WV Citizen Action Group
Action Alert		 June 20
2013
 Alert Archive

Below:

Wellness and Water II ~ Pre-Registration Deadline Friday, June 21

Just a reminder that due to deadlines imposed by our venue, tomorrow (Friday, June 21) is pre-registration deadline for Wellness & Water II. On the day of the conference, late registrations will be accepted at the door, but on-location meals may not be available for late registrants.

You can register online here. The cost of the event, including snacks and meals, is $40. Lodging is extra.

If you prefer to pay at the door rather than register online, please let us know by this Friday so we can include you in our head count for Wesleyan.

For more  information please contact Julie Archer at julie@wvsoro.org or 304-346-5891.

The conference will focus on the threats mountaintop removal coal mining and Marcellus Shale drilling and waste disposal related to these activities pose to our health and our drinking water, and measures we can take to safeguard our wellness and our water.  There is a full day on Saturday, June 29, featuring two plenary speakers, panelists and workshops. After social events that evening, the forum will resume on Sunday, June 30 with a half-day of solution focused speakers and roundtable discussions.

Click here to download a flier or reply to this e-mail for details.

Contact Bill Price at bill.price@sierraclub.org or 304-389-8822 for information on scholarships.

Julie Archer at julie@wvsoro.org or 304-346-5891 for general information.

Sponsored by: Sierra Club WV, WV Surface Owners’ Rights Organization, Doddridge County Watershed Association, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy

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Citizens Launching CARE Campaign: Citizen Action for Real Enforcement

Join West Virginia citizens at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, June 24 outside the Charleston Office of Surface Mining (OSM), 1027 Virginia Street East, in downtown, Charleston W.Va.  

OVEC, Coal River Mountain Watch, WV Highlands Conservancy, WV Rivers Coalition, WV Citizen Action Group and many other citizen groups are launching the CARE campaign  -- Citizen Action for Real Enforcement.

Citizens have a right to and expectation of protection by their government. Instead, West Virginia is failing to protect its citizens from chronic pollution, environmental degradation, human suffering and costs resulting from inadequate regulation of coal extraction by state government.

There will be a press conference outside of the OSM followed by a 1 mile walk to Governor Tomblin’s office at the State Capitol.   (Folks may also carpool to the Governor’s office.)

To hold government agencies accountable for their failure to respect citizens’ rights, CARE will utilize a long-neglected tool, the details of which will be announced during the press conference.

In the interest of health and well-being of West Virginians, please join us for the launch of CARE. 

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Testimony Filed Opposing Appalachian Power Coal Plant Transfer

Yesterday, West Virginia Citizen Action Group (WVCAG) filed testimony at the Public Service Commission in opposition to Appalachian Power's proposal to purchase existing coal plants from affiliated company, Ohio Power. Appalachian Power is seeking PSC approval to purchase Ohio Power's share of the John Amos power plant and 50% of the Mitchell power plant. Both Appalachian Power and Ohio Power are subsidiaries of Ohio-based American Electric Power.

The purchase of these power plants will lock ratepayers into paying off these plants for more than twenty years. While Appalachian Power claims that purchasing the Amos and Mitchell plant is a less expensive option than relying on the regional power markets for power, WVCAG argues that this claim is based on unreasonably high expectations of market prices and, in fact, purchasing the power plants is likely to be more expensive for ratepayers.

“We are very concerned that Appalachian Power did not issue a request for proposals to see whether any lower cost alternatives were available before choosing to purchase these plants from its sister company,” said WVCAG's Executive Director, Gary Zuckett. “As noted in WVCAG's testimony, in other recent coal plant sales in other states, coal-fired power plants have been sold at much less than the price that AEP is proposing in this deal,” he added.

WVCAG, the founding organization of the Energy Efficient West Virginia coalition, also argues that energy efficiency needs to be a greater part of the Appalachian Power's plan. “Energy efficiency is the lowest cost and lowest risk resource,” said Stacy Gloss, project manager for Energy Efficient West Virginia. “It’s just common sense for Appalachian Power to consider expanding its investments in efficiency before they consider adding more generation capacity of any kind. Energy efficiency investments would provide customers with more tools to lower their bills.”

