500 Mountains Gone, Don't Let Big Coal Take Another!
Dear Anastasia,
My name is Donna Branham and I live in Mingo County, WV -- smack dab in the middle of coal mining country. I'm a registered nurse and I've seen firsthand how mining hurts the health of my community. I've seen how it is making my community sick1and year after year it's only getting worse.
Mountaintop-removal coal mining blows off the tops of mountains to extract the coal that fuels our nation's power plants. It has already leveled 500 mountains and buried over 1,200 miles of streams2 -- but it gets worse. It raises my community's risk of birth defects, cancer, and heart disease.
Right now, dozens of permits are pending for new mines and the Obama Administration could approve them any day.If they get approved, it will mean more people get sick and more mountains get destroyed. I don't know about you, but I don't want any more families to suffer the effects of Big Coal's pollution.
A few years ago, Island Creek Coal Company opened a mountaintop-removal coal mine two miles from the house where I grew up and where my Mom and Dad still lived. Because of the danger, my parents had to leave their home so that they could have a reasonable life. My Mom never felt at home again.
After that, I knew I had to act. The coal companies are putting a burden on us, and it isn't fair. I've got grandchildren, and I want them to live in a better world. That's why I'm calling on the Obama Administration to put our health first, and why I'm asking you to take action.
There have been many times where folks, like us, worked together to make change happen. If it weren't for mothers demanding a right to vote, women would still not be allowed at the polls. It takes people like you and me who get fed up enough to take action to make a change.
"У нас есть свобода, но не осталось времени" Dolores ORiordan 