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InsideRemembering Laura ....................page 2Sylvester Dustbusters Win ....................page 7HOPE – Pallone/Shays bill ....................page 14Field of Broken Dreams ....................page 18

E

the newsletter of the

Ohio Valley Environmental CoalitionOhio Valley Environmental CoalitionOhio Valley Environmental CoalitionOhio Valley Environmental CoalitionOhio Valley Environmental CoalitionHuntington, WV www.ohvec.org

Winds Winds Winds Winds Winds ofofofofof Change Change Change Change Change

What Part Don't Coal Companies Understand?

This new OVEC design just went up on one of the large billboards on Interstate 64 near Hurricane, on the way in to Charleston.OVEC owns the banner used on this billboard. If you’d like to rent billboard space elsewhere when our lease is up after 90 days, justlet us know!

"And Godsaw

everythinghe hadmade,

andbehold, itwas verygood."Genesis

1:31

Whether you’re religious or not, if you love thebeauty of West Virginia’s mountains, you probably feel thesemountains are sacred - and that it is grievously wrong toblow them up.

We need to continue fighting to bring justice topeople whose lives have been devastated by mountaintopremoval/valley fill strip mining. We need to work to slowthe feared onslaught of new mountaintop removal permits,permits that have the personal blessing of George W. Bush(see article inside about the hopeful new Pallone/Shays billintroduced in the U.S. Congress.)

But we also need to publicly acknowledge the overall

carnage, the ecocide of mountaintop removal, that continuesto go on here. It is just plain wrong for powerful corporationsto liquidate the treasures of our world for their gain.

If you’d like to see more billboards like this, or seethis design used in OVEC newspaper ads, could you pleasesend a check to help make this happen? (See page 19).

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by Dianne BadyIn typical Laura fashion,

when she left us so abruptly, shewent out with a splash. Shecollapsed and died surrounded byTV cameras, surrounded by peoplewho loved her, at a stop-mountaintop-removal protest thatshe had organized.

What can we learn fromLaura’s life, while we continue tomourn our loss of this beautifulwoman who profoundly touched somany?

Her tragic passing wasreported in detail by statewidenewspapers, TV and radio. Theday after her death, OVEC’sanswering machine had messagesfrom dozens of sobbing people. Laura’s memorialservice was packed with 400 mourners; it lasted overthree hours because person after person got up to tellhow she had influenced their lives. No one had everseen anything like this before.

I’m a much better person for having been closeto Laura for nine years. Many, many others have talkedabout how she brought out the best in them. What wasit about Laura, that she was such a strong influence onso many people?

Laura loved – fiercely. She loved her family,her friends, and the friends she worked with who werefighting for their communities, their homes, their belovedlandscapes, and their very lives. Laura loved thegrandeur of the southern West Virginia mountains. Itwas that love that pushed her onto her feet and into thefaces of those who promoted the annihilation of someof the most biodiverse temperate forests on the planet.

Laura understood that the key element infighting for environmental justice is building relationshipswith other people who care. It’s not just about havingthe best facts, about making the most articulate speeches,about keeping up with your accumulated piles of papers.It’s all about connecting with other people, caring for

Laura Forman February 1, 1962 - December 10, 2001This lovely cloth collage now hangs in the OVEC office. It was createdby Charleston artist Winter Ross and commissioned by Dave Cooperas a Christmas gift to the other OVEC staff.

RememberingLaura

those who fight side-by-side with you, and helping othersto get up when they fall. It’s being willing to put up withother people’s faults and seeing the gold that lies withintheir hearts. Eloquence alone won’t win our battles,neither will irrefutable facts; what DOES make the mostdifference is masses of people who are willing to prythemselves off of their couches and get involved.

Here’s a few quotes from the news coverageof Laura’s passing:“Laura will be best remembered as a staunch advocatefor coalfield residents affected by mountaintop removalmining. Laura was doing what she did best and whatshe loved – motivating people around an issue,” saidLinda Mallet of WV Citizen Action Group.

“She taught me a lot about people, aboutorganizing people and about how to reach people,” saidJudy Bonds of Coal River Mountain Watch, located inthe belly of the mountaintop removal beast.

OVEC board member Elinore Taylor said “Shewas tough when she dealt with coal operators andlegislators. But at the same time, she was one of themost kind-hearted and gentle persons I know.”

Being close to Laura taught me to look for, andcontinued on page 3

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OVEC Board of Directors & StaffBoard Members

LaShonda Bare, Co-Chair John Taylor, Co-ChairGregg and Melissa Anthony Jeff BosleyGreg Carroll David DukeEric Fout Winnie FoxLarry Gibson Susan HaydenRegina Hendrix Rebecca HoffTom Jones Dan KashThomas Kincaid Beady PhillipsSharon Roon Elinore Taylor Full- and Part-Time StaffDianne Bady Janet Fout Vivian Stockman Dave Cooper Maryanne GrahamOVEC Webmaster Don AlexanderWinds of Change Editor Dianne BadyWinds of Change Ant Farm Wrangler Monty Fowler

Ohio Valley Environmental CoalitionP.O. Box 6753, Huntington, WV 25773

phone: (304) 522-0246 fax: (304) 525-6984e-mail: ohvec@ohvec.org web page: www.ohvec.org

continued from page 2express, the humor in even the most deadly serious situations.Because of her, I laugh more in my work.

For all of us who painfully miss Laura, let’sremember her by carrying on her work and her style. Doyou want to save the mountains? Then reach out to otherpeople who care. Get to know those who share in our fight– learn more about their lives, support them when times aretough for them. Put up with their faults, but talk gently andopenly to them about those faults if they cause problems.Invite someone new to the next action, then greet themwarmly and introduce them to others when they show up.

Take the time to love – slow down sometimes andjust appreciate the love that IS there deep in your heart.And then act upon that love, with courage and humor.

Remembering Laura

by Vivian StockmanOpen the newspaper, turn on the news, even talk

with your friends – you can instantly get your overdose ofdoom and gloom.

Looming over whatever we do each day is theprospect of war, the ultimate social and environmentalnightmare. War is the worst possible energy strategy ourgovernment could pursue. Everyone knows this potential

Don't Despair - Organize and Fight Back Instead!war is, in major part, about Iraq’s oil. After all, there areother countries with both brutal despots and weapons ofmass destruction, plus Al Qaeda has ties to at least 60countries, yet we aren’t about to bomb all of them.

What does our Governor think? He is on record assaying an extended war will bring more attention to America’scoalfields! The National Mining Association, in its latestaggressive public relations push, is touting coal as importantfor “homeland security” (which may sell with people whosehomes aren’t in the coalfields).

Judge Haden’s latest ruling that certain valley fillsare illegal has been overturned. But, remember, lawsuitsare but one aspect of a multi-pronged, multi-group campaignagainst the massacre of our mountains. More lawsuits areongoing and in the works, as are many other aspects of thecampaign.

The coal industry wants a major roll back of statemining laws, just in case they are ever forced to obey them.Massey Energy is flooding the airwaves with ads somisleading that the Department of Environmental Protectionmining division chief has complained about them to theLegislature, though at least one Senator has publicly statedhe believes the ads.

But…don’t let the ba***ards bring you down! Youdon’t need me to tell you about all the beauty and goodnessin life – friends, family, fun, nature, religion and more.

You know the rest of this too, but it bears repeating.Groups like OVEC are helping to safeguard the good thingsin life, by acting as agents for positive change. That’s right,your participation in organized actions is critical. Not onlyis protesting good for your health (according to a recentstudy), but organized actions do get results. You’ll notesome organized citizens’ latest victories in this newsletter –Sylvester residents having their day in court and Peytonabeing saved, at least for now, from a massive dusting byMassey.

