Marsh Fork Elementary Dem. 1 of 2 (mislabeled opening title)

Notice: The Opening Title should read "W.V. Surface Mine Board" instead of "U.S. Office of Surface Mining"

If you care to upload or embed it for distribution, please use the updated footage here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlHuyQTbSEo: TAKE ACTION!
Call Governor Manchin's office: 1-888-438-2731 (toll free) or 1-304-558-2000.
Send a FAX 1-304-342-7025 - instructions on how to send a free fax from the web below!
Email the Governor's office: Governor@WVGov.org.

Charleston,
W. Va.—Eleven parents, community leaders and student activists were arrested today while sitting in at the office of West Virginia Governor Joe Mancin. Their sit-in was spurred by a recent decision by the State Mine Board to approve a second coal silo nearMarsh Fork Elementary School. Protesters were treating roughly and dragged through puddles of mud. About 40 protesters remain in the governor's office. Marsh Fork Elementary located near Sundial, WV currently sits 225 feet from a coal silo. Residents say Governor Joe Manchin is shirking his responsibility for the health and safety of the students.

The coal silo operated by Massey Energy releases chemical-laden coal dust into the air which is poisoning the air that school kids have to breathe. Independent studies have found coal dust throughout the school. The school is also 400 yards downstream from a 385 foot tall seeping toxic coal waste sludge dam with a nearly 3 billion gallon capacity, over 20 times the volume of the Buffalo Creek sludge dam disaster that killed 125 people in 1972. A 1,849-acre mountaintop removal mine surrounds the sludge dam and much of the nearby area.

"Governor Mancin seems to believe that all he has to do is make promises while the children who attend Marsh Fork continue to breathe in coal dust," says Bill Price of
Charleston, WV. "We are not interested in promises. We want a new school for these kids so that they do not have to breathe in polluted air while they are trying to learn."

"This is exciting that students and community members have joined together to demand a safer school for the kids who attend Marsh Folk Elementary," says Sarah Kidder, a student at Glenville State College and a key protest organizer. "These kids should not have to endanger their lives simply by going to school and having to breathe in air polluted by coal dust."

Massey has been attempting to build a second coal silo near the school, but the WV Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in 2005 rejected Massey's permit request for the second silo. On Tuesday, March 13, the state Surface Mine Board overturned the DEP's order that blocked the silo.

"The situation at Marsh Fork is an embarrassment to West Virginia," said Lindsey Warf of
Bluefield, WV. "People from other states can't believe this is happening in the
US."

Contrary to Massey's public claim that the silo would reduce coal dust, their 2005 air quality permit application associated with the second silo's operation predicts an increase in coal dust emissions by three and a half tons of dust per year.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• MJS
• MJSB
• Marsh
• Fork
• energyaction
• climateaction
• arrests
• coalriverwatch
• penniesofpromise
• direct action

[otaku3175]

the only problem I have with this is the fact that the coal mine has been right beside the school for as long as I can remember, and people are just now thinking this might not be good for the kids. Maybe they should have gotten off the butts decades ago and done something about it then.

[alchea]

really? i get wind and hydro power through the grid and it only cost 3 cents more per k/hour. the more popular it becomes (and less popular that coal becomes), the cost will even out.

[alchea]

not all electricity comes from coal power. mine doesn't.

[zappamannn]

"residents of coal mining communities have a 70 percent increased risk for developing kidney disease; a 64 percent increased risk for developing chronic pulmonary disease like emphysema; and are 30 percent more likely to report hypertension."

if you think it's okay to subject children to this than you're sick.

link:

tinyurl[dot]com/n4hh6r

[blasterswife]

These people are SO stupid you do not care anything about Marsh Fork Elementary. If you did you would realize if there was no surface mining over half of the kids at the school would live in poverty. Have you been on silo sight I know many of them that work up there and it is NOT anymore dangerous than your mouth running. And by the way my husband is the one who has blasted most of the sight up there.

Prove you don't like Surface Mining

Turn off your lights

[bloodymountain]

its not about the problem its about the choice to have no potential problem.

[eng1225]

Uneducated freaks. The teachers that work at Marfork Elementery say they have no problem with the mines. So there.

[jurassicafyve24]

Sarah Kidder is my hero!!!!

[endofsuburbia]

How about starting with conservation then? Let's shut some lights off.

[tpdriscoll]

Wind power and solar power are both cost prohibitive forms of energy. For you stupid hippies that means it costs to much to operate such sources of energy.