Mason Students Risk Freedom to End Mountaintop Removal

For the past three days members of Mason’s Environmental Action Group attended Appalachia Rising, an event designed to galvanize people in the fight against mountaintop removal. According to the event’s organizers it was “an unprecedented gathering of Appalachian people and their allies in the movement to abolish all forms of surface mining”. The weekend featured workshops, speakers, and live music all focused on ending the environmental and human health catastrophe that is mountaintop removal coal mining

The event culminated on Monday with a rally, march around downtown D.C., and a protest at the White House with more than 2000 people, including a contingent from the EAG. In order to bring attention to the issue, over 100 people intentionally got arrested for non-violent, civil disobedience, including three Mason students.

Holly Smucker, a first-year music education major was one of those that got arrested. According to Smucker, “Mountaintop Removal is an awful practice that is not only destroying the mountains, but polluting the water and killing the citizens of Appalachia. Our message yesterday to the EPA and to Obama needed to be voiced loud and clear: we weren’t going to move until they abolished mountaintop removal. In fact, if they hadn’t arrested us we might have still been out there square dancing and chanting.”

Allison Rutledge attended all three days of Appalachia Rising but did not get arrested on Monday. That said, she is equally passionate about the issue, “Mountaintop removal is an extremely destructive and devastating practice. It not only destroys mountains but entire communities as well. There are people out there who don't have clean drinking water because of it. More than 500 mountains have already been obliterated and over 2000 miles of streams have been buried forever. This has to be stopped and it’s why I to continue the fight.”

See photos from the protest below.

Check out more coverage of the rally and protest:

NPR

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130173751

CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/09/27/white.house.protest/index.html

Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/27/AR2010092702615.html

WYMT Television

http://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews/headlines/103889689.html

Learn more about mountaintop removal and what you can do to help:

http://www.ilovemountains.org/

Join the EAG in their efforts to end mountaintop removal and other environmental initiatives:

http://www.gmu.edu/org/environment/

All photos copyright Lauren Peery.

Holly Smucker

Jason Von Kundra

Appalachia Rising: A Movement to Abolish Mountaintop Removal

This piece appeared in the September 20th issue of Broadside in the GMU Environmental Action Group's weekly column, the Mason Ecosphere.

From September 25th through the 27th members of the Environmental Action Group (EAG) will be participating in Appalachia Rising, a mass mobilization in Washington D.C. to end mountaintop removal (MTR), a devastating form of coal production. Unlike traditional mining that extracts coal from underground, mountaintop removal does exactly what its na

me implies- the tops of mountains are blown off in order to reach the seams of coal underneath. The resulting debris is then pushed into the adjacent valleys, completely burying the streams and rivers located there. The result are enormous areas throughout Appalachia that are almost completely devoid of life. Not only is mountaintop removal an environmental catastrophe, it's also a violation of human rights because it destroys the homelands of coalfield residents and damages their health and lifespans through toxic substances that contaminate their air and water. To date more than 500 mountains in Appalachia have been destroyed, over 2000 miles of streams and rivers have been buried, and an estimated area in excess of 1 million acres has been lies in ruin. The goal of Appalachia Rising is to demand a permanent end to mountaintop removal and a just transition to a clean energy economy in Appalachia.

Mountaintop Removal Site near Appalachia, Virginia. Five EAG members visited this site in Spring 2010. Photo by Christi Kruse

Appalachia Rising will consist of two major parts. The first part will focus on providing participants with the skills they need to be effective allies in the fight against MTR. On Saturday, informational workshops will be offered on mountaintop removal and other issues related to coal. Topics include coal ash disposal, stopping new coal-fired power plants, coal and climate change, and the human health impacts of mountaintop removal. On Sunday, skills-based workshops will focus on training participants on how to organize to end MTR. For both of these days events will take place at George Washington University starting at 9:00 a.m. The second part of Appalachia Rising will focus on mass mobilization to end mountaintop removal. The plan is to pressure government leaders to eradicate this violation of human rights by holding a rally at Freedom Plaza and then marching to the White House to bring the issue to the attention of President Obama.

