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Mail your donation form and check to: OVEC, PO BOX 6753, Huntington, WV 25773.
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2 p.m. Today: OVEC Organizer Testifies at Congressional Hearing
OVEC community organizer Dustin White is among the witnesses at a Congressional hearing today. To watch the hearing live at 2 p.m.: http://naturalresources.house.gov/live/
Kickstarter Campaign Launched for West Virginia-Based Feature Film
Filmmaker Keely Kernan has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help finance a feature film, based in West Virginia, that documents the impact of the fossil fuel industries. West Virginia has fueled America since the early 19th century when the coal industry began dominating the state. In the southern part of the state, the counties that produce the most coal are some of the poorest counties in the United States. Now there is another fossil fuel industry operating on some of the oldest mountains on earth – fracking for natural gas.
Silica Dust: Trouble for Well Pad Workers, Neighbors
To unlock gas (consisting mostly of methane) in deep shale formations, a very deep well is drilled (depth varies depending on location and shale formation). Once a well is drilled, the hydraulic fracturing process (fracking) begins. For this process, thousands of tons of silica sand are mixed with millions of gallons of valuable water and added to thousands of gallon of fracturing chemical. This sand/water/chemical mixture is then pumped under very high pressure down the well casing, causing the tight shale to fracture.
Fracking’s Human Toll Extends to Well Workers
Acute silicosis, such as afflicted the Hawk’s Nest workers, is caused by heavy exposure to crystalline silica over a short time, and its incubation period is a matter of months. However, simple silicosis can remain latent for 10 years or more. Given the rapidly increasing ranks of well workers exposed — and many far over-exposed — to crystalline silica, that fact is truly frightening. If measures aren’t taken to protect these workers now, another enormous tragedy is likely lurking in our future.
Satisfaction Via In-Person and Online Action
In This Alert: May 16: Sustainability Fair, WV Mine Wars Museum , May 17: Stand Together For Safe Water & Energy Savings, June 15: This is Not Your Grandparents’ Oil & Gas Industry, Other Upcoming Actions
This Saturday: 2015 Sustainability Fair
Come one, come all on May 16 to the 2015 Sustainability Fair from 10 a.m. - 10:30 p.m. at the historical Heritage Station, 210 11th Street (Diamond Teeth Mary Way) in Huntington, WV. Free!
Another Fracking Danger: Left-of-Center Escort Vehicles
Due to the Marcellus Shale gas "boom" here, in north-central West Virginia, it is not uncommon to find escort vehicles (accompanying oversize equipment heading for or leaving well pads) driving left-of-center, as you can see in the photos below. It goes without saying that this is dangerous for anyone out of the roads. This is just one of a host of problems associated with Marcellus Shale activity here.
Who Is That Man in Khaki?
That's no DEP employee, that's Bill Hughes, who has lived in Wetzel County, WV for more than 36 years. He is a member of Wetzel County Action Group, active in monitoring Marcellus Gas activities in Wetzel and surrounding counties. His work includes assisting and educating people who suddenly find "unconventional" gas extraction activities (fracking-related) disrupting their lives, sometimes tragically.
Note to Statoil: Dangerous Drivers and Rigs Not Good For Your PR
the residents recognized bad behavior on the part of the pilot vehicle, escort drivers and then transfer that image to Statoil. Public relations is important if Statoil wishes to become a better neighbor. Low Gap road will remain a traffic challenge for Statoil.
Potential Gubernatorial Candidate Plans MTR Mine Near A Head-Start Preschool
In an April 21 article, Jim Justice, owner of Southern Coal Corporation, told the Beckley Register-Herald that […]
FERC Changes Date of Meeting to TRY to Avoid Protestors
'Dishonest and deceitful,' protestors say: Lee Stewart of BXE slammed FERC's change-of-date, saying that FERC's statement about protecting staff is "dishonest and deceitful, and demonstrates unambiguously that they are more interested in the needs and profits of industry than in the needs of the American people,' he said in a statement. "Instead of changing its meeting dates to try to avoid protests, FERC should have the courage and integrity to end its subservience to industry, and start being concerned with the health and safety of people being victimized by fracking and gas infrastructure expansion, not make up false charges and insinuations." He did not say whether the protest events would be rescheduled, but promised that protestors would continue to show up at FERC's public meetings.
Step Up: Fight Fracking Pipelines
Fracking pipelines! The tentacles of the gas industry reach across America and the globe, so we must all stand together and work together from different areas affected by the gas industry, and show solidarity to stop this harmful industry and work towards a real renewable future that is more beneficial to us all. We all live downstream.
Help Your Congregation Win a $10,000 Energy Efficiency Upgrade
WV Interfaith Power and Light is partnering with APCO to help congregations become more energy efficient beginning this month.
And The Award Goes To….
On April 14, 2015, OVEC was one of the recipients of the second annual Jean and Leslie […]
WV-Based OVEC and SkyTruth to Receive Jean and Leslie Douglas Pearl Award
WASHINGTON, D.C. –— Two West Virginia-based groups will be among those receiving the Cornell Douglas Foundation’s second annual Jean and Leslie Douglas Pearl Awards at a 4 to 6 p.m. ceremony at the National Press Club on April 14.
Patriot Coal’s Hobet 21 Mine Wiping Out W.Va’s Mud River Watershed
BOONE COUNTY, WV – Local citizen and clean water groups filed suit today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia over widespread water pollution from Patriot Coal Corporation’s sprawling Hobet 21 coal mine in Boone County, WV. Hobet 21 is part of the Hobet Mining Complex in Boone County, West Virginia, which covers 6,268 acres in and around the upper Mud River watershed, and is one of the largest surface mines in Appalachia.
The Bill Mill of WV
Going into the 2015 WV Legislature for the first time as a lobbyist, I really didn’t […]
Film Premiere, Overburden- Friday, April 10th, 2015
A disarming and powerful new film shows the human stories from coal country – including stunning […]
Pipe Up, Come Out
Keep Your Foot Down: Contact the Governor. Thanks to everybody (around 200 of you!) who came out for The People's Foot: No More MTR Permits, held on March 16 at DEP headquarters in Charleston. Most of you probably read the news the next day: State announces review of studies linking mountaintop removal mining to illness
FERC Hear This: Pipeline Risks to Rural Folks Too High
My home is approximately one mile from the Supply Header Pipeline. The proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline runs parallel to the Supply Header Project in our area. Why would we allow two pipelines so close to one another? At a meeting in Doddridge County, Dominion told us that the pipeline's blast zone radius will be 942 feet — everything 942 feet around any point of explosion along the pipeline will basically be gone/toast. Because of fracking-related activities, there already have been well fires, explosion, spills, leaks, well-water contamination and wrecks. Our roads have been destroyed by heavy truck traffic and full of drilling traffic — you take your life in your hands every time you get in your car. We are at risk now 24 hours a day every day of the year for this industry. Now, once again we are being asked to take on more of their risk.