PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

A busy month for local energy activists and Mountain Justice Summer!

Earlier in June, in downtown Pittsburgh, a group of about 75 people gathered to march for clean energy and justice in the coalfields of Appalachia. The permitted march was organized by Canaries in the Coalfields, Tri-State Citizens' Mining Network, and Mountain Justice Summer.  The march ended at the downtown convention center, where the National Coal Show was being held. Speakers from Pennsylvania and West Virginia told of the devastation mining is causing in their communities and the health costs from coal power plant emissions borne by residents of this region, and demanded a clean energy policy.

[ Read more | Photos:  1 2 | Radio story from Rustbelt Radio / FSRN ]

Residents of the Coal River Valley of West Virginia returned to Massey Energy's coal processing plant behind Marsh Fork Elementary School to again demand that it be shut down and cleaned up. 

[ Show Down in Coal Town | more on Massey Energy | previous feature ]

Near Knoxville, TN, approximately 45 activists surprised the first-ever shareholders meeting of what they call the most destructive coal company in Tennessee, the National Coal Corporation. 

[ Article & photos ]

And in Lexington, Kentucky, a meal of toxic coal sludge scraped out of a stream in eastern Kentucky was delivered to the president of a coal advocacy group; hundreds of concerned citizens attended an anti-mountain top removal (MTR) rally and march that ended at Kentucky Utility's headquarters; a film festival educated Lexingtonians about the dangers of strip mining and its repercussions; and activists passed out literature on the streets.  All part of Mountain Justice Summer's week in Lexington, Kentucky.

[   Article & photos ]

And finally, Mountain Justice Summer will take to the streets of Richmond, Virginia on July 8th to rally against Mountaintop Removal mining.  The action will also be held in conjunction with Venezuelan communities fighting coal mines, as activists around the world will simultaneously protest climate change during the G8 meetings taking place in Scotland.

[ Richmond Mountain Justice ]