Help Turn the Lights Out on Mountaintoop Removal in Twilight

Just last week I was kidding with someone that we here in Tennessee ought to buy a potential mine site and mineral rights that’s for sale on the Cumberland Plateau just to keep somebody from blowing up the mountains there. Today I learned that the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) has a plan to do just that — not in Tennessee, but in Twilight, West Virginia.

Frankie Mooney worked for 32 years in underground coal mines and is a 40 year member of the UMAW. Not only has he lost family members to coal mining “accidents” but he is permanently disabled from impacts of coal mining on his health.

When the Patriot Coal Company offered to buy his property, Frankie decided to offer it to OVEC for less. He thinks they stand a better chance of saving the community of Twilight from destruction than he would on his own:

MTR Stops Here – OVEC Friendly Buyout

This is such an awesome project. I’m sure it will inspire many people who have lost so much of their homeland to mountaintop removal coal mining. I hope you will visit the MTR Stops Here website, read all the information and leave a donation if you can.

[I originally posted this at my Earthbytes blog.]