Activists Boat onto Sludge Pond; Confront Gov. Tomblin on Dangers of Coal Sludge

from RAMPS

Charleston, W.Va. – This morning at 7:30 a.m. two activists paddled out onto the 2.8 billion gallon Shumate slurry impoundment in Raleigh County with banners reading, “Slurry Poisons Appalachia” and “Gov. Tomblin, Put Health Over Profit.”  Later this morning, one activist locked himself to a barrel of black water in front of Gov. Tomblin’s mansion in a Tyvek suit reading “Locked to Dirty Water”.   Activists are calling attention to the failure of the state government to protect its citizens from the abuses of the coal industry and the threats posed by coal slurry disposal.

Jail Support Needed for RAMPS Arrestees

Supporting those who choose to risk arrest and are given jail time is a critical component of direct action. We keep in close contact with folks who end up spending time in the jail system, and encourage you to do the same! We also work with families and loved ones of those who are incarcerated to support them through this process as much as possible.

“At this point of unimaginable threats on the horizon, this is what hope looks like. In these times of a morally bankrupt government that has sold out its principles, this is what patriotism looks like. With countless lives on the line, this is what love looks like, and it will only grow.”  -Tim DeChristopher

“As someone who spent sixty days in jail for direct action in West Virginia, I cannot comprehensively convey to others the critical importance of those on the outside who supported me. I have been on both sides of the glass, and know that the knowledge that others are holding you in their hearts and minds can lift you to a place where no walls, no barbed wire, and no chains can bind you.” -Jacqueline Quimby

donate to RAMPS defense fund….

Help the Defenders of the Oldest Mountains in the World

There were 20 folks arrested at this action each with a bail of $25,000, for a combined bail of $500,000 — please spread this plea for solidarity.

Bryan Garcia of Katuah Earth First! at Ramps Campaign Mountain Mobilization, shutting down Hobet the largest mountaintop removal mine in the U.S. Bryan’s bail is set at $25,000.

Donate to the Legal Fund here. Help any way you can.

Video: Mountain Mobilization shuts down largest mountaintop removal mine in U.S.

Mountain Mobilization Kicks Off Summer of Solidarity with a Challenge to Strip-Mining

by Wren Awry

Originally posted in Waging Nonviolence.

Listening to the talk in Washington is depressing these days for those concerned about the future of our planet. Democrats join Republicans in trying to roll back environmental regulation, any discussion of climate legislation is dead and everyone wants to expand domestic fossil fuel production. But all across America in the midst of a long hot summer, ordinary citizens are telling a different story by confronting out-of-control energy extraction directly.

Take Back a Mountain on July 28!

Check out this message from RAMPS, and get out there!

“On Saturday, July 28th, hundreds of us will march onto a strip mine and shut it down. Stand with us as we take action. Concerned community members and activists are preparing to take nonviolent direct action to do what the politicians, the regulators and the courts have been unwilling to do: to defend the land and the people; to stop strip mining

Join the Mountain Mobilization in West Virginia July 25

Take Direct Action Against Strip Mining

via Radical Action for Mountain People’s Survival (RAMPS). RSVP on Facebook here.

Last week, Mountain Justice and Radical Action for Mountain People’s Survival (RAMPS) stopped nine coal trucks and a coal barge after the Mountain Justice Summer Action Camp.  These actions showed once again that people are willing to put their bodies on the line to stop the plunder of Appalachia and raised the spirits of West Virginians fighting to save their home, but Larry Gibson reminded us our work is not done.“Everything has to get bigger from here,” Larry said.  “We need to put our backs up against the wall and not back down. The 99% means nothing if we don’t all support  each other.  No matter what our positions are we must come together.”

Larry is right. To win our struggles against the extraction industries, we will have to band together. The fight against strip mining has been gaining ground over the last few years (here, here and here), but King Coal will keep stripping to the bitter end and leave Appalachia with nothing unless we act now.   It was only after aggressive direct action in the 60s and 70s that the political will was created to address strip mining on a federal level.  If we want strip mining to end and restoration work to begin; if we want a post-coal future that is more than devastated landscapes, rampant fracking, and deepening poverty; if we want a healthy and whole Appalachia, we must escalate our resistance.

At PowerShift 2011, currently imprisoned activist Tim DeChristopher pointed out, “With only the people in this room, we could send 30 people onto a mountaintop removal site, shut it down temporarily, start to clog up the West Virginia court system.  And we could send 30 people the day after that and the day after that and the day after that every day for a year.  I believe we would never get to the end of that year because mountaintop removal would end before we reached that point.”

This summer we will take the first step toward that vision.  Come to southern West Virginia on July 25.  RAMPS will host a mobilization where people will prepare to take nonviolent direct action to shut down a strip mine.  We are calling for as many people as possible to come together and do what the politicians, the regulators and the courts have been unwilling to do; to defend the land and the people; to stop strip mining.

Pro-mountain activists board coal barge and blockade Kayford strip mine haul road

Activists deploy on a coal barge in West Virginia.

Mountain Justice and RAMPS activists blocked coal transport in two locations Thursday morning protesting mountaintop removal. Five boarded a barge on the Kanawha River near Chelyan, West Virginia, with a large banner that read “Coal leaves, cancer stays,” and locked their bodies to the barge. At the same time, dozens of concerned citizens obstructed access to the haul road on Kayford Mountain, stopping coal trucks from entering or leaving the Republic Energy mine.

“These actions against coal transport were taken because the viability and health of mountain communities are being destroyed by mountaintop removal—the coal and the profits are shipped away, leaving disease and destruction in their wake,” Rebecca Loeb, one of the people on the barge said.

According to Nathan Joseph, another activist on the barge, the struggle against mountaintop removal in Appalachia is linked to the struggles of other fossil-fuel extraction communities across North America and the world.

“The coal industry’s continued disregard for the well-being of Appalachian communities is connected to the struggles of other North American extraction communities. Strip mining tar sands for low-quality oil, fracking for dirty gas and deep-sea oil drilling are signs we are scraping the bottom of the barrel. The extraction, transport, processing and combustion of these fuels all disproportionately impact low-income communities, indigenous communities (such as Diné people on Black Mesa) and communities of color,” Joseph said.