Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards

jasperconner July 21st, 2010

The Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards are currently accepting applications for short term and long term interns to join the fight against mountain top removal mining in our area. Interns spend their time working on various projects, from talking with neighbors about how we can keep coal dust from blanketing the community, to attending community meetings on building a sustainable and just economy, to fighting the Ison Rock Ridge permit that currently threatens Appalachia, Andover, Arno, Derby, and Inman. Interns also find ways to bring their unique skills into local projects like web design, grant writing, and knowledge of labor history, geography, biology, etc. You can check out the current and planned campaign work here at the website of the RReNEW Collective, a group of young people that supports the work of SAMS.

Community organizing is all about building strong relationships, so SAMS is most excited about taking on interns who can make long term commitments (6 months and longer) but we can put people to work on specific short term projects as well.   Many SAMS interns come from across the state, but we also have interns that were born and raised here.   We aren’t experts, and we aren’t holding out for any either. We’re glad to teach you what you need to know to be an effective part of this campaign to end surface mining.

In looking for interns, we want to prioritize people from coal counties, Appalachia, and Appalachian states. People who grew up in the region have a more intimate understanding of the culture and history which is always important when doing community organizing. 

Intern positions are, for now, unpaid. We can provide free housing and food for interns that aren’t already living around here.  We can also reimburse interns for many expenses such as travel and supplies. We are always in the process of finding intern stipends because we know most interns will still have to pay bills and debts while they spend their time in the movement.

We, like so many other small groups, are funded almost entirely through grassroots fundraising so if you can’t intern you should consider throwing us a fundraiser in your community so that we can better support our interns.

Some specific internships that are open are:
Student Organizing Intern – working with local highschool students and regional college students to bring Appalachian youth into the movement against MTR. Interns in this program should be able to stay for a minimum of an entire semester, but interns who can spend an entire school year are strongly encouraged to apply.
Dust Campaign Intern – working closely with SAMS members in their fight to control the coal dust blanketing their communities. This work involves supporting communities to develop community based water and dust monitoring systems, pressuring regulatory agencies, and much more.
Sustainable Economic Development Intern – working with local working people and small business owners to promote a sustainable economy that is good for workers and communities in Appalachia.
Ison Rock Ridge Intern – working on the, thus far successful, campaign to protect Ison Rock Ridge from being destroyed. This campaign is in a crucial stage right now.
Fundraising Intern – Grassroots organizing takes money, help fund the work of SAMS and RReNEW and learn important skills for sustaining environmental justice organizing.

We’re always open to finding ways to put your skills to use in our campaigns, so apply even if you don’t see how you could immediately fit in.

If you are interested in an internship, or have any questions, please contact the RReNEW Collective at rrenew.collective@gmail.com.  The RReNEW Collective is a group of folks who support the work of SAMS in a variety of way, particularly by coordinating the internship process.  The RReNEW Collective also runs the intern house.  

You can also fill out an application.

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aw58461 June 1st, 2010

Please support the work of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards by clicking this link to keep up the pressure on the EPA in order to Keep Ison Rock Ridge Standing.

Late this morning, around 20 Wise County residents gathered at the offices of the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy in Big Stone Gap to rally in opposition to A&G Coal’s proposed Ison Rock Ridge surface mine. Picketers held signs with slogans including, “Ison Rock Ridge is families. Keep it standing!” and “Don’t blast our homes.” As part of the rally, two individuals delivered a “Certificate of Failure” to the DMME for failing to protect communities.

Residents of Inman, Derby, Arno, and Andover – communities that are directly adjacent to the pending 1,200+ acre mountain-top removal mine – took turns addressing the crowd to express their disapproval of the DMME’s apparent support for the project..”

“The DMME and the state of Virginia seem to be ignoring regulations protecting our waterways. It’s a shame we have to contact Washington DC to get our state officials to obey the law,” said Jane Branham a resident of Big Stone Gap and Vice President of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards (SAMS), the Wise County-based community group that organized the demonstration.

Ben Hooper, a resident of Inman added, “The DMME’s not there to protect us. It’s their job to keep the coal money flowing to Richmond not to make sure the coal is mined responsibly.”

The event was held on the heels of the DMME’s May 12th statement of “approval” for a portion of the proposed mine above the community of Inman. The state regulatory agency’s action was taken despite the fact that the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers continue to hold the pending mine’s NPDES permit for review due to evidence that strip-mining of such scale invariably violates the Clean Water Act. If operated, this particular mine would destroy three miles of streams and fill nine valleys with more than 11 million cubic yards of rock and dirt. The EPA has sent a letter to the DMME reiterating that the pertinent permits remain under federal jurisdiction.

“This thing would have happened nearly three years ago if it hadn’t been for us.” declared Dorothy Taulbee, a former resident of Stonega, referring to the previous successes of SAMS’ work to preserve the communities surrounding Ison Rock Ridge. The organization was formed in 2007 and has been fighting the Ison Rock Ridge permit since the beginning. In 2008, SAMS secured meetings between community members and EPA representatives and mobilized dozens of local residents to speak out against the proposal at public hearings. These efforts led to the EPA’s intervention in the permitting process, halting the mine thus far.

On Tuesday and over the course of this week, supporters of SAMS from across the state will be visiting Senator Jim Webb’s offices in Roanoke, Virginia Beach, and Falls Church to deliver a message from coalfield residents asking for the Senator’s support in defending the communities adjacent to Ison Rock Ridge. A similar event will take place at the EPA’s region 3 offices in Philadelphia where allies of the local organization will deliver a letter thanking the agency for affording adequate scrutiny and oversight to the proposed mountain-top removal mine, and asking that the NPDES permit be ultimately denied.

The Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards supports deep-mining and other industries that provide jobs for the people of Wise County. Mountaintop removal mining employs very few workers, instead favoring explosives and heavy machinery to extract coal. SAMS is concerned about the impacts A & G’s Coal Company’s proposed mine would have on nearby streams that have already exceeded acceptable levels of pollution from mine discharge, and will regard the issuance of the Ison Rock Ridge Permit by the DMME to be in violation of the Clean Water Act. The Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards will continue to fight for the people of Appalachia and surrounding communities until the permits for the Ison Rock Ridge mine are denied once and for all.

Please pass this story onto your friends and neighbors and take a moment to support the work of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards by clicking this link to keep up the pressure on the EPA in order to Keep Ison Rock Ridge Standing.

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aw58461 May 27th, 2010

It’s never too early to be thinking of solutions. After all, we have been for quite awhile. In August, we will witness the emergence of thoughtful help on this front and we are proud to be partnering with the Solutions Journal to promote a special August edition and introduce our members to the new bi-monthly.

This special Appalachia edition of  Solutions—appearing both in print and online—will be a powerful presentation of this region’s challenges and potential. With a diverse range of perspectives, rich historical accounts, and detailed descriptions of solutions already in place on the ground, the Solutions special issue will be Appalachia’s playbook for an economic and environmental transition.

It will draw on the experience and creativity of some of the best minds working on Appalachia issues today. Solution’ current list of contributors includes ecological design expert John Todd, Justin Maxson–President of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, Erik Reece, author of the acclaimed book Lost Mountain: A Year in the Vanishing Wilderness: Radical Strip Mining and the Devastation of Appalachia, Michael Hendryx, Evan Hansen, Jeff Biggers, author of Reckoning at Eagle Creek and The United States of Appalachia, and Wendell Berry, a great inspirational environmental writer who is also a farmer, an academic, and brings a wealth of experience to his writings.

Appalachia is a special place—one of the most biologically diverse and culturally rich regions on the planet. But it is only one of several regions in the United States with an economy dependent on fossil energy production and where the people fear they will suffer when America makes its necessary transition to a low-carbon economy. The challenge in each of these regions will be to make the transition as deliberately and thoughtfully as possible. Central Appalachia has the potential to become a national model of the positive transition to America’s clean energy future.

Please visit our partner’s website www.thesolutionsjournal.org to explore their interactive website. You will find articles, links to related material, and live video feeds, making this an expanded collaborative effort to address the issues facing our beloved Appalachia.

Thank you for all the work you do to create a brighter future for the Central Appalachian region and its people.

Kathy Selvage

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aw58461 May 27th, 2010

Despite powerful organizing and messaging, many Americans still don’t know that their electricity might be coming from destroyed mountains.  That’s why ilovemountains.org has teamed up with Ashley Judd and The Alliance for Appalachia to get the message out to America’s living rooms.

The powerful new ad uses the most talked about ad in America’s history – President Johnson’s “Daisy Girl” – to convey the severity of mountaintop removal. This advertisement will show the nation that there is a war taking place in the mountains of Appalachia.

We don’t have the coal industry’s billions. But we do have the power of people like you! We need people to watch thead, share the ad, and then help raise money so that we can raise the stakes!

Can you help publicize this powerful ad and fundraising effort? The widget at www.iLoveMountains.org/tv-ad has everything you need to share this important effort on Facebook, Twitter – you name it.

We also need you to donate. Millions of people could learn about mountaintop removal through this effort – with the help of a few – or a few hundred – dollars from people like you.

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aw58461 May 17th, 2010

We are outraged at approval of Ison Rock Ridge surface coal mine permit

Despite pressure from federal agencies and outcry from the local community, the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy has approved the highly controversial Ison Rock Ridge surface coal mine permit surrounding the town of Appalachia. The permit in question would destroy over 1200 acres of land immediately above the town of Appalachia, and would severely impact the communities of Inman, Andover, Derby, Callahan Avenue and Ridge Street in the town of Appalachia. The Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, a community group based in Wise County, has been fighting this permit since 2007.

“This is another permit being railroaded by regulatory agencies without regard to the mass public outcry,” said Jane Branham, Vice-President of SAMS. “We have significant concerns about the impact of this permit on our local waterways, our community and quality of life for those of us who live in the shadow of this permit.”

Even though the Environmental Protection Agency has signaled increased action to reduce water pollution from surface mines, state agencies, coal corporations and even local representatives are pushing ahead with plans for new surface mine permits that would cause unprecedented water pollution. Growing concerns from the medical, scientific and regulatory communities focus on the impact of mine waste on drinking and recreational water, and on the cumulative impact on already impaired streams.

In a ruling issued by the Environmental Protection Agency on April 1, 2010, the agency announced that effects from surface mine permits would be restricted based on conductivity levels of streams impacted by upstream surface mining. According to figures from the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, conductivity readings on the streams immediately downstream from the Ison Rock Ridge permit are already heavily impacted by surface mining. The DMME’s records show conductivity readings at the two receiving streams, Looney Creek and Callahan Creek, are 59% higher than the EPA’s new rules require. They suggest streams and watersheds severely impacted by heavy metals, sediment, and other toxic effects of mining waste being dumped in headwater streams.

“This is good example of them not caring about the people and taking care of the people,” said Sam Broach, President of SAMS. “They’re not looking out for the safety of the people and environment, and they’re going to blast this mountain despite the federal rules. Basically, we’re going to keep up the fight. We’re not quitting here. They only care about the bottom dollar, and we care about the future of our community.”

SAMS opposes the surface mine permit at Ison Rock Ridge for the danger it poses to nearby communities Appalachia, Inman, Derby and Andover. SAMS is concerned about the impacts of mining activity on nearby streams that have already exceeded acceptable levels of pollution from mine discharge, and believes this permit to be a violation of the Clean Water Act.

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