Oppose the Appalachian Power Coal Plant Transfer by signing this petition: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-the-aepappalachian?source=c.url&r_by=6372677

Visit www.eewv.org to learn more, download fact sheets, and view sample letters to the editor and sample comments to the Public Service Commissison.

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WV Sierra Club Announces Speakers for Marcellus Academy 2013
~ July 13-14, 2013 ~ WV Wesleyan College, Buckhannon, WV~

Dr. Ben Stout of Wheeling Jesuit University, Charlotte Pritt,  Professors Michael McCawley & Alan Collins of WVU and  WV-DEP Officials are headlining this weekend of presentations an workshops on Marcellus Shale gas drilling at WV Wesleyan College in Buckhannon.  Read on for more details. 
 
Dr. Ben Stout, Professor of Biology at Wheeling Jesuit University, will speak on the mounting problems with toxic drilling waste and the proposed Wheeling wastewater facility

Mike McCawley, School of Public Health at WVU is in charge of measuring air pollution effects from Marcellus drilling for a legislatively mandated DEP study due this July.

Charlotte Pritt, former State Senator and environmental advocate: The WV Legislature – Who’s Who and How It Works.

Alan Collins, Professor and Assistant Director, Division of Resource Management at WVU will speak on "Split Estates and Surface Owner Perceptions of Shale Gas Drilling".

Gene Smith, WV Dept. of Environmental Protection’s Assistant Chief-Permitting and Rick Campbell, Inspector Supervisor, will discuss aspects of their agency’s role in gas drilling.

The weekend will also feature:
  • A panel of experts on Community Organizing and Planning will cover organizing local watershed groups, forming grassroots groups that can monitor industry activity, creating official Marcellus Gas Study Committees within your county commission, and creating land use planning for county commissions to use as a model for home rule
  • Diane Pitcock’s West Virginia Host Farms Program, linking WV landowners with media and the environmental community to illustrate the impact of Marcellus shale gas drilling
  • Bill Hughes’ primer on all those big trucks: what are they, what do they do?  What drilling phase is happening when certain trucks and equipment arrive at a well site?
  • Beth Little’s history of violations at the underground injection well in Lochgelly, WV and what that says about the WV UIC program
  • George Monk: Citizen Gas Well Monitoring Project; learning to monitor wells in your area: "Digging deeper, using publicly available databases and FOIA requests."
  • Cindy Rank’s Tall Trees Marcellus Well Site Description, photos and briefing in preparation for a field trip to a nearby Marcellus gas drilling site: up close and personal
  • An Open Session for guest videos, slide shows and personal stories
Marcellus Academy III is less than a month away.  If you haven’t registered yet, what are you waiting for?
 
This jam packed weekend is an educational opportunity for activists who will proactively work on Marcellus gas drilling issues in their communities.  Because the surge in industrial scale drilling sites is causing such major problems with our water, our land, our air and our health, it has become crucial to quickly build citizen awareness of the inherent dangers. This program will focus on giving you the tools to effectively organize others, build grassroots networks of reporters who can monitor industry practices, and help guide local leaders toward environmentally sound Marcellus policies.

Space is limited, so please apply as soon as possible by sending your name, address, county, and phone number to outreach@marcellus-wv.com.  If you can’t come, but know somebody in your community who fits our guidelines, please let us know. They should be folks who can make a clear commitment to do what it takes to build local grassroots action on their home turf.

Applicants are not required to be affiliated with any particular organization, however only a limited number of registrations will be accepted. Applicants will be considered based primarily on geographical region, resulting in new organizers in as many regions as possible. All expenses for the workshop (lodging, meals, and mileage) will be covered by WV Sierra Club.  The program will run from 9:30AM Saturday until 3:30PM Sunday.

For more information contact Chuck Wyrostok, Sierra Club Outreach Organizer at 877 252 0257 or outreach@marcellus-wv.com.

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