Fortunately, membership in OVEC has increasedover the last year. We expect the attack on federal andstate environmental laws will bring even more folks into thefold. That’s great because we need an ever-growing chorusof people demanding an end to the abuse of our environment.As ever, continue your letters to the editor and to legislators.Work to get your friends and neighbors involved. Stay tunedfor upcoming actions! We are in this for the long haul –because our futures depend on it!

And remember – we have way more fun than thebad guys!

4

Rep. Marley (center), answers questions fromDan Sammons, left, attorney for the WV HouseJudiciary about Maine's Clean Elections bill,as Si Galperin takes notes.

by John TaylorOn the surface of things

the right to vote is pretty much themost honored and respected rightthat we have in this country. Mostusually, the court decisions onvoting describe it as a “right,” an“entitlement” or a “privilege.”

Also, the major trend inthe court system’s opinions is toexpand the voting population bygetting rid of the barriers erectedin the bad old days such as skin color, gender, poverty andcriminal record.

The West Virginia Supreme Court told us in 1942that all voting laws and regulations in West Virginia must beinterpreted liberally toward the right to vote. Written publicpolicy is designed to increase the number of people whoparticipate in our electoral process.

Our public policy on inclusion and increasingparticipation demonstrates an unacceptable discrepancybetween theory and practice. As a nation, our theory andpolicy on elections is ripped. Anyone who thinks we’re doinggood on this needs to explain why only about 40 percent ofeligible West Virginians voted in the last election. You callthis good?

Be serious! Why would any person of normalintelligence feel good about voting when you know daggonedwell the results are not going to fully and fairly reflect the willof the majority of the working class of this country. Whenyou know the entire system is designed for the needs anddesires of rich people, what’s to like? Not very much unlessyou’re a rich person too.

When it comes to electing our leaders, we’re tryingto make production with dysfunctional machinery.

Parts are broken and banging around in there.Threads are stripped and bearings are burned out on themachinery we have to use to conduct the most serious andsignificant, and the most dangerous, of our collective andsocial tasks, i.e., the election of our leaders and governments.(“Dangerous” because of the harmful and demoralizing socialconsequences of elections that don’t give full and fair results,elections that are twisted and distorted by the infusion ofexcessive money and influence into the process from Daynumber 1 until the counting and canvassing of the ballotscast.)

A Clean Elections Bill is afoot this legislative session

West Virginia Bill for Public Financing of Elections Advancingin West Virginia. OVEC hasplayed a lead role in making thathappen.

We all have witnessed firsthand how large corporateinterests’ influence and control theenvironmental political agendaevery day.

Having cleaner electionsis pivotal to the possibility that wewill ever have clean air, purewater, and a pristine landscape.

OVEC folks joined with the West Virginia Patriotsfor Peace, Marshall Action for Peaceful Solutions (that'sMAPS students Tony Curtis, Abraham Mwaura, and MaggieFry pictured above) and others outside the Charleston CivicCenter to protest the plans for war during President Bush'sHalloween visit to West Virginia.

National Guard Col. Bill Raney, who is presidentof the West Virginia Coal Association, was seen scurryinginto the venue. Perhaps he was on his way to deliver moremoney to Fossil Fuel administration, and to West VirginiaCcongresswoman Shelley Moore Capito? The Center forResponsive Politics says Capito is the current top recipientamong all House members in contributions from coal andthe mining industry: $82,250. The coal-burning electric utilityindustry gave her nearly $33,000 this election cycle, whileoil and gas interests gave her $47,000. Now, Coal is gettingits paybacks, as Bush and Co. push for an open throttle onmountaintop removal mining. War in the coalfields. War inthe oilfields. It's the scariest Halloween we've ever spent.

Trick or Treat for George Bush - No War!

5

by John TaylorMaine state representative

Boyd Marley visited us Feb. 2-3as a guest of the WV CleanElections Coalition.

Mr. Marley was elected in2000 under the Maine CleanElections Act. He was invited tocome to West Virginia and tell ourlegislators how the Maine actworks in actual practice. (OVECarranged and paid for his visit.)

During our pressconference with Marley, Secretaryof State Joe Manchin said 66percent of Maine voters voted intheir 2000 election cycle, in sharpand dismal contrast with WestVirginia’s record of around 40percent.

Marley said a “significantmajority” (around 60 percent) ofMaine candidates supported the Clean Elections Process,“and said they would use it again.”

One of the main benefits was candidates’ increasedcreativity in getting out to meet the public and raising thenecessary “seed money” and “qualifying contributions.” Forexample, he said he does not refer any more to “FundRaising” but instead uses the term “Friend Raising” todescribe the process of obtaining seed money and qualifyingcontributions from his constituents and supporters.

During his visit, Marley met with House SpeakerRobert Kiss and spoke to a good number of persons at apublic reception at the University of Charleston.

Marley also met with the entire Senate Judiciarycommittee and the Elections Subcommittee of the HouseJudiciary Committee. He was featured at a press conferenceat the Secretary of State’s office and was interviewed onthe local PBS news show “Your Legislature Today.”

During his visit with the House Elections Sub-Committee he said, “There’s honor in public service. Thislaw puts honor back into public service. We’re trying tomake the election process transparent.” One of his mainpoints was the success of the Maine law in increasing publicparticipation in elections.

West Virginia's Clean Election Law - Let's Do theRight Thing and Return Honor to the Process

Linda Mallet, Gary Zuckett and Maine staterepresentative Boyd Marley discuss the successof Clean Elections in Maine and the West VirginiaClean Elections Act at a public reception at theUniversity of Charleston. photos by Janet Fout

What’s Not ToLike?

Marley said,“This law severs theperception that moneybuys votes” and “putsintegrity back into theprocess” while it“brings it down to thegrass roots level.”

Question: Arethe terms “honor,”“integrity,” “grassroots level” and“transparent electionprocess” so foreign toour understanding ofelection campaignfinance, so destructiveof our “normal” and“usual” proceduresthat the change the

Clean Elections Bill will bring to our election process is soutterly unthinkable and impossible to enact?

Can it possibly be that we prefer our usual way of

As an ambassador for clean, publicly funded elections,State Rep. Marley explains to an attentive audiencethat 77 percent of Maine's state Senate and 55 percentof the state Representatives are Clean Electionslegislators after the 2002 election. Attendees at thepublic reception learned all about this creative,voluntary system for financing elections.

continued on page 6

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Clean Electionscontinued from page 5

doing business and electing our legislativerepresentatives even though the result is 40 percent voterparticipation and a prevalent cynical public perception that,yes indeed, “money buys votes.”

Why would any sincere person freely choose toseek public office knowing that big money has twisted andperverted our elections to the point that the entire processis generally viewed by citizens as a cynical, hypercriticaland shallow process?

The answer seems to be that those people whowould favor our current profoundly flawed system, favor itbecause, and only because, they profit greatly from it, andtherefore resist changing it.

China - Nehlen remark unwiseCharleston Gazette, Monday Jan. 20, 2003

DON NEHLEN should stick withfootball. He is well on the way towardembarrassing himself as King Coal’s newspokesman.

Nehlen is to be chief spokesman for amassive public relations campaign paid for by“Friends of Coal.” At his inaugural effort, aspeech before the West Virginia CoalAssociation’s annual symposium, the formerMountaineers coach sounded like a caricatureof himself.

