Wise County Virginia, a mountain known as Ison Rock Ridge is slated to be destroyed by a 1,200 acre mountaintop removal coal mine. Ison Rock Ridge sits above five small communities made up of 1,800 people. If the permit is approved, the quality of life for these people would effectively be destroyed as well.
The proposed mountaintop removal permit boundary calls for mining 300 feet from some community members’ homes as well as the burying of headwater streams that feed the creeks running through their communities.
Your efforts have held this permit at bay for years but now the EPA is close to making a final decision, and the state is siding with the coal companies. We need to make our voices heard louder than ever by showing up at their doorsteps and demanding justice.
We hope that you will join us at two major rallies to help bring awareness to the issue and, ultimately, to Keep Ison Rock Ridge Standing!
Please save these dates:
Funeral for the Mountains: Monday, Oct. 17th, 5:00 PM, Richmond – Governor’s Energy Conference at the Convention Center 5th and Marshall Streets.
Virginia Rising: Wednesday November 16th, 12:00 PM, Washington, D.C. – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Virginia Rising: Wednesday November 16th, 12:00 PM, Washington, D.C. – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
On October 17 and 18, Governor McDonnell is holding his second Virginia Energy Conference in Richmond. Based on his track record we expect more of the same: coal, gas, oil, and nuclear with limited commitment to renewable energy. The Governor’s Dept. of Mines, Minerals, and Energy (DMME) is ignoring the communities near Ison Rock and is more than ready to allow the blasting to begin. We will be holding a funeral for the mountains that have already been lost to mountaintop removal mining, and be holding the DMME and the governor accountable for any future destruction as resulting from the approval of mine permits. Here we will make a plea for those who live at the base of Ison Rock. There will also be a pro-renewable energy rally happening the next day, more details coming soon.
On November 16, we will gather in DC in front of the EPA headquarters alongside community members from Wise County to ask the EPA to Keep Ison Rock Ridge Standing. The Wise Energy Coalition is teaming up with Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light and other local organizations to bring a few hundred people to the doorstep of the U.S. EPA. The EPA’s authority is all that stands in the way of blasting on Ison Rock Ridge but the agency has indicated that it is considering allowing the permit to move forward! Please join us!
Wise County residents know from experience that granting the permit to flatten Ison Rock Ridge would mean constant dust and noise, increased truck traffic, regular blasting, and more pollution in streams. The damage to these streams and the mountain would be irreversible and the psychological and physical damage to the people of these five communities would be tragic.
Please save these dates and attend one or both of these critical rallies to Keep Ison Rock Ridge Standing. We will email more details about these events in the coming weeks.
Best,
Mike McCoy
Wise Energy for Virginia
http://wiseenergyforvirginia.org/
