APPALACHIA RISING/ Supplement to Oct. 31st 9:30 am program

Sample letters you can cut, paste, and personalize to send by snail mail to VIPS…


For lots more info, go to www.ilovemountains.org 

Where to Send Your letters for the EPA
Ask Sec. Salazar and Ms. Jackson to stop mountaintop mining.    Ask President Obama to stop mountaintop mining.

Administrator Lisa P. Jackson
Environmental Protection Agency
Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20460

Secretary Ken Salazar
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20240
Phone: (202) 208-3100

Sample Letter for Secretary Salazar (and adaptable for EPA Admin. Jackson, modified Dec. 6th:

Dear Secretary Salazar,

I am writing today to ask you to stop mountaintop removal—500 mountaintops destroyed forever, many communities destroyed forever—this is enough and beyond enough! 

Although I don’t live in the Appalachians, they are an important part of my world.   They’re some of the oldest mountains in the world, about 500 million years old, and they are awe-inspiring and revitalizing for all of us who visit them.   But coal companies are destroying them and their unique ecosystems for a few years of cheap profits!

Thank you for doing the right thing so far by preliminarily holding all 79 mountaintop removal valley fill permit applications for further review with the Army Corps. By doing so, the EPA has demonstrated their intention to fulfill a promise to provide science-based oversight which will limit the devastating environmental impacts of mountaintop removal mining

We encourage the EPA to use its veto authority to stop all permitting of valley fills associated with strip mining in Appalachia.

According to the EPA's own scientific studies, there are many problems associated with valley fills, which have already buried and polluted nearly 2,000 miles of streams across Appalachia. Randy Pomponio, Director of the EPA's Environmental Assessment and Innovation Division in the Mid-Atlantic Region 3, recently testified to the United States Senate Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife about the negative impacts that mountaintop removal and valley fills have on water quality.

The communities, mountains and waterways of Appalachia are depending on you to do your job and protect the environment from the damaging impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining.  


The EPA should also consider the threat of contamination from the “beneficial reuse” of coal ash. Current forms of reuse are not environmentally sustainable methods of recycling. Several scientific studies have confirmed the environmental threats posed by mine filling with coal ash waste. To protect our precious natural resources we must regulate all forms of coal ash disposal, including methods of reuse.

We are willing to pay higher utility bills to stop that and to encourage the development of renewable energy sources.                                          Sincerely, your name

Our Senators

Sen. Lindsey Graham
District Address
101 East Washington Street, Suite 220
Greenville, SC 29601
Phone: 864-250-1417
Fax: 864-250-4322

Sen. Jim DeMint
District Address
105 North Spring Street, Suite 109
Greenville, SC 29601
Phone: 864-233-5366
Fax: 864-271-8901

 SAMPLE LETTER FOR SENATORS:

I am writing to ask you to become a co-sponsor of the Cardin-Alexander "Appalachia Restoration Act" (S 696). This bill is critical for protecting Appalachia's waters from mountaintop removal coal mining. Mountaintop removal involves clear-cutting hardwood forests, blowing up mountaintops, and dumping millions of tons of debris into nearby streams in order to reach coal that lie beneath the surface. Over 500 mountains and over 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams have been destroyed by in the manner.

But in 2002, the Army Corps of Engineers, without congressional approval, altered its longstanding definition of "fill material" to include mining waste. This change accelerated the devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining.

To correct this, Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) have introduced the Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696) which would help end the destruction of the Appalachian Mountains, home to our nation's most diverse forests, the headwaters of the drinking water supply of many eastern cities, and a unique and valuable American culture that has endured for generations.

Please sponsor the Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696).
Please support the development of offshore wind power, especially for South Carolina!
Thank you for your attention to this important issue and I look forward to your response.

TO DO MORE:   Contact our representatives and thank them!

 Rep. Bob Inglis
 105 N. Spring St.
Suite 111
Greenville, SC 29601
Phone: (864) 232-1141

Rep. John M. Spratt
201 E. Main Street, Suite 305
Rock Hill, SC 29730
Phone: (803)327-1114

I am writing to thank you for becoming a co-sponsor of the Clean Water Protection Act, H.R. 1310.
As you know, this bill is critical for protecting the nation’s waters from being polluted and buried by waste created during mountaintop removal coal mining.

Passing this legislation would protect all the nation’s rivers, streams, and lakes from being used as garbage dumps for mining waste. It would also help end the destruction of the Appalachian Mountains, home to our nation’s most diverse forests and streams, the headwaters of the drinking water supply of many eastern cities, and a unique and valuable American culture that has endured for generations.

Protecting our mountains and rivers is extremely important to me and millions of other Americans. As your constituent, I wanted to thank you for standing up for the values I believe in, and for doing all you can to ensure that the Clean Water Protection Act is passed by the 111th Congress.

I want to ask your support, also, for the development of real clean energy, like offshore wind power, especially for South Carolina!      Thank you.

To Email President Obama: go to  www.whitehouse.gov and click "contact"