“The best defense is a good offense,”he said of the PR effort. “You guys are 10 or 11and 0, and everyone talks like you’re 5 and 6.When you’re winning, we’ve got to let peopleknow.”

Well, at least he said nothing aboutgiving 110 percent to the effort.

But the worst came when he essentiallysuggested that West Virginia follow China’sregulatory model.

“Let’s get some of these doggoneregulations eliminated or at least made sound,so guys can mine coal,” he said. “I don’t exactlyknow the regulations, but I’m smart enough toknow that in China, they mine for six bucks aton, and we have got to be able to compete withthem.”

China may mine coal for “six bucks aton,” but the cost in lives and environmentaldevastation is enormous. China kills almost asmany miners every year as West Virginiaemploys. Experts say that 10,000 Chineseminers die every year.

Those “doggone regulations” thatNehlen complains about help make WestVirginia mines safer. Six-dollar-a-ton coal maybe worth the price for the coal companiesNehlen is shilling for, but the human toll wouldbe too horrible for most rational people toconsider.

(Winds of Change Ed. note: Thanks to OVEC’s VivStockman for digging up the China mining deathsinformation which the Gazette used so well.)

UPCOMING EVENTSFriday, Feb. 28, 6 p.m. Taylor Books, 226 Capitol Street,Charleston. Book party with acclaimed West Virginia authorDenise Giardina, celebrating the publication of Fallam’sSecret, Denise’s brand new book. Fallam is a fictionalmountain lost forever to mountaintop removal. Or is it? Onlytime (travel) will tell. Denise will read from and sign copiesof the book. Music and refreshments, as well as lots of goodpeople, round out the event.

Friday – Sunday, March 7-9, OVEC’s Fourth Summit forthe Mountains at Pipestem State Park. Call the office at(304) 522-0246 to see if any spaces are left.

April 9-13, “Final Assault,” a play by actor David Selby (aWest Virginia native) about mountaintop removal will beperformed by the Charleston Stage Company at the WVState College Capitol Center Theatre, 123 Summers St.,Charleston. The drama is about an environmental activistwho struggles against a coal company’s attempt to expandmountaintop removal/valley fill mining. Call (304) 343-5272.

Saturday, May 17, Conference in Charleston on the FreeTrade in the Americas Act. More details coming.

Friday, May 23, 7:30 p.m., the Rev. Fred Small of Littleton,Mass., will speak on “Wake Now My Senses: The ReligiousImperative of Earth Stewardship.” This is one of the RiverSeries forums at The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship ofthe Kanawha Valley, 520 Kanawha Blvd. W., Charleston.

7

by Vivian StockmanMassey Energy is going to need a whole bunch more

ads. The shiny “good neighbor” image it is trying sodesperately to cultivate just got tarnished again – this timenot by sludge, but by black coal dust – much of it comingfrom mountaintop removal mines.

A jury found that Massey’s Elk Run coal processingfacility failed to control coal dust coming off its property,thus creating a nuisance for its neighbors in the Boone Countytown of Sylvester. The jury said Elk Run negligently harmedresidents and violated the WV Surface Mining Act byallowing dust to escape from its permit area.

Massey will have to pay nearly $473,000 indamages to the 150 or so folks who sued (but Massey willundoubtedly appeal).

Because Elk Run did break state mining laws, thecompany could also have to pay the residents’ attorneys’fees, which amount to about $2 million for a lawsuit thatwas five years in the making. The jury’s verdict also allowsthe judge in the case, after another hearing, to decide if hewants to order Elk Run to implement dust control measuresthat actually work.

For years, people in Sylvester have suffered throughthe constant coal dust and 24-hour noise coming from thegiant Elk Run facility, which stockpiles, processes and shipscoal – you guessed it, by lots of illegally-overloaded coaltrucks. The fine black dust coats their homes, inside andout.

The dust got even worse when, in 1998, despiteresidents’ pleas, the WV Department of Environmental

Sylvester 'Dustbusters' Beat Up On Massey Energy

Protection granted a permit expansion. Elk Run took downpart of a ridge in between the town and the plant, opening anew gateway for dust. Now, some homes – which werethere first – are only 735 feet from the plant.

Before the expansion, the company promised inwriting to make old problems better and to avoid newproblems. But ElkRun moved slowly anddid little. One dustcontrol measure thatwas promised overtwo decades ago is stillnot in place! Sylvesterresidents made scoresof complaints to the DEP, which finally ordered Elk Run toclean up part of its dirty act. The company appealed manyof the DEP orders.

One thing it did finally do was build a giant nylondome over its stockpile, but that didn’t stop the dust. (Intypical Massey fashion, while the jury was deliberating itsverdict the dust control dome was ripped and deflated andDEP cited Elk Run for a preventable accident.)

The coal in the stockpile is of course mainly at rest,and therefore dust isn’t jettisoned into the air on low-winddays. However, there are many places at Elk Run wherecoal is in motion – conveyor belts, the crushing plant, transferpoints, loadouts and in uncovered coal trucks. When coalis moved, fine coal dust is easily launched into the air.

Dustbuster Pauline Canterberry in the MadisonCounty Courthouse during the trial. Pauline and manyof her dustbusting friends are active members of bothCoal River Mountain Watch and OVEC.

continued on page 9

“Our goal has neverbeen money. We justdidn’t want them tocontrol our community.”

Pauline Canterberry,Sylvester "Dustbuster"

No, that's not a domed stadium gone astray in southernWest Virginia - it's Massey Energy's Elk Run domeon a day when it was fully inflated and functioning,more-or-less. photo by Mary Miller

8

by Dave CooperHomer won’t be dusting Peytona anytime soon.As reported in our last newsletter, Homer III

Processing, a subsidiary of Massey Energy, applied for apermit to build a huge plant in Boone County near Peytonato process coal from mountaintop removal mines. Theproposed Homer site is only 10 miles from Massey’s ElkRun Plant, which has showered the residents of Sylvesterwith dust (see story on page 7).

After more than five years of what Sylvester residentPauline Canterberry calls “Black Hell,” culminating in acitizen lawsuit which could cost Massey millions, it wassurprising to see that Massey would again want to locate acoal processing facility so close to an established community.

According to the permit application, the Homer IIIplant would emit 5,850 tons per year of controlledparticulate matter (dust) including 2,699 tons per year ofvery fine (less than 10 microns) dust particles. These ultra-fine particles are of particular health concern, as they areable to bypass the human body’s normal respiratory defensesand lodge deeply in lung tissue, where they can contributeto or aggravate lung disorders like asthma.

OVEC, Coal River Mountain Watch and othergroups wonder if Massey will ever learn from its pastmistakes. The coal industry is always saying howmountaintop removal creates flat developable land forindustry and factories, so why don’t they locate one of thesecoal processing plants on an old mountaintop removal site?(Editor’s note: We suspect that when it comes to real-life investment decisions, even Massey realizes that mostold mountaintop removal sites would be prohibitivelyexpensive, if not impossible, to develop.)

Happily for the residents of Peytona, on Nov. 8 theWV Department of Environmental Protection denied HomerIII’s permit application, stating that the plant “does notdemonstrate eligibility and compliance.”

Residents breathed a sigh of relief as common senseseemed to finally prevail at the DEP. However, the DEPalso noted that “issuance of this order does not preventHomer III Processing from submitting a modificationapplication in the future.”

