Don't Let Big Coal Destroy America's History

This was in my email inbox from the Sierra Club. It's a subject near and dear to my heart, having grown up in Appalachia and since returning. Please help in any way you can.



Sierra Club - Explore, enjoy and protect the planet
Dear Jennifer,
Don't let Big Coal destroy America's history! Protect Blair Mountain from mountaintop-removal mining.

Take action!

Take action!
How would you pay tribute to a place that changed the course of the labor movement forever -- protect the West Virginia mountain where coal miners fought for their right to unionize or allow Big Coal to blow the top off Blair Mountain in exchange for a simple plaque?

Ninety-three years ago, miners protested their unreasonable work conditions -- dangerous mines, long hours and low pay. For five days, they battled coal company-hired soldiers along the Blair Mountain ridgeline in Logan County, West Virginia, in a fight that captured the nation's attention. Although they did not win the battle, these miners helped usher in the golden age of union organizing in the United States.1 The Blair Mountain Battlefield deserves to be protected as a national historic site dedicated to the memory of those fearless miners. It should serve as a reminder to all Americans that organizing for safe working conditions and fair wages is a fundamental human right.

Send your letter today. Tell the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers that allowing Blair Mountain to be mined would be tantamount to allowing the destruction of Yorktown or Gettysburg.

Of course, Big Coal is opposed to any efforts to protect Blair Mountain and has proposed a plan that would allow them to use mountaintop-removal mining to destroy the battlefield. Right now, there are three coal mining permits that encompass parts of the battlefield, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has the opportunity to limit mining and protect the historic site.

Tell the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that a plaque won't do. Blair Mountain is an important part of our history and deserves to be off limits to mountaintop-removal mining.

Thanks for all that you do,

Mary Anne Hitt
Beyond Coal Campaign Director