Appalachian Tragedy: Mountaintops & Miners

Our Oldest Mountains• The Appalachian mountains are

ancient• They were born some 480

million years as Pangaea formed• Because North America and

Africa were connected, the Appalachians formed part of the same mountain chain as the Anti-Atlas in Morocco

• The same mountain chain continued into Scotland. Today, these grand old mountains are being destroyed.

How does this subject relate to our church mission?

UUA: Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

• There are few issues where the intersection of environmental and economic justice concerns is more evident than mountaintop removal coal mining.

• Devastating impact on the environment

• Devastating impact on the people, many poor and disempowered

UUA:

• We are sacrificing the well-being of Appalachians—both the mountains and people—to generate electricity for the rest of the country.

• But while the energy gained is fleeting, the destruction is permanent.

Coal is the Lifeblood of Appalachia

• Provides about 25% of our country’s energy today

• Coal mining is hard, dangerous work

• Miners are proud of the work that they do which truly has had a great role in powering the United States for more than the last century

But Giant American Energy Companies

• Care nothing for the mountains they destroy

• Care nothing for the men they destroy

• Care nothing for the families that live in poverty.

Mining, especially nonunion mining, is much more dangerous than necessary

• The United Mine Workers Of America (UMWA) worked to make mines safer, but lost strength during the 1970’s and 80’s. Less than half of miners are union members, and large companies, like Massey Energy, threaten miners who want to unionize.

Massey Energy

President Barack Obama, 2010, “I refuse to accept any number of miner deaths as

simply the cost of doing business,”• If the Employee Free

Choice Act were law, the Upper Big Branch mine would be a union mine

• 2/3 of the workers supported a union before they were intimidated.

• If this law were passed, the mines would be a safer, unionized workplace.

More Mountaintop Removal?

• From Don Blankenship Supporters to Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, there has been an effort to use this horrible mining disaster to spread support for strip mining and mountaintop removal, the form of mining that employs the least number of people and causes the most damage to Appalachia.

Safest and Best Mining of Coal?• Can we quickly transition from

burning coal for electricity?

• Other uses for coal include using metallurgical coal for the production of steel which is needed for wind turbines

• The Upper Big Branch mine was mostly a metallurgical coal mine

• Currently, much of this coal is shipped to Asia for their steel industries

How can this issue provide multiple ways for all of us to be involved?

• Learning:

Weekend trip to see– Mountaintop removed

– Coal mine

– Appalachian crafts & music

– Outdoor historical drama

• Attend workshop with Appalachian craftspeople

Advocacy

• Informed and active citizens can make a difference

– For miners

– For mountaintops

Victory is Possible!

• For six years, the community surrounding Marsh Fork Elementary has been fighting for a new, safe elementary school – in their community. The current elementary school sits below a multi-billion gallon toxic coal sludge dam and within 300 feet of a pollution spewing coal preparation plant owned by notorious Massey Energy.

• April 30, 2010

Green Sanctuary Program

• Energy conservation Means less coal needed

• Earth Day activities• Engage youth --and

ourselves-- in political activism

Do we have the resources to carry out this program?

• A coalminer's daughter

• Beckley, WV, only five hours' drive– Easy for larger group to visit

• New UU church in Beckley might welcome visitors!

• Least expensive of global issues

How can this program help our church grow stronger and stand taller?

• We can work with other churches as well as Wofford & Converse on these issues, particularly mountaintop mining

• We can share resources with Appalachian churches

End