On January 30, DEP held a town meeting at thePeytona Church of Christ to seek citizen input aboutconverting a beloved and scenic rural dirt byway calledIndian Creek Road into a coal haul road to service the DEP-

Massey Energy Subsidiary Denied Permit to CoverAnother West Virginia Town with Coal Dust

Honoring a Great Crusader

denied Homer III plant.Once again, local residents, led by Paul and

Nannette Nelson and Jim Browning, organized BooneCounty neighbors to fight to save Indian Creek Rd., whichfollows Indian Creek for miles through the woods, is popularfor recreation and has long been used by hikers, hunters,four-wheelers, ginseng and mushroom gatherers.

Coal River’s Judy Bonds spoke passionately aboutthe importance of these woodlands to the culture of thepeople of Appalachia, referencing from Dr. Mary Hufford’sresearch on the ethnography of the region. Nannette Nelsonsaid, “I’ve lived here all my life, and my ancestors lived here200 years before that!” Bill Price called the proposal “theroad to nowhere – from a mine that’s not permitted to aprocessing plant that’s had the permit denied.”

Imagine seeing your favorite road through the woodsturned into an industrial corridor!

Massey claims they want to use this back road tokeep coal truck traffic off of busy Route 3 and to try and bea better neighbor.

Yet given the past experience of its neighbors inSylvester, Peytona residents remain skeptical of Massey’sstated motives.

If Massey truly wants to be a better neighbor, thenthat will truly be a happy day for coalfield residents.

Until that, they are best advised to remain watchful.

As has become a yearly tradition, OVEC participatedin the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day march inHuntington on January 20. George Hockley, left, andEric Fout hold the banner.

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continued from page 7

Fed up at having their town coal-dust coated, 150of Sylvester’s almost 200 residents sued. They becameknown as the Sylvester Dustbusters.

The trial started in October, 2002. Nearly 70residents testified about what it is like to have a Masseysubsidiary as a neighbor, about how badly Elk Run affects

their daily lives.A real estate

appraiser testified thatthe town’s propertyvalues were down $4million collectively, duesolely to the dust. Amining engineerdiscredited thecompany’s claims thatthere wasn’taffordable, effectivedust controltechnology available.

In closing arguments heard on Feb. 5, theDustbusters’ attorney, Brian Glasser, disputed much of thecompany’s testimony. He said Massey had been a “terribleneighbor,” making his clients “miserable” by coating the townin coal dust and by nosily moving hundreds of millions oftons of coal, with hundreds of thousands of overweight coaltrucks leaving the plant at all hours.

“Is it remotely believable that nobody at Elk Runhas ever seen dust leave the property?” Glasser asked thejury. He mentioned several examples of permit violations,noting “violation of a permit that causes harm is flat-outnegligence.”

He said the people’s homeswere their life savings, which hadeffectively been stolen by Elk Run dueto the property devaluation. Glassershowed photos of other coal processingfacilities that for years had been using“affordable, available technologies” tocontrol dust. The technologies would cost the companyabout 4.5 cents per clean ton of coal.

Glasser said, “Elk Run’s lawyer promised you therewas no coal company anywhere in the world that took moresteps than Elk Run to control the dust. That is a totalfabrication. That was complete hogwash.”

In his closing arguments, Elk Run’s attorney, AlEmch, essentially called the 70-some residents who had

"At Elk Run,adaptability andinnovation keepus striving forbetter, safer waysto produce thecoal products ourcustomersrequire."

from Massey Energyweb site

testified liars. He said a lot ofpeople in the town wererelated, perhaps hoping toinvoke the “inbred” slur injurors’ minds. He suggestedthat the town’s residents werepursuing the case fornotoriety.

Many plaintiffs werein the courtroom for theclosing arguments and therewas quite a bit of coughinggoing on as Emch said dust isn’t unusual in coalfieldcommunities and there were no health problems.

“Was it (the dust) intolerable or was it just somevariation of normal, or close to normal, for a number ofsmall southern West Virginia coal communities? Oneperson’s intolerable nuisance can be another person’swelcome, or even embraced, inconvenience,” Emch said.(That’s a new one. Maybe Massey can work it into its adcampaign. Massey Energy: An Inconvenience to Embrace.)

“This is something that we need to keep. It’ssomething that we need to encourage and it’s somethingthat we need to somehow tolerate,” Emch said of the plant.

Despite having to sit through Emch’s tripe, theSylvester Dustbusters, some of whom are members of CoalRiver Mountain Watch and OVEC, are happy with thejury’s verdict.

All of them are eagerly waiting to see what dustcontrol measures the judge will order at the next hearing.

Pauline Canterberry summed it up: “Our goal hasnever been money. We just didn’t want them to controlour community.”

Dustbusters Win

Aerial view of Elk Run facility.photo by Massey Energy

Should they adda dust cloud totheir logo now?

"A series of television commercials byMassey Energy is so misleading that thedirector of the state Division of Mining andReclamation told a Senate committee herefuses to watch them.

" 'After I saw the first commercial or two,I stopped watching them because there’s somuch misinformation in them,' Matthew Crumtold the Energy, Industry and Mining CommitteeWednesday."Charleston Gazette, Feb. 6, “Official won’t watchMassey’s TV ads,” by Phil Kabler

The Truth is Out There - Wayyyyyy OutThere, in Massey Energy's Case

10When you're finished with this newsletter, please pass it on!

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continued on page 16

by Dave CooperIn the summer of 2002, the WV Department of

Environmental Protection granted a permit to DelbartonMining Co., a subsidiary of Massey Energy, to build a 56-acre slurry pond above the town of Delbarton, located inMingo County, WV.

This impoundment, if built as proposed, will have adam 250 feet high that is visible from the main road (Route65) through town, and will contain hundreds of millions ofgallons of coal slurry. The dam will be located less than amile upstream from hundreds of Delbarton homes.

Delbarton residents are well aware of the Masseymountaintop removal coal slurry disaster just 15 miles awayin Martin County, Ky., where 300 million gallons of sludgebroke through into an old underground mine beneath theslurry impoundment and contaminated over 80 miles ofstreams and rivers. Delbarton folks turned out in force at atown meeting held on Nov. 7, 2002, to discuss the localpermit with Massey engineers and officials.

Although the Massey engineers did a fair jobpresenting details of construction of the Delbartonimpoundment at the meeting, most residents were notreassured. According to the permit, if there was a slurrydam failure, an area five miles downstream and one mileupstream would be inundated (along with hundreds ofhomes) – yet the emergency evacuation plan requiresresidents to travel upstream to reach the Delbarton MiddleSchool evacuation area. Residents also expressed concernabout their diminished property values if the dam was built.

Small Town Threatened by Huge Slurry Impoundment ProposalMost troubling to residents was the omission of the

old underground Pearl Mine works on the company’s permitapplication map. Although the map did show the presenceof the previously-mined Alma and Lower Cedar Groveunderground mines, several longtime Delbarton residentshad relatives who worked in the Pearl Mine, and felt surethat this mine was in the area of the impoundment. Delbartonresident Walter Young stated that his father used to work inthe Pearl Mine.

After the meeting, Delbarton resident Larry Maynardbegan to search for proof of the existence of the Pearl Mine.Maynard found a reference to the 1930s era mine in a coalhistory reference book at the Mingo County Library inWilliamson. OVEC helped Walter Young locate an attorneyand Young appealed the slurry pond permit. Masseyengineers and Young’s attorneys located a Pearl Mine mapdated 1930 at the MSHA office in Charleston.

Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center attorneyAmanda Moore and Appalachian Center attorney JoeLovett represented Young for his appeal of the slurry pondpermit at the DEP Surface Mining Board on Jan. 22, 2003.Expert witness John Morgan testified that mining at the PearlMine continued until 1932 or 1933 and that while the PearlMine map dated 1930 could not be considered completeor accurate, it seemed to indicate that mining progressed inthe direction of the slurry pond.

According to elevations shown on the old map, thethickness of the rock between the underground minepassages and the slurry pond ranged from only 20 feet (!!!)at the toe of the impoundment to 700 feet at the back.

At the appeal, Morgan presented an overlay of thePearl Mine map and the proposed slurry pond permit mapthat showed a pattern all too familiar to thoseacquainted with the Martin County disaster - a Masseyslurry pond above an incomplete and inaccurately-mapped underground mine.

On the day of the Delbarton appeal, the federalMine Safety and Health Administration released an internalreport of the agency’s actions leading up to the MartinCounty, Ky., spill of 300 million gallons of coal slurry. Whilethe agency denied responsibility for that disaster, it found“systematic weakness” in its internal review of slurry ponds,and promised to “adopt agency guidelines to make sureimpoundments get prompt and thorough review. [MSHA

ACTION ALERTACTION ALERTACTION ALERTACTION ALERTACTION ALERTPlease write to Mine Safety and HealthAdministration Secretary David Lauriski,MSHA, 1100 Wilson Blvd., 21st Floor,Arlington, VA, 22209, and DEP ActingSecretary Stephanie Timmermeyer, 1356Hansford St., Charleston, WV, 25301. Askthem to please hold a town meeting inDelbarton to explain to residents how MSHAis going to protect the residents of Delbartonfrom a Martin County-style slurry ponddisaster.

11

In 1967, the mysterious Mothmanwas seen flitting about the Point Pleasant, WV,area just before the Silver Bridge across theOhio River collapsed, killing 46 people.

After the collapse, the Mothmansightings ceased. Some believed theMothman came to warn about the tragicdisaster. (Richard Gere starred in the recent“Mothman Prophecies,” currently out onvideo.)

Now, the Mothman has been spottedagain, flitting about coalfield bridges that aregroaning under the weight of overloaded coaltrucks. Fortunately, OVEC member PattyDraus was in the right place at the right timeto capture these recent visitations.

Is the Mothman trying to sendanother warning?

MOTHMAN RETURNS :MOTHMAN RETURNS :MOTHMAN RETURNS :MOTHMAN RETURNS :MOTHMAN RETURNS :Is He Sending Us Another Dire Warning?

Even empty, coal trucks weigh 40,000 to 50,000 pounds.This is a full truck (above) which grossly exceeds the clearlyposted 12 ton weight limit in Stollings, WV. Overweight coaltrucks carrying mountaintop-removed coal inflictexceedingly costly damages to our bridges and roads.Please call, e-mail or write your state legislators today tohelp stop this. Toll-free number to leave messages forlegislators: 1-877-565-3447. Do your part - call today.

Is Mothman trying to warn coalfield residents about whomay be next? The mystery in the coal fields deepens ...

Overloaded? Who, us? This tireincident, below, occurred on U.S.23 near Ashland, Ky., and is a clearexample of what one engineerdryly called, "stressing mechanicalcomponents beyond their designload." Translation: They stuffed somuch coal onto this truck that oneof the axles quite simply couldn'ttake it, and decided to fall off in themiddle of the highway. Fortunately,no one was injured in this May 2002incident.

12 continued on page 14

Ken Hechler talks with Texas populist Jim Hightowerat the November 2002 "Just Gimme Some Truth"conference organized by MAPS (Marshall Action forPeaceful Solutions). Story on page 14.

by Janet Fout“No figure ever gave me more hope than youdid ... When they finally strike a medal for gutsand integrity, decency and inspirationalleadership, the first one should be yours, handsdown.” – the late Ward Sinclair, Washingtoncorrespondent of The Louisville Times (referringto Ken Hechler).

(Italics are excerpts by Dan LeRoy for Graffiti where Kenwas named ‘Eer of the Year for 2002.)

The year was 1987 and I was just sticking my toein the vast waters of environmental activism, hoping to spareGreenbottom Swamp from the “let’s build a dam here”mentality of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, aided andabetted by the West Virginia Department of NaturalResources, who at that time had only one thing in mind forthe wetlands – more habitat for waterfowl.

Greenbottom Swamp, the third largest wetlands inWest Virginia and a haven for many breeding and migratorybirds, is also the location of the General Albert G. Jenkinspre-Civil War home and one of the most significant nativeAmerican archaeological digs in the state.

Though I hadn’t a clue about the waters into whichI was wading, something inside me said that in order toweigh in on this issue, Huntington Audubon would needsupport from many interested individuals and groups (a triedand true organizing technique I now know that works).

Dr. Hechler, a local expert on General Jenkins andour Secretary of State at that time, was the first person Icalled. For starters, I couldn’t believe how accessible hewas! His secretary put me right though, and we spent agreat deal of time talking about the possibilities atGreenbottom. He was full of ideas and interested in beinginvolved. Little did I know that this was the beginning of arelationship of shared activism that has endured for nearlytwo decades.

Thirty years earlier, Ken Hechler had already begunhis political career as a West Virginia Congressman. “Hewas already in his mid-40s by the time he ran his firstcampaign, for Congress, in 1957. And by then, he’d alreadyaccomplished more than most people manage in an entirelifetime.

“He’d earned his Ph.D. in government andhistory, risen to the rank of major in the Army duringWorld War II, written his first book (which was laterturned into a major motion picture), and served two ofthe country’s most famous presidents. Along the way,

Ken Hechler: A Hero for Our Time

he’d managed to interview legendary figures like AlbertEinstein (for his college newspaper) and Nazicommander Hermann Goering, get dressed down byGen. George Patton, and court the daughter of a chiefexecutive (Harry S. Truman’s daughter, Bess). Besidesthat, he learned to play a mean game of tennis, a skillhe still demonstrates on occasion.”

By the age of 40, Hechler had already lived aremarkable life – with so much more to come. Although Iwas a poor student of history and apolitical at best as ayoung person, the name Ken Hechler was very familiar tome. And no wonder.

“He took on the coal companies and the Boyleleadership of the UMW over black lung legislation, andwon. He was the first major political figure in WestVirginia - or anywhere - to propose an absolute banon strip mining (emphasis mine). These things takepolitical - and physical - courage,” wrote conservativecommentator Michael Barone in 1974. And WilliamSafire noted in The New York Times that “Hechler riskednot only his political life but his actual life in his battle;he gave ‘em hell and beat ‘em. Hundreds of miners nowowe their lives to his fearless campaign, andconservatives like me take their hats off to a liberalwith the courage of his convictions.

"… There were other profiles in courage duringhis congressional career. He was the lone member ofCongress to march with Martin Luther King to Selmain 1965, chartering his own plane to make the trek."

13

Stay Informed by E-mail: Join OVEC’sAction Alert! e-mail list by sending an e-mailwith “join list” in the subject line tovivian@ohvec.org. This is not a discussionlist, so you won’t be swamped with e-mails.You’ll get four to 10 Action Alerts! per month,chock full of useful info.Stay Informed by Phone: If you don’t haveor don’t like e-mail, call the OVEC office at(304) 522-0246 and ask to be put on our CallList. We’ll need your name and phonenumber. Don’t worry - we will only call to letyou know about major events or actions.Stay Informed by WWW: Visitwww.ohvec.org frequently for news and actionupdates. Check out our extensive backgroundinformation in the Issues section. Look foryour friends in the People in Action section.

by Monty FowlerIt did not come like a stealthy thief in the night – it

came on a rainy Saturday morning 30 years ago with a roarlike a hundred freight trains, the hounds from Hell, the veryembodiment of Death.

