Letter from Carolyn Johnson

Dear Folks:

I am writing for two reasons. First, on behalf of the Citizens Coal Council and its 52 member groups across the country, a great big thank you. We know this has been a difficult time for you and your families. We are grateful for your courage and persistence in challenging the failure of the state and federal agencies to enforce the coal mining laws and regulations.

The effects of your lawsuit reach far beyond West Virginia because the coal mines have been thumbing their noses at parts of the law in every state and the regulatory agencies have turned a blind eye. Now we are turning the national spotlight on this outlaw industry that is wrecking our members’ homes, communities, and environment stretching from Arizona to Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Alabama.

Second, I want to tell you what will likely happen in the coming months.

As everyone surely knows by now, citizens won a great victory on November 18 and defeated Senator Byrd’s effort to weaken the clean water and coal mining regulations for all coal mines everywhere. Hundreds of groups and tens of thousands of people joined in to stop the Byrd rider because protecting our streams is so important. All the national environmental groups worked hard on this and the issue got a lot of television and newspaper publicity.

We expect Senator Byrd to try again next year. I can’t promise that we will win again, but I think we have a very good chance. Certainly the chances look better to me than they did at the end of October before Byrd’s first attempt.

The Citizens’ Coal Council (CCC) and our allies in the national environmental groups are already working together and preparing for the next round.

The Clinton White House and federal agencies will try to avoid another battle. They hate the spotlight and want to satisfy Senator Byrd. We expect them to try a combination of several carrots and sticks to convince you to back off, such as:

"You’ll shut down the coal industry;"

"You can’t win in Congress or the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals so let’s compromise;"

"We’ll will write new regulations to take care of the problem;"

"We’ll write a new report or analysis;"

"The Justice Department will ask the federal appeals court to rule against you;"

None of these are new arguments. It’s the same old broken record that the coal industry and its government pals have played since 1971 when coalfield citizens started the big push to get Congress to pass a federal law. They want to scare us or buy us off with a nothing burger and make the national spotlight go away. They want us to sacrifice our communities and homes so they don’t have to enforce the law.

We won’t fall for that. The stream and water quality protection rules are critical for every member group and every person living in a coalfield every where in the country. CCC will oppose any compromise that weakens or further delays the enforcement of these rules. We know that coal can be mined within the law.

CCC and its member groups are committed to continuing to fight to uphold these rules in Congress and to support you.

Thank you again for doing the right thing.

Sincerely,

 Carolyn Johnson, Staff Director, Citizen’s Coal Council, December 9, 1999