Thousands of concerned people are expected to be participating in these events, and we would like for Mason students to join us. You can register to be a part of Appalachia Rising at http://appalachiarising.org/. If you are interested in joining a large group of Mason students that will be participating in Appalachia Rising, please email the Environmental Action Group at gmueag@gmail.com. We hope that you will join us in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet thousands of other environmental and human rights organizers while contributing to the end of one of the most environmentally destructive practices in the the history of this country. We can bring an end to mountaintop removal but we need your help- please join us.

Register at http://tinyurl.com/gmu-appalachia-rising

An Exciting Semester with the EAG

This piece appeared in the September 7th issue of Broadside in the GMU Environmental Action Group's weekly column, the Mason Ecosphere.

Mason Ecosphere
Jason Von Kundra

From everyone here in the GMU Environmental Action Group (EAG), we welcome you to campus. The EAG is honored to continue writing our weekly column, the Mason Ecosphere in Broadside this semester.

In addition to having more of our usual hikes, movie nights, and famous dance parties, this fall the EAG is running three big campaigns: ending mountaintop removal coal mining, advocating for more sustainable foods on campus, and passing the Patriot Green Fund.

The EAG has worked on ending mountaintop removal for the past two years and will continue to work on the issue until this social and environmental devastation stops. Mountaintop removal is a form of surface mining where coal companies clear-cut forests on mountains, blow up the mountaintops with explosives, and dump the waste containing heavy metals in valleys and streams. This practice is destroying mountains, watersheds, and communities throughout Appalachia. The EAG is organizing a screening of the documentary film Coal Country and a panel of experts on mountaintop removal. Then the EAG will be taking action with thousands of other concerned citizens involved in the struggle by participating in Appalachia Rising, a mass mobilization in the District of Colombia on September 25th through the 27th where people will call for an end to this destructive practice.

Sustainable foods is also an important issue which connects to every student that eats on campus. The EAG is starting a new campaign this semester in which students will advocate for more local, organic, vegetarian, and vegan food options. We are also looking at the entire environmental impact of our dining service including packaging, shipping, and the disposal of food.

Finally, the EAG is campaigning to pass policy through the administration that will provide funding for a green endowment, sustainable capital improvements, and research funding for student projects related to sustainability. The Patriot Green Fund, a proposal currently being considered by the university is expected to be presented to the Board of Visitors in the spring. If passed, students will soon see solar panels and wind turbines on campus that will help Mason to reach its goal of climate neutrality. President Alan Merten committed George Mason to climate neutrality by signing the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment in 2007.

To join the EAG or get more information, check out our website at gmu.edu/org/environment and make sure to join the Facebook group. We meet every Wednesday at 7:30pm in the Johnson Center Meeting Room A.

EPA Holds First Public Hearing on Coal Ash Proposal

On Monday, August 30th, the Environmental Protection Agency held its first public hearing on a proposal to address risks of unsafe coal ash disposal. The EPA is proposing an unprecedented national rule to ensure the safe disposal and management of coal ash from coal-fired power plants. Students from George Mason, Virginia Tech, and University of Maryland joined hundreds of other citizens at the hearing in Arlington, VA to deliver statements in support of strict regulation of this hazardous waste.

Coal is dirty from mining to burning. Coal ash, a byproduct of the combustion of coal at power plants contains contaminants such as mercury, cadmium and arsenic, which are associated with cancer and various other serious health effects. Coal ash is disposed of in liquid form at large surface impoundments and in solid form at landfills. The dangers associated with structurally unsafe coal ash impoundments came to national attention in 2008 when an impoundment holding disposed waste ash broke open, creating a massive spill in Kingston that covered millions of cubic yards of land and river. The spill displaced residents, required hundreds of millions of dollars in cleanup costs and caused widespread environmental damage.

