At the August 11 Roane County Commission meeting the Concerned Citizens’ Coalition of Roane, Calhoun and Gilmer Counties (CCC) delivered a message, accompanied by articles and other information on mountaintop removal.

CCC members urge activists in other counties to attend their respective commissions’ meetings, and ask for similar statements opposing mountaintop removal.

CCC has a packet of material that could help in this presentation. If you would like this packet, please send your name and address to: CCC, Otto Rt. Box 105A, Spencer WV 25276. Any donations to help defray costs would be appreciated.

The message to the Roane County Commission is as follows:

The members of the Concerned Citizens’ Coalition of Roane, Calhoun and Gilmer counties respectfully request that the Roane County Commission make a public statement condemning the practice of mining coal by mountaintop removal and valley fill.

While no coal is mined in Roane County, CCC members feel compelled to add our voices to the growing outcry against this practice which is destroying our state’s mountain heritage and threatening our future.

Already, in Monongalia County, where no mountaintop removal scars the landscape, Commissioners unanimously carried a motion to write letters to Governor Underwood, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) expressing opposition to mountaintop removal as a means to strip for coal.

This summer, at their annual meeting the United Methodists overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning mountaintop removal, as did a gathering of Presbyterians.

Recently, the practice of mountaintop removal has brought much unfavorable media attention to our state -- including articles in US News and World Report, the front page of the New York Times, exhaustive coverage in the Charleston Gazette (see www.wvgazette.com/mining/index.html), and air time on Nightline.

After the legislative session, despite warnings from the US EPA, Governor Underwood signed into law a bill further weakening the already paltry environmental safeguards governing mountaintop removal. Now the EPA has stepped in to scrutinize the way DEP blindly issues permits for the wholesale destruction of West Virginia’s mountain heritage and future.

The Charleston Gazette quotes Representative Bob Wise as saying, "The apparent lack of oversight and ambiguity of our state law have led to questions and controversy with regard to mountaintop removal. So many substantial questions have arisen on federal, state and judicial levels, the only responsible thing to do is to have a temporary moratorium on any new mountaintop removal permits until OSM and the Governor’s Commission have issued their reports and these important legal questions are settled."

The members of CCC ask that you tell the Governor, the DEP and the DNR that the Roane County Commission opposes the practice of mountaintop removal.