John Wathen Speaks About Dirty Coal in Rosa
August 11th, 2009
Hurricane Creekkeeper John Wathen speaks to a crowd of people from Blount County at the Rosa Town Hall Tuesday night about the problems they face with a proposed coal mine slated for their community on the Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River.
Citizens are organizing for a fight even though they missed the deadline to challenge the water discharge permit from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.
According to the new group’s Website at RosaMine.Org, the Alabama Surface Mining Commission has indicated it will reschedule a public hearing announced for August 19 at 10 a.m. due to a technical difficulty with the permit. Forty acres included in the original map was apparently not actually included in the permit application.
After the previous meeting on July 27, covered here, the people organized a letter writing campaign and the Mcoal Company out of Vancouver, Canada, withdrew its application for a blasting permit to try and ease residents’ concerns.
Wathen warned people in the impacted area to document everything from the condition of their houses to any activity from the mine, including noise, air and water pollution. He said it’s possible, but not likely, that the coal mine will be done properly and cause no problems, but he warned the people not to count on it or trust the company or government agencies to protect them.
“It will be up to you,” he said. “There’s no such thing as clean coal. It’s a dirty lie.”
Some residents expressed concern about drinking water sources downstream being negatively affected, as well as the air, especially near the Cleveland Multineeds School, where a high number of students already have asthma.
“The system is broken beyond repair,” Wathen said. “Democracy doesn’t work unless the people get involved. Hold your public officials to account.”
A crowd packed the Rosa Town Hall to learn more about how to prepare for a coal mine in their community in Blount County, Alabama
August 12th, 2009 at 4:05 am
Glynn, Excellent coverage as usual!
John Wathen is an incredible speaker. People need to know that this is just like in the movies where corrupt government and big industry are in bed together and destroy the lives of average citizens with little regard for our concerns, the earth, and way of life.
We’ve got to rise up, fight back, hold these crooks accountable, throw them out of office, and change the laws. EVERYONE is affected by BIG COAL no matter where you live. Check out TheDirtyLie.com for a look at the astounding impact that coal has on all of our lives.
Thanks for all you do to help get the news out. Awareness is the key to empowering the people.
August 12th, 2009 at 4:52 am
Thanks Dwight. John is one of the most dedicated, knowledgeable and effective activists in Alabama.
As I said, democracy doesn’t work without the press playing its Constitutional role of watchdogging not just the government, but corporate America. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin knew it. That’s why we have the First Amendment.
Unfortunately, the printed press and the broadcast media more and more these days abdicate their responsibility for the almighty dollar. The so-called “professional” or corporate press, a.k.a the “mainstream media” or MSM, doesn’t get the job done much of the time when it comes to informing people about the facts they need to make informed decisions and get involved in the public process.
Fortunately, we now have what I like to call the Web Press, where we are far more free to tell it like it is.
The people of Alabama need to get on-board this trend and support this new way of publishing like they’re already doing in big cities on the east and west coasts. That also means supporting news outlets like this one financially with donations and advertising dollars.
Building the new Web Press involves more than citizen blogging for free. To fill this Constitutional role also involves building the economy for it. Producing quality journalism requires perhaps more resources than people know.
The people of Blount County, with your inspirational Locust Fork River, are fortunate to be on the cutting edge of this trend. The South may be behind in many things, but this is one of the most innovative experiments in Web publishing anywhere in the country. That’s why we not only have readers in Blount County, but all over the country and the world. Even in New York, Washington, D.C. and Washington state, they envy what we’ve been able to accomplish here.
Keep up the good work on the ground there fighting the good fight, and let us know when significant new developments happen. We’ll be there with pad and pen and digital camera — and get the word out faster than a speeding bullet. There’s not a printing press in the world that can roll as fast as we do…
August 12th, 2009 at 11:39 am
This kind of local independent activism is almost always what it takes to win in these situations. This actually reinforces the idea of common law protection enforced by local juries.
Imagine if a Blount County jury were in charge of what happens. Yes, juries can be tampered with and bribed. But the federal regulators are already in bed, and have been for decades, with the mining industry.
With every new jury there is a completely new chance of getting justice. With DC, you pretty much will end up getting what you always got.
August 12th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
The biggest problem in Alabama is the Exxon Eight — the Rove Supreme Court.
Next is the question, we ask again, why are we electing judges? By nature it becomes a political justice system when candidates have to raise money and run elections. The judicial branch should be separated as far as possible from politics.