Mountain Justice seeks to add to the growing
anti-MTR citizens movement. Specifically Mountain Justice
demands an abolition of MTR, steep slope strip mining and
all other forms of surface
mining for coal. We work to protect the cultural and natural
heritage of the Appalachia coal fields. We work to contribute
with grassroots organizing, public education, nonviolent
civil disobedience and other forms of citizen action.
Historically coal companies have engaged in violence and
property destruction when faced with citizen opposition to
their activities. Mountain Justice is committed to nonviolence
and will
not be engaged in property destruction.
We work together to create diverse and sustainable economies in
Appalachian regions traditionally dominated by the coal industry by
supporting businesses, jobs and ways of living that are not environmentally
or culturally destructive and are nourishing to the social and biological fabric of healthy communities.
Though our work is focused in Appalachia, we oppose dirty energy and environmental injustice everywhere and we support clean energy and just economic transition for all. Seeking to eradicate, rather than simply shift, the burden of environmental injustice, MJ works to build solidarity and mutually-supportive relationships with communities where extraction and energy generation take place beyond our region. As coal becomes more politically and commercially volatile, industrial and political power-brokers are attempting to position natural gas, often sourced by hydraulic fracturing, nuclear energy, tar sands, biomass incineration, and other forms of resource extraction as clean and just alternatives.
Mountain Justice rejects this fallacy outright and supports those who resist these dirty, dangerous energy sources and also those who are working to implement truly clean energy solutions. We also recognize the native peoples who are the original inhabitants of this land. Accordingly, we seek to support the struggles of indigenous communities who are facing injustice daily at the hands of extractive industries.