When it was gone, at least 125 West Virginia men,women, and children were dead. The youngest was 3-months-old; the oldest, 82. Three infants were not positivelyidentified, so badly were their little bodies mangled. Sevenof the dead were never found.

Feb. 26, 1972, forever changed West Virginians'attitude toward King Coal.

That was the day that three improperly-constructed,inadequately-inspected, business-as-usual coal slurryimpoundment dams owned by the Pittston Coal Co.collapsed, sending millions of tons of black water, coal sludgeand mud hurtling down the narrow, twisting confines ofBuffalo Creek in Logan County.

More than 500 homes in 15 small communities weredestroyed, another 500 homes were damaged, some 1,000vehicles wrecked, and 523 people were injured when awall of sludge that some witnesses said was 30 feet highsteamrollered down the valley.

There were 53 dead in Lundale, near the head ofBuffalo Creek; 18 in the hamlet of Saunders, which literallydisappeared under millions of gallons of semi-liquid coalwastes; 25 from Lorado; five in Amherstdale; only one inKistler, near the end of the rampaging sludge.

Pittston Coal called it “an act of God.” Former Gov.Arch Moore, on his last day in office, quietly accepted apittance of a settlement. The people who were left alive onBuffalo Creek got the shaft from a disorganized stategovernment, indifferent federal officials and politicians whosought to gain personal advancement at the expense ofpeople who were too emotionally traumatized tocomprehend what had happened to them.

This is one of the costs of coal that the West VirginiaCoal Association doesn’t like to trumpet in its slick televisioncommercials or glossy billboard ads.

Buffalo Creek has been called one of the worst man-made disasters in history. One survivor, testifying at one of

Buffalo Creek 30 Years Later - Have We Learned the Lessons?the innumerable hearingsinto the tragedy,caustically observed thatif Pittston Coal wasblaming God, why hadn’tshe seen God up thehollow on the bulldozersthat were shoving coalwaste and rock down themountain to block the creek?

Ultimately, some good did come out of the BuffaloCreek tragedy. The federal SMCRA law, called simply “thepromise” by coalfield residents, put limits on how coalcompanies could build their impoundment and refuse dams.There were supposed to be engineering studies, constructionstandards, regular and thorough inspections.

Supposed to be. As recent events have shown, thecoal companies still do pretty much what they want to inWest Virginia, state and federal government officials wafflearound and flail spastically as they attempt to protect theresidents, and the survivors who still call Buffalo Creek hometremble or gaze fitfully at the sky every time it starts to rain.

So take a moment to reflect on the true costs ofKing Coal. The ghosts of Buffalo Creek will thank you.

Lundale after the tragedy

"A tree's a tree. How many do youneed to look at?" former president Ronald Reagan, opposing legislation to protect our national forests

ACTION ALERTS - DO IT!ACTION ALERTS - DO IT!ACTION ALERTS - DO IT!ACTION ALERTS - DO IT!ACTION ALERTS - DO IT!

14

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr.(D-NJ) and Christopher Shays (R-CT) introduced legislationon Feb. 12 that would prohibit the dumping of industrialwaste into rivers and streams, a practice the BushAdministration would have allowed when it made a rulechange to the Clean Water Act last May.

Pallone and Shay’s legislation, the Clean Water

Please call the OVEC office and ask for Dave,(304) 522-0246, if you’d like to go toWashington, DC, to talk to key legislators/aidesabout the Pallone/Shays bill. Last year wechartered a bus and vans, influencedlegislators, and had a whole lot of fun!

ACTION ALERTACTION ALERTACTION ALERTACTION ALERTACTION ALERT

Protection Act of 2003, protects the definition of “fillmaterial” in the Clean Water Act from being expanded toinclude mining wastes and other pollutants. The legislationrestores the prohibition on using waste as “fill” that had beenincluded in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ regulationssince 1977.

“Our bipartisan legislation is needed to ensureour streams and waterways aren’t buried undermillions of tons of mining and other industrial wastes,”Pallone said. “While the legal debate continues, it is criticalthat we support the true intentions of the Clean Water Actand oppose the continued efforts of the Bush Administrationto use our nation’s waterways as dumping grounds forindustrial wastes.”

“It is my hope this legislation signals to the EPA thatCongress will not sit silently by as our environment isdestroyed,” Shays said.

One week after the Bush Administration amendedthe Clean Water rule last May a federal judge in West Virginia,Chief Judge Charles H. Haden II, rejected theAdministration’s decision by stating that according to theClean Water Act “only the United States Congress canrewrite the Act to allow fills with no purpose or use but thedeposit of waste.” Last month, the 4th U.S. Circuit Courtof Appeals overturned Judge Haden’s decision, making alegislative remedy necessary.

Pallone and Shays said that creating a statutorydefinition of “fill material” that expressly excludes wastematerials will end the need for further court proceedingsand will clarify environmental law consistent with the purposeof the Clean Water Act – to restore and maintain thechemical, physical and biological integrity of the nation’swaters.

The new Bush administration rule also expresslyallows hardrock mining waste, construction and demolitiondebris, and other types of harmful wastes to be dumpedinto rivers and streams across the country.

Legislation Introduced to Counter Bush Rollback of Clean Water Regulations

Since facing off with me in a high school auditoriumpacked with angry duck hunters in the late 1980s, we’veshared some other battles. Ken has been the single mostvocal public servant decrying the coal industry’s outrageouspractice of decapitating mountains and destroying streams.

He’s been chided, kicked and shoved by angry stripminers in Marmet, WV, walked several hundred miles acrossthe country with “Granny D,” Doris Haddock, to call attentionto a form of legalized bribery in this country masked ascampaign contributions from big special interests, and mostrecently weighed in (pun intended) on the ravages to lives,roads and bridges caused by overloaded coal trucks insouthern West Virginia. He has always stood firmly on theside of the people supporting them with dignity and courage.

Thanks, Ken. Your life is an inspiration.

continued from page 12

Ever feel like your some of your teachers and thecorporate-controlled mainstream media aren’t giving youthe full picture? Don’t despair – the truth is out there, butyou may have to work to find it. The November 2002 “JustGimme Some Truth” conference sought to offer ideas andtools on finding the truth.

Members of the Marshall University student groupMAPS (Marshall Action for Peaceful Solutions) workedhard for about nine months to organize their superlativeconference to expose some truths about peace and justiceand the mass media. OVEC is so glad to be a supporter ofthe MAPS students. Ya’ll rock!

OVEC’s Dave Cooper hosted a showing of BlueVinyl, a funny-sad documentary about the vinyl industry.Yup, we are living in dioxin-toxic-soup.

Populist Jim Hightower motivated the MAPS-stersto agitate and organize – as did our nation’s founders – andto gol-dang have fun while doing so.

In fact, he said, the work of organizing is “...justabout as much fun as you can have with your clothes on.”

Hechler

Hey! The Truth IS Out There!

15

by Vivian StockmanIn 1999, the WV Legislature

approved erecting a statue of a WestVirginia coal miner on the State Capitolgrounds, “as a lasting memorial to themany who have perished as a result ofcoal mining in the state.” Whileenvironmental and citizens groups fullysupport a memorial honoring miners,we had to protest the way the WestVirginia Coal Association warped theoriginal intent of the resolution.

