Archives for coal

WERU Special – Coal Mining 1/24/12

Broadcast Time: 10am
Program Topic: coal mining in southern West Virginia

Key Discussion Points:
a)Coal companies have assaulted the landscape of southern West Virginia with large-scale surface mining operations, blasting off the tops of mountains. As coal leaves the state, so does the money it generates, leaving poor communities with polluted wells, respiratory ailments, flash floods, and unnecessary miner deaths.
b) Junior Walk of Coal River Mountain Watch shares what he has seen over the past twenty years including citizen efforts to relocate an elementary school, which sits below an impoundment filled with toxic coal waste.
c)Writer Denise Giardina describes growing up in a coal camp, community solidarity with striking mine workers, and her own love of the mountains.

Guests by name and affiliation:
A)Junior Walk, outreach coordinator of Coal River Mountain Watch
B)Denise Giardina

FMI: www.crmw.net, www.denisegiardina.com

Call In Program: n
Political Broadcast:y
Host:Carolyn Coe

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WERU Special: Coal 1/12/12

Program Topic: Actions to demand corporate responsibility for human and environmental damage due to coal extraction

Key Discussion Points:
a) In December, WERU talked with Junior Walk of Coal River Mountain Watch and Ben Luckett of Appalachian Mountain Advocates who both shared what they and their organizations are doing to realize their visions for the Appalachian region.
b) Direct actions organized by RAMPS, including tree sits, have disrupted mining plans.
c) Legal action has proven essential for demanding coal company compliance under the Clean Water Act and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.
Guests by name and affiliation:
A) Junior Walk, outreach coordinator for Coal River Mountain Watch and activist with RAMPS
B) Ben Luckett, staff attorney for Appalachian Mountain Advocates

Call In Program: n
Political Broadcast: y
Host: Carolyn Coe

FMI:
www.crmw.net
www.rampscampaign.org
www.appalmad.org/

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

RadioActive 7/24/08

Producers/Hosts: Amy Browne & Meredith DeFrancesco

Topic/Guests: Award-winning local artist and activist Robert Shetterly talks with Teri Blanton. Blanton is a survivor of a Superfund toxic waste site near her home in Harlan County, Kentucky. Her courageous stand against the abuses of coal companies has won her notoriety within her state. An active member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Teri’s personal mission is to reach out to her community about the issue of Mountaintop Removal Mining. Teri Blanton will give the keynote speech at the 2008 WERU Full Circle Fair in Blue Hill, Maine on Saturday, July 26th, 2008. Robert Shetterly will also be painting her portrait for his series “Americans Who Tell the Truth”.

FMI: www.ilovemountains.org, www.americanswhotellthetruth.org

**Please note that a typo in the Fair Guide states that Blanton’s keynote will be 2:30-3:30p.m. and that information was given on today’s show. The correct time is 1:30-2:30pm.