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Mail your donation form and check to: OVEC, PO BOX 6753, Huntington, WV 25773.
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OVEC ED Statement on Leak / Water Emergency
The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) extends its concern to people and communities impacted by yesterday’s release of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol. More than a day and a half after people first noticed the odor that alerted officials to the leak, the smell still lingers near downtown Charleston, though, due to health-department-ordered shutdown of restaurants, there are few people downtown.
A Picture’s Worth a 1000 Verses
I was in the 9th grade when I first heard “Self Destruction” produced by KRS-One and D-Nice, members of the iconic hip hop group Boogie Down Productions. The charity single became the anthem of the Stop the Violence Movement, started in response to violence in the hip hop and African American communities.
Appalachians Working on Economic Transition
Right before the holiday break in December, I happily attended the Alliance for Appalachia’s Summit on Economic Transition. I went as an OVEC representative, along with OVEC’s founder Dianne Bady.
Winds of Change, December 2013
Perhaps those buried in the Jarrell Family Cemetery can rest a little easier now. In August, family members of the deceased filed a lawsuit in Boone County Court aimed at repairing and protecting the cemetery from further desecration.
Call Gov. Tomblin: Free Roselle, Test MTR Dust
Climate Ground Zero Campaign Director Mike Roselle is in jail in West Virginia. He gathered a bucket-full of dust from a mountaintop removal coal mining site (dust that studies have shown to be toxic) and delivered it to the door of WV Governor Tomblin’ s mansion on Thanksgiving Day.
Earthmasters: Book Review
Clive Hamilton, an Australian, has written a number of books about climate change. In the recently published Earthmasters, he tackles the subject of attempts to manage the climate by geoengineering. I found this book well researched, well documented, clearly written...and alarming.
Past Time for Real Energy Game Changer
As mentioned in the news, OVEC and other environmental groups are troubled by the potential impacts of the proposed cracker plant in Wood County, W. Va. on both air and water quality, just as we are troubled by the gas fracking process as a whole
Fracking Waste Hearing at WV State Capitol Today
For those of you who are near Charleston, W.Va. today, November 19, from 3 to 4:00 p.m. there’s a hearing on the handling and disposal of fracking waste at the WV State Capitol in the House Government Organization Committee Room (in the East Wing, second floor Room 215E; see page nine of this map-pdf ). Presenters include John Jack, Vice President, GreenHunter Resources and Ben Stout, Professor, Wheeling Jesuit College.
Help Us Reach Our Year-End Fundraising Goal
We have a lofty goal of raising $25,000 in memberships and grassroots donations by December 31. We can do this, with your help.
Black Lung Victims, Sacrificial Lambs of Coalfields
A Center for Public Integrity reporter, Chris Hamby, conducted a yearlong investigation into the failed Black Lung Benefit package awarded to disabled coalminers in 1969 legislation. ABC News and Nightline aired a form of this three-part series revealing startling, unethical measures used to help defeat the miner and his widow in their weakest hour. These methods, driven by money from coal companies, involve the biggest and oldest law firm in West Virginia, Jackson- Kelly and a renowned medical center, John Hopkins University. Actions by these revered groups were clandestine and protected by politician and policy.
Keeper of the Mountains President Speaks Out on St. Mary’s and Unclean Coal
To encourage clean coal propaganda is to be complicit in the sickness, suffering and deaths of thousands of Appalachians. It is shameful for a hospital whose primary function should be the health of its community.
Retired Miner Blasts St. Mary’s for Hosting Coal Lobby Group Head
By hosting the American Coalition for "Clean Coal" Electricity (ACCCE), St. Mary's Center of Education is promoting dirty energy that inflicts serious health impairments on the public. This mirrors what John Hopkins Medical Center is doing (or was doing until days ago when they were exposed)-- creating a major road block for miners with black lung, who are being denied their rightful benefits for a disease that is taking the lives of thousands of miners.
So THEY’RE the Ones Treating Fracking Waste Water….
Questions that I’ve been asking myself lately are, “Who are the companies that are treating the […]
ACHE Responds to Latest MTR Health Study
Major depression rates are 40% higher among residents living near mountaintop removal coal mining, according to a recent peer-reviewed study. This work adds to the growing body of evidence linking mountaintop removal to serious health impacts in Appalachia. Residents responded that the study further demonstrates an urgent need for the Appalachian Community Health Emergency (ACHE) Act, HR 526.
Synopsis: Increased Risk of Depression for People Living in Coal Mining Areas of Central Appalachia
Main Points: Individuals residing in areas where mountaintop removal is practiced experienced significantly more poor mental […]
See You in October
Three events in late October which OVEC friends, members and new contacts should plan to attend.
Synopsis: The Environmental Price Tag on a Ton of Mountaintop Removal Coal
Main Points: While several thousand square kilometers of land area have been subject to surface mining in the Central Appalachians, no reliable estimate exists for how much coal is produced per unit landscape disturbance. A one-year supply of coal would result in ∼2,300 km of stream impairment and a loss of ecosystem carbon sequestration capacity comparable to the global warming potential of >33,000 US homes.
Not the Kind of White Water that Attracts Tourists
20130905_untitled_0004-3 The clear-looking (but mining-impacted) West Fork joins the visible gunk in the Pond Fork, all heading downstream to rise of the Litte Coal River in Madison. Photo by Vivian Stockman OVEC organizer and Boone County, W.Va. resident Maria Gunnoe was taking a child to the school bus this morning when they both saw Pond Fork running white. The children waiting for the bus where very agitated, worried what this meant for the river. Maria worried what does this mean for thechildren… what does this latest incident mean for everyone who lives downstream, everyone subjected to ongoing, accumulating coal-related pollution
Winds of Change, September 2013
On the lovely summer evening of July 26, about 80 OVEC members and supporters, many pictured above, gathered to picnic at Coonskin Park in Charleston, WV. We venture to say that everyone had fun, enjoying meeting friends old and new. Thanks to everyone who came out.
UnHoly Frack! Former WV DEP Head Now Chesapeake Mouthpiece
Last night I started watching Triple Divide, about deep shale gas fracking in Pennsylvania. I purchased a copy of the DVD from the Mountain Watershed Association last weekend, when I attended the No Fracking Way gathering. My dog looked at me funny when I yelled “What the frack!” at the TV. I was reacting to the voice of Chesapeake Energy’s director of federal affairs, a voice I recognized as belonging to Former DEP Secretary Stephanie Timmermeyer