Appalachian apocalypse: Nationwide Day of Action
June 26, 2009 - ATLANTA
STOP DESTROYING OUR MOUNTAINS, DAMMIT!
Contact James Kane, 770-845-5002 for more information.
There is no central organization in the Atlanta action, so all of this is just information and suggestions.
The target date is June 26th.
What to bring:
Water
Signs, flyers, banners, prepared statements
Friends
Dress to impress
Be autonomous in planning and participating in sending a message to the EPA and Obama.
Do some street theatre! Make some signs! Dress up if you can! If you can't show up, inform folks
about what we're trying to do.
We're trying to keep this pretty low-key, as a nonviolent, pretty cut and dry protest
against the EPA and Obama administration (civil disobedience is not suggested at this action).
Our goals are just to get our message across, in any way possible, so be free and do
your own thing! Keep messaging positive!
The action will be taking place all day, with folks passing out information to EPA employees
as they go to work in the morning, at lunch and as they leave work. The MAIN EVENT will be
from 11:00am to 1:00pm, to coincide with the EPA lunch break. Take Marta if you can, the Five
Points station is right next to the EPA offices at the corner of Alabama and Forsyth streets.
There is a large courtyard in front of the building (on Forsyth) where we can assemble, and a
pretty big area along both Forsyth and Alabama streets.
Friday, June 26th, 2009. 11:00am to 1:00pm
EPA Region 4 offices, 61 Forsyth St SW, Atlanta GA
(just down the street from Underground Atlanta)
View Larger Map
LIST of DEMANDS
Dear EPA, Office of Surface Mining (OSM), Army Corps of Engineers, and
Obama administration,
You have failed to live up to your promises, and your most basic
responsibilities to the American people. As a result, we are becoming
MORE DEPENDENT on fossil fuel energy, we cannot enjoy BASIC FREEDOMS
like clean air, pure water and a healthy environment, and most
importantly, the profits of coal corporations are taking precedent
over OUR LIVES and the HEALTH of our CHILDREN. In light of these
failures:
-
The EPA, OSM, Army Corps and Obama administration will issue a
joint statement stating:
"There is no such thing as 'minimizing' the adverse environmental
consequences of mountain top removal coal mining. Mountaintop removal
mining is a barbaric, unconscionable practice which REQUIRES massive
clear cutting of our nation's most diverse and oldest deciduous
forests, blasting mountains to bits, and ruining critical watersheds
for eternity- causing downstream impacts that irreversibly ruin the
quality of life for people, devastate our waters, and wipe ecosystems
from the face of the planet. It never has been and never will be an
economically viable alternative to other forms of coal mining or
alternative energy sources."
- The EPA, OSM and Army Corps will strike mining wastes from their
definition of "fill material".
The Clean Water Act was written to prohibit the use of the nation's
waterways as waste disposal sites. In 2002, the Army Corps of
Engineers, under the direction of the Bush administration and without
congressional approval, altered its longstanding definition of "fill
material" to include mining waste. This change accelerated the
devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining and the
destruction of more than 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams.
- The EPA will immediately make it policy to deny ANY and ALL permits
related to Mountain Top Removal Mining, and instruct the Army Corps of
Engineers and Office of Surface Mining (OSM) to do the same, including
all permits currently under review or approved in 2009.
- The EPA, OSM, Army Corps and Obama administration won't just do
"all it can under existing laws and regulations to curb the most
environmentally destructive impacts of mountaintop coal mining." They
will institute a complete ban on the mining, extraction and use of
Mountain Top Removal coal, effective immediately.
- The EPA, OSM, Army Corps and Obama administration will commission
an actionable study, to be completed within the next six (6) months,
of how to phase out all mountain top removal coal-related activities
in Appalachia and replace them with renewable or efficiency-based,
'green' sector activities such as wind and solar manufacturing and
installation projects, to be based in Appalachian communities as
replacements for coal-related activities. This will help diversify and
strengthen the Appalachian economy by focusing on clean energy
investments and creating green jobs in Appalachia.
- All coal mining corporations will be liable to the fullest extent
of the law for ANY and ALL violations of Clean Water Act regulations
(Section 404(b)(1)) and ANY and ALL harmful direct and cumulative
environmental impacts of mountaintop coal mining on streams and
watersheds. The billions of dollars in fines levied on criminal coal
corporations will help fund clean energy investments and creating
green jobs in Appalachia.
- Beginning tomorrow, all coal company employees will begin figuring
out how to use all company-owned heavy equipment, including but not
limited to draglines, crawler tractors, rigid frame end-dump trucks,
articulated trucks, hydraulic excavators, wheel dozers, wheel loaders,
motor scrapers, motor graders, compactors, cranes, water trucks, off
highway trucks, agricultural tractors, forklifts, fuel and lube
trucks, backhoe loaders, and bulldozers to begin the centuries-long
process of cleaning up the mess they have made.
- NO NEW COAL: The United States will make it a national goal, as
part of all national security initiatives, to achieve 30% energy
efficiency within a decade, obviating the need for new fossil fuel
power plants.
Contact James Kane, 770-845-5002 for more information.
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