Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards

Water is the most valuable resources that we have. But in Appalachia, our water runs black, orange and white. Right now mountaintop removal coal mining is destroying our streams and drinking water wells — with your help we can better protect our water.

 The Appalachian Citizens Enforcement (ACE) Project is providing groups near you with water-testing equipment and training resources. Together, we can use these resources to reveal the water quality threats in our communities and, as a region, act to protect our water!

Contact us today to help put an end to water pollution across Central Appalachia.

Interested in being a part of it? Contact Matt Hepler @ mhepler24@gmail.com  and visit www.ACE-Project.org

With the ACE Project you can:

- Work with other concerned citizens in Central Appalachia to monitor local public streams and rivers

- Share your monitoring data with the general public and local, state, and federal agencies

- View and analyze water test results from across the region

- Hold coal companies and regulatory agencies accountable!

Across the region, citizens are coming together to hold the coal companies and our state and federal agencies accountable. The Appalachian Citizens Enforcement (ACE) Project allows you to explore water quality across the region and connects you with resources to test water in your community. The ACE Project is a powerful way to protect our streams through better local enforcement and meaningful federal policy changes.  Just last week ACE project data were used in DC to demonstrate a clear need for the EPA to act swiftly to protect the waterways and communities in Appalachia.

Anyone can get involved to help protect one of our most precious resources!

Together we can protect our water and our communities.

Check out our Video Here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTsD6mTOha8

Do you have problems with bad water, blasting, damage to your property or dust from coal operations?

Have you reported issues that the state or companies have not dealt with? Concerned about future operations in your area? 

You are invited to a workshop on citizens rights and company obligations under the Surface Mine Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA).

Attorney’s and staff with citizens groups will present on the current status of state and federal regulations meant to protect residents and communities from the effects of mining operations.

When: Monday, May 13th, 6:30 PM.

Where: Clintwood Community Center, next to the Ralph Stanley Museum

Who: The Appalachian Citizens Enforcement (ACE) project of The Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards.

What: Know Your Rights Workshop on SMCRA and the Clean Water Act.

Snacks and beverages will be provided.  There is no fee for attendance, but donations are welcome.

We will walk through the process available to citizens for enforcement of existing regulations, and possibilities for better protection of communities in the future.

The workshop will include time to discuss any specific issues you or your family may be dealing with and possibilities for having them resolved through citizen enforcement.

Legal disclaimer: The attorneys present will be offering general information only. They will not be able to provide any legal advice specific to particular situations. They will not be creating any attorney-client relationships. Some of the attorneys present have not been admitted to practice law in Virginia. Anyone seeking specific legal advice should contact a Virginia attorney who can address specific legal questions and needs.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A coalition of Appalachian and national groups pressed the Environmental Protection Agency on May 7th,  for stronger protection for their waters from the most extreme form of coal mining, mountaintop removal.

In a formal petition for rulemaking, 15 Appalachian local, regional, and national groups are petitioning the EPA to set a numeric water quality standard under the Clean Water Act to protect streams in Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, and Pennsylvania from pollution caused by mountaintop removal mining. This petition is backed by robust scientific studies that demonstrate that the dumping of mountaintop removal mining waste leads to harmful levels of conductivity – the ability of a waterway to conduct an electric current. Elevated conductivity is toxic to aquatic life, and studies show it is having an extreme ecological effect on Appalachian waters and streams.

The following groups joined the petition: Earthjustice, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Kentucky Waterways Alliance, Coal River Mountain Watch, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Appalachian Voices, Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, Tennessee Clean Water Network, Defenders of Wildlife, Sierra Club, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, Public Justice, Natural Resources Defense Council.

Community Groups Cheer Rejection of Dangerous Surface Mine

The town and coal camps of Appalachia can breathe a sigh of relief today after learning that A & G Coal Corporation has been denied a permit to strip mine Ison Rock Ridge near Appalachia. The 1,200-acre permit, located behind the town of Appalachia and between the coal camps of Inman and Derby, would have had intense impacts on residents already affected by decades of mountaintop removal coal mining.

The permit application was technically approved by the Department of Mines Minerals and Energy in May of 2010 but has been held up for its failure to adhere to water quality standards in nearby Callahan Creek. Further, Southern Coal, which owns A & G, is required to resolve at least four outstanding violations in Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia, before the permit could be issued. Finally, the permit is being denied due to A & G’s inactivity on the application for at least 2 years.

The Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards have argued against this dangerous surface mine since 2009. Based in Appalachia, SAMS’ membership includes residents of the coal camps adjacent to the proposed permit. SAMS applauds the DMME’s move to deny this dangerous strip mine.

A & G is  contesting this decision, and an informal hearing was held today at the DMME office in which coalfield citizens applauded the DMMEs efforts in denying the permit.

SAMS has argued instead  for community leaders to get behind efforts to diversify the local economy, and for politicians to give as much support to developing new industries that can sustain our economy as they do to propping up a coal industry failing in the face of natural gas, dwindling reserves and cheaper western coal.

Sam Broach, president of SAMS said, “Preserving our clean mountain water, protecting our productive forests and making this a place businesses want to move to is a key part of building an economy built to last the next 100 years. Stopping the destruction of Ison Rock Ridge is an important first step. ”

For years the prospect of a new mountaintop removal mine, with increased blasting, dust, truck traffic and sedimentation of the streams has hung over the area like a black cloud. The four valley fills included in the operation threatened to bury headwater streams and increase concentrations of toxic heavy metals in streams, like Callahan Creek, already legally recognized as impaired.

Judy Needham, SAMS member and resident of the coal camp of Andover, reacted to the news: “after living for years with blasting from A & G’s operations on Kelly’s Branch, the idea of another strip mine above Andover, was just too much to consider. Blasting has impacted so many communities already. Enough is enough.” More than 20 peer-reviewed studies since 2010 have shown a connection between proximity to mountaintop removal operations like Ison Rock Ridge and poor health outcomes, including higher cancer, heart, lung and kidney disease rates.

This type of mountaintop removal mining is a last ditch effort by the coal industry to extract profits from a dwindling supply in an increasingly competitive fuel market. “Coal executives realize that coal production and markets for Appalachian coal are declining”, said SAMS’ board member Judiana Stines. “As those reserves go down, companies will move elsewhere, leaving mass destruction, more poverty, and severe health problems behind. It is up to us, to stand together, united, and speak out against this permit, and against the destruction of any more mountains. We want to let citizens know that we can be their voice if they need one, and that SAMS is here to stay and build a brighter, healthier and cleaner tomorrow.” Stopping the destruction of Ison Rock Ridge is an important first step.