CLIMATE GROUND ZERO

WEST VIRGINIA 2010

Climate Ground Zero is the name of one, among many organizations fighting Mountaintop (MTR) removal in Appalachia. MTR is a coal mining practice where the top of mountains are blown-up in order to uncover coal seems. The earth from the mountaintop is then dumped in nearby valleys, creating a flat area called a valley fill. Dynamite blasts needed to splinter rock strata are so strong that they often crack the foundations and walls of houses. This type of mining dries up an average of 100 wells a year and contaminates water.
The quality and availability of drinking water have since been key concerns for local minefield communities. Thousands of square kilometers in the Appalachia are now lost and destroyed due to MTR.
 As one drives through the roads of Appalachia the propaganda is always there, written on every corner, on people houses and cars : Coal Keeps The Lights On, as if everyone who questions the authority is tree-hugger traitor. Due to health issues and poor safety standards on the job, Appalachia is a region of spread suffering, that's why it became also the painkillers national capital, where deaths by overdose often overtake deaths by car crash.
And while men slowly choke underground and women age in the K-marts, religious groups are often the only ones left listening.                                                                          

 MTR WIX001 Coal River WV (USA). Originally named Walhondecepe by the Delaware Indians,The three rivers that make up the Coal River Watershed, Big, Little and Coal River were renamed in the 18th century by explorer John Peter Salling for the coal deposits found along its banks.                                                               MTR WIX002 Rock Creek, WV, September 2010 - An activist of the Climate Ground Zero campaign against mountaintop removal is logging for the winter.                                                MTR WIX003 Morgantown WV (USA), September 2010 - NIOSH National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health - the " Black Lung ", the coal worker's pneumoconiosis (CWP) There are currently about 130,000 underground coal miners actively working in the United States. The mining and production of coal is a major part of the economy in several developed countries. In the past ten years, over 10,000 American miners have died from CWP.                                                     MTR WIX004

The Twilight Mountaintop Removal mine site seen from a Southwings flight.

" SouthWings' provides experiential understanding of environmental challenges and opportunities for conservation.  We provide a means to educate public and elected officials, media, community leaders, researchers and conservation organizations."


http://www.southwings.org                                  

 MTR WIX005 The Marsh Fork Elementary School in Sundial, West Virginia is located 400 yards downslope from a mountaintop removal mine. The mining site above the school, operated by Massey Energy, houses the Shumate sludge impoundment. With 2.8 billion gallons of coal sludge held back by a 385-foot-high earthen dam, it is one of West Virginia’s largest impoundments.                                               MTR WIX006 Charleston, West Virginia.                                                 MTR WIX007 Lick Water WV (USA), December 2010 - Jackie Dickens and her two dogs in the yard. Jackie is married to Shannon who is a reclamation technician at the DEP                                                            MTR WIX008 Naoma, West Virginia, September 2010 - Most people in the Coal River Valley stll heat their house with wooden or coal stoves.                                                     MTR WIX009 Arnett, WV (USA), September 2010 - Amish buggy dressed for halloween                                              MTR WIX010 Rock Creek (USA), WV, September 2010 - Kids from the Marsh fork elementary school. 
The economy of West Virginia nominally would be the 62nd largest economy globally behind Iraq and ahead of Croatia according to 2009 World Bank projections.                                                   		 MTR WIX011 Sean Price is a diesel mechanic, he used to work on strip mines but he lost his job on the account of company policies. Mechanization induced by MTR has left hundreds jobless in Appalachia.                                                      MTR WIX012 Arnett WV (USA) Coal Field resident Kendra Dickens pats her dog in her bedroom. Kendra's husband Paul is a miner who lost his right leg on the job in a underground mine.                                                        MTR WIX013 Rock Creek WV,(USA) Mike Roselle, Junior Walk and other volunteers at Climate Ground Zero/Coal River Mountain Watch activist camp. Volunteers gathered from all around the nation to connect and fight against MTR                                                        MTR WIX014

Larry Gibson, activist, community leader. Larry fights against mountaintop removal (MTR) since decades now.
Along with Bo Webb, Maria Gunnoe he has been threatened and attacked several times on account of his commitment against the coal operators in the Coal River Valley. He passed away in 2012                                                             

 MTR WIX015 The Hobet MTR Mine site, West Virginia, September 2010  Mountaintop removal / valley fill coal mining (MTR) has been called strip mining on steroids. One author says the process should be more accurately named: mountain range removal.
http://www.mountainjusticesummer.org/facts/steps.php		 MTR WIX016 Merrimac WV (USA), September 2010 -
The back of Mr. Blankeship, who contracted a melanoma by drinking water in the village of Rawl, in the coal fields of Mingo county. The Blankenship family have been seriously affected by water pollution. They live in one of the poorest area of Mingo Co.
Well water pollution appears to be related to the sludge injections in old coal mines allegedly made by Massey Energy in the past decade.                                                        		 MTR WIX017 Activist Bridgette O' Brien in the headquarter of the Climate Ground Zero campaign in  Rock Creek                                                    MTR WIX018 Rawl WV (USA), September 2010 - A men smelling the odor out of well water.
For decades, coal companies in Appalachia have injected slurry into worked-out mines as a cheap alternative to dams and other systems that can safely store or treat it.
The plaintiffs of the Rawl Slurry Litigation are now mostly served by a public water system, but they argue that chronic exposure to metals and