiondaysofrevolt/