In testimony at the hearing, GMU student Emily Miles criticized the coal industry for “continually putting profits over people”. She urged the EPA to regulate the coal industry to limit their destruction. “As a concerned citizen, I am here today to tell the EPA to do its job and protect people and the environment.” Kara Dodson, a student at Virginia Tech working on their Beyond Coal Campaign, described the negative health effects that coal ash from her campus’ coal-fired power plant has on students. Jason Von Kundra, an earth science major at Mason, delivered a statement urging the EPA to put stricter regulation on the coal industry to embrace the “clean energy economy that our country and our president are calling for”.

Six more hearing on the proposed rule to address coal ash are scheduled for September. Public comments may also be submitted by email to rcra-docket@epa.gov and should be identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-2009-0640.

Three Mason Students Join Others in Creative Sit-In at EPA Headquarters to Call for Stronger Action on Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

WASHINGTON— Today, activists with the Rainforest Action Network staged sit-in at the EPA headquarters to demand stronger protection for Appalachia’s drinking water and an end to the devastating practice of mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining. Three of the activists inside the EPA building are Mason students including Allison Rutledge and Jason Von Kundra.

After entering the EPA building, activists sat down in the center of the lobby, locked themselves together with metal ‘lock boxes,’ and began to play West Virginia’s adopted state song, John Denver’s ‘Take me Home, Country Roads,’ with intermittent sounds of Appalachia’s mountains being blown apart by MTR explosives spliced into the song. An additional activist climbed to the top of the EPA front door on Constitution Ave and hung a banner reading: ‘Blowing up mountains for coal contaminates Appalachia’s water, Stop MTR.’

“We’re sitting down inside the EPA to demand the EPA stand up to protect Appalachia’s precious drinking water, historic mountains and public health from the devastation of mountaintop removal,” said Scott Parkin of Rainforest Action Network, who participated in the sit-in. “At issue here is not whether mountaintop removal mining is bad for the environment or human health, because we know it is and the EPA has said it is. At issue is whether President Obama’s EPA will do something about it. So far, it seems it is easier to poison Appalachia’s drinking water than to defy King Coal.”

With the nation’s eyes on the BP disaster, the EPA, without publicly announcing the action, recently gave the green light for a major new mountaintop removal coal mining permit in Logan County, West Virginia. The permit would allow the destruction of nearly three miles of currently clean streams and 760 acres of forest, in a county where at least 13 percent of the land has already been permitted for surface coal mining. This is the first permit decision the EPA has issued under the new MTR guidelines, which came out last April and were anticipated to provide tougher oversight of the practice.

“This is a devastating first decision under guidelines that had offered so much hope for Appalachian residents who thought the EPA was standing up for their health and water quality in the face of a horrific mining practice,” said Amanda Starbuck of the Rainforest Action Network. “The grand words being spoken by Administrator Jackson in Washington are simply not being reflected in the EPA’s actions on-the-ground. Moving forward, it is clear that the EPA cannot end mountaintop removal coal mining pollution, as it has committed to, without abolishing mountaintop removal all together.”

For decades, Appalachian residents have been decrying the impact of mountaintop removal coal mining—the practice of blowing up whole mountains (and dumping the toxic debris into nearby streams and valleys) to reach seams of coal. Environmentalists, leading scientists, congressional representatives and even late coal state Senator Byrd have all called for the end to this mining practice.

A paper released in January 2009 by a dozen leading scientists in the journal Scienceconcluded that mountaintop coal mining is so destructive that the government should stop giving out new permits all together. “The science is so overwhelming that the only conclusion that one can reach is that mountaintop mining needs to be stopped,” said Margaret Palmer, a professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences and the study’s lead author.

Since 1992, nearly 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams have been filled at a rate of 120 miles per year by surface mining practices. A recent EPA study found elevated levels of highly toxic selenium in streams downstream from valley fills. These impairments are linked to contamination of surface water supplies and resulting health concerns, as well as widespread impacts to stream life in downstream rivers and streams. Further, the estimated scale of deforestation from existing Appalachian surface mining operations is equivalent in size to the state of Delaware.

The Pine Creek permit is currently awaiting approval from the Army Corps of Engineers.

Here are some photos from today's action.

Here is the sound track played on loop from within the building.