In mid-October 2002, thebase for the statue went up, revealingbronze plaques that seemingly movethe WV Coal Association’s publicrelations’ efforts off billboards and ontothe State Capitol grounds. One plaquefeatures the controversial and legallyquestionable practice of mountaintopremoval/valley fill coal mining.

Nowhere in the Legislature’sresolution is it stated that the monumentwill include a plaque honoring thedraglines of mountaintop removal.

News stories revealed thatanother proposed plaque may include wording that is a virtualcoal industry ad: “In recognition of the men and womenwho have devoted their careers to providing the state,country and world with low-cost household and industrialenergy.”

How did honoring lives lost become honoringcareers dedicated to “low-cost energy?” This phrasing isespecially offensive when you consider what miners, thepublic and the environment have endured from the coalindustry for over 100 years. Our lives and our land are notcheap!

The WV Coal Association says these plaques depictthe history of mining. If that is what they want to do in thispublic place, let’s tell the whole story. That would have toinclude mention of (and this is far from an exhaustive list!):! Miners’ jobs lost to the machines depicted on these plaquesand to union-busting coal company tactics;! Communities, mountains and streams lost to mountaintopremoval;! Surface and groundwater forever destroyed or heavily

Coal miner's wife and a Coal River Mountain Watch leader, Patty Sebok(center) speaks out on the State Capitol grounds in favor of honoringminers, not machines that take their jobs. Behind her is the plaque thatdepicts mountaintop removal/valley fill strip mining. With her, left to right,are Winter Ross, Regina Hendrix, Dave Cooper, Connie Chojnaki, BobHenry Baber, Mel Tyree and John Taylor.

Whose Monument Is It? Keep Miner, Ditch Industry Rhetoric at New Coal Memorial

polluted by valley fills, sludge impoundments and blackwaterspills;! Miners’ lives lost to mine wars, tragedy and lung disease! Democracy lost to political corruption.

Members of OVEC, Coal River Mountain Watch,West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, West VirginiaEnvironmental Council and Citizens Coal Council gatheredaround the mountaintop removal plaque on Oct. 21, 2002.The brothers and sisters and daughters and sons andgrandchildren of miners spoke their outrage at what the WVCoal Association has done with this memorial that wassupposed to be about their families, but is instead an etched-in-bronze coal industry propaganda piece.

The groups delivered a letter to the Capitol BuildingCommission and the Governor, noting that if this publicmonument is to truly honor miners’ lives and tell the historyof the coal industry, coal-related tragedies must be included.

Otherwise, the monument should feature only thestatue of the miner and a plaque that is a carefully worded

continued on page 16

16

memorial to those who have lost their lives to the coalindustry. Coal industry ads and the bronze memorials to itscriminal behavior should be removed from this monumentin the most prominent public place in West Virginia.

On Jan. 2, 2003, the Capitol Building Commissionmet to hear our grievances on the West Virginia CoalAssociation’s planned monument. At the end of the meetingthe Commission said it had no authority about what was onthe base of the statue. So, does the WV Coal Associationget to interpret the resolution and have final say over whatgoes on this monument on our state capitol grounds?

Didn’t anyone privy to what would be on the baseof this statue question the WV Coal Association when theysaid there would be a plaque honoring those who have“dedicated their careers to providing low-cost energy” onthis memorial that was supposed to honor miners? Whodefines “low cost” energy? The people driven from theircommunities by mountaintop removal? The miners whohave lost their lives? If, as the WV Coal Association says,this monument is intended to honor the economic impact ofcoal to the state, and to tell the whole story of coal, thenthere are some very important elements missing. If the monument is about coal’s economic impacts,where’s the plaque featuring Ole King Coal stuffing apolitician’s pocket? Where are the plaques for the missingworker’s comp money, the billion dollar super tax creditscoal got, (much of which King Coal got for jobs but usedfor job-destroying draglines), the bonding crisis, and theall-but-sequestered abandoned mine land funds?

Where’s the plaque for the lost economic value of

Mining Plaque Protestcontinued from page 15

Judy Bonds at the "Honor Miners, Not Machines"protest in Charleston.ecosystems that are forever destroyed by mountaintopremoval, the plaque for communities’ ruined water, the plaquefor flood-destroyed towns? Where’s the plaque for themillions in infrastructure damage from overweight coal trucks?For perpetual costs associated with acid mine drainage?For the poverty-stricken area the coal industry once toutedas the “billion-dollar coalfields”?

To tell the whole story, we are going to need a reallybig monument!

head Dave Lauriski] said the agency will also work to verifythat underground mine maps are accurate in an effort toprevent similar spills.” (“Agency Cites lax Oversight ofKy. Coal Pond,” Roger Alford, Associated Press, Jan22, 2003. This article and related editorials are availableat our web site, www.ohvec.org)

But evidently the DEP’s Surface Mine Board didn’tread the papers that morning, and they unanimously deniedYoung’s appeal of the Delbarton slurry pond. Despite theclear and irrefutable evidence of the existence of the PearlMine, and the recent history of inaccurate mine map disastersin Martin County and at the Quecreek Mine in Pennsylvania,the Surface Mine Board called Massey’s permit application“complete and accurate.”

Slurry Pond Perilcontinued from page 10 “Complete and accurate?” In fact the permit

application was “incomplete and inaccurate!” Massey didnot know of the presence of the Pearl Mine because Masseydoes not hire local residents to work at their facilities – theyhire folks from far away who are less concerned aboutdestroying West Virginia’s coalfield communities.

If Massey had only bothered to ask local residents,they would have quickly learned about the Pearl Mine beforethey even submitted the permit application. Instead, thecitizens of Delbarton and Massey’s engineers are stuck witha potentially hazardous situation before construction of theimpoundment has even begun.

Is this what the Mine Safety and HealthAdministration had in mind when they promised a “promptand thorough review?”

17

The World Social Forum's opening march in Porte Alegre, Brazil, on Jan. 23,2003. About 50,000 people from all over the globe, representing a huge arrayof issues, united to march in the streets as an affirmation of their collectivebelief that another world is possible - a world without neo-liberal globalizationand its associated imperialism and militarization. All marchers beseeched theUnited States to withdraw from its threatened invasion of Iraq and instead takeall means to work toward peace in the Persian Gulf region and worldwide. photo by Viv Stockman

by Dianne BadyVivian Stockman and I traveled to the World Social

Forum thanks to the Ford Foundation’s 2001 Leadershipfor a Changing World awarded to Laura Forman, JanetFout and I.

Close to 100,000 people from all over the planetgathered in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in late January to meet,march and celebrate the theme “Another World is Possible.”

It was sobering to hear how U.S.-based extractiveindustries are harming other countries, but also inspiring tolearn more about how in Europe, the transition to renewableenergy sources is far ahead of the U.S.

One workshop I attended was called “ConfrontingCorporations.” There were 35 of us from 19 differentcountries, all talking about how mining and oil corporations,

most of them U.S. based, are ravaging their environmentand making a mockery of democracy.

Here in central Appalachia, where coal corporationsare blowing up the mountains, being an environmental activistduring the Bush administration is no picnic. But we areprivileged in this country. Several folks from poor nationsasked me if people in our group have been murdered, ashas happened in their movements.

Activists from Columbia said they believed that theU.S. military bases there, and U.S.-dominated foreign policy,are part of the overall strategy to allow oil companies to runroughshod over their country and their people.

But, just like us, folks all over the world areorganizing to try to force positive change. Austrian andCanadian people told of how mass mobilizations,

shareholder activism, and churchinvolvement resulted inimprovements in oil activities inSudan.

People from the Pantanalarea of Brazil and Paraguay, fromKazakhstan, Indonesia, Chileand Bolivia, all stressed theimportance of working ininternational alliances.

Many are convincedthat United States groups areespecially important to have asworking allies, because, as theysay, we are in the belly of thebeast.

We’re all facing thesame problems – the greed andpower of energy and miningcorporations who have adisproportionate influence overour governments and over foreignpolicy.

(More on the World SocialForum will be in the next Windsof Change.)

World Social Forum Shows Commonality of People's Goals

Here’s a reminder for folks who use ink jet cartridges in your printers, faxes and plotters.Don’t trash that empty cartridge! You can recycle it and get a donation for OVEC at thesame time. OVEC has a stash of postage paid bags. Call the office at (304) 522-0246 or e-mail vivian@ohvec.org and we’ll send you some. Just put the cartridge in the bag, then popit in the mail. For every good cartridge OVEC members send in, OVEC receives $1.

18

by Janet FoutEating California strawberries will never again be

the same for me – not since my recent trip to observe andlearn from the community leadership of Rufino Dominguez,the Executive Director of Oaxaca Binational IndigenousCoalition (FIOB), and the Mixteca people with whom heworks, many who cross the Mexican border to work in thefarm fields of California growers.

(This trip was one of the educational activitiesprovided by the Ford Foundation’s 2001 Leadership for aChanging World Award to Laura Forman, Dianne Badyand me. Several other Ford awardees also participated inthis trip.)

We met in Oaxaca, Mexico, where Rufino and othercommunity-based leaders organize and educate workersabout their rights on both sides of the border. FIOB neitherencourages nor discourages the Mixteca from migrating tothe U.S., but encourages them to hold dear their cultureand language. Our trip included visits to Juxtlahuaca andTijuana, Mexico, as well as San Diego and Fresno, Calif.,where FIOB has its main office.

Oaxaca is both a city and a state in southern Mexico,rich in indigenous cultures, including the Mixteca people whohave survived for centuries against monumental odds. Asanother Ford awardee, Salvador Reza from Phoenix, Ariz.,put it when asked why he wanted to visit Oaxaca he said: “Iam going to learn from a community that has existed sincetime immemorial, a community that has survived the Spanishonslaught called conquest, has survived the independencewars of Mexico, has survived the official politics ofIndigenismo always attempting to rob their lands, theirlanguage, their culture for a consumer society that has noinkling of what it means to be close to the land. Despite allof this, it is a community that has retained their language,their customs, and their traditions on both sides of the artificialgeographic line called the “Border.”

Hmmm. “Rob their lands…their culture…” Thatsounds familiar.

After reading Salvador’s statement, I began torealize that maybe we, in West Virginia, could learn fromthese ancient Mixteca people “new” ways to preserve ourown mountains, communities, and culture from King Coaland the politicians who are robbing us Appalachian peopleof our mountains and their natural wealth, communities andculture.

We began our trip from the city of Oaxaca, where

we traveled to Juxtlahuaca, a small rural mountain community

The Field of Broken Dreamsabout six hoursaway – zigzaggingover mostly narrow,winding mountainroads (including astretch known as the“ D e v i l ’ sBackbone”). Thes u m m e r - l i k eweather and azureskies was awelcome relief fromthe sub-freezingtemperatures andthe leaden skies ofhome.

When wearrived inJuxtlahuaca, alovely town nestled in and surrounded by mountains, thetrees outside our first meeting place were teeming withfamiliar Cattle Egrets and melodious Great-tailed Grackles.

Just like in West Virginia, the people in Mexico holdmeetings to discuss community issues. At every meetingwe attended, we were introduced and warmly welcomed.Aided by a talented and personable tri-lingual interpreter,Irma Luna, fluent in her native Mixteca, Spanish and English,each of us visitors spoke briefly about our work in our homecommunities.

Although we are fighting different problems andundoubtedly, the economic inequities suffered by the Mixtecapeople are greater than those in southern West Virginia,some root causes were very similar: politicians andbureaucrats who turn a deaf ear to injustices, groups ofpeople who are marginalized to facilitate exploitation of theirresources and labor, and governments at all levels notenforcing laws.

Similarly, the leadership to bring about positivechange in communities emanates NOT from governmentsand politicians, but from the grassroots – regular peoplewho are taking active leadership roles in community groupslike FIOB (and OVEC).

I was truly impressed by the high degree oforganization within FIOB, on the local, district (or county),regional, state and bi-national level. These leaders areelected by the grassroots; and if their leaders fail to do what

continued on page 19

Typical "housing" for migrant farmlaborers, adjacent to strawberryfields near San Diego, Calif.

19

rrrrr OVEC stopped plans for a toxic waste incinerator that would have imported hazardous waste from across thenation.

rrrrr OVEC organizing forced an end to chronic pollution violations at the Ashland Oil refinery in Catlettsburg, KY.rrrrr OVEC led the broad effort to stop plans for the nation’s largest pulp mill, which would have used outdated, heavily

polluting technologies.rrrrr An OVEC lawsuit compelled state government to enforce important provisions of the federal Clean Water Act.rrrrr OVEC worked with other groups to stimulate passage of significant, first-step campaign finance reform measures in West Virginia.rrrrr OVEC is changing the face of "politics as usual" in West Virginia through our Clean Elections work.rrrrr OVEC is committed to bringing an end to mountaintop removal/valley fill strip mining.

Cut this coupon out today and mail to: OVEC, P.O. Box 6753, Huntington, WV 25773-6753

_____ New member or renewal (Dues $10-$30 yearly, pay what you can)_____ Donation_____ Please add me to OVEC’s e-mail Action Alert! list

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For more information call (304) 522-0246 or go to www.ohvec.orgRemember – All donations to OVEC are tax deductible!

E

Make a DIFFERENCEDIFFERENCEDIFFERENCEDIFFERENCEDIFFERENCE! Join a WINNING TEAMWINNING TEAMWINNING TEAMWINNING TEAMWINNING TEAM! Get ACTIVEACTIVEACTIVEACTIVEACTIVE with OVEC!

is expected, they can be expelled from the group. Localorganizations do their own fundraising – an area wherewomen and other family members play a major role.

But what about those strawberries I mentioned atthe beginning? The absolute worst living conditions observedon the entire trip were in San Diego, Calif. (see photo).After crossing the border in Tijuana, we waited at a largestrawberry field feasting on succulent strawberries. We werelater joined by some leaders who help migrant farm laborerswho led us down paths adjacent to the fields, among shrubsand small trees where the laborers lived.

We saw neither housing, nor facilities for bathing orcooking; but instead, makeshift shelters – not even whatmost of us consider a decent campsite. A hole with waterwas used for bathing. How embarrassing to know that while

these workers put food on our tables, they are not providedbasic needs of food; clean, potable water; and shelter!

I’m reminded of a quote by theologian Walter Wink:“Those of us who now enjoy affluence and freedom aswell as power are predisposed to believe that benignforces shape our destiny. But to the extent that ourblessings are incidental by-products of our citizenshipin nations that currently enjoy domination status overothers, our well-being may be more a result of flagrantinjustice than divine providence” (from Engaging thePowers).

We fail to remember that our blessings andabundance often come to us at the expense and exploitationof much of the rest of the world’s people

Broken Dreamscontinued from page 18

Ohio Valley Environmental CoalitionP O Box 6753Huntington WV 25773-6753

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PAIDHUNTINGTON WV

PERMIT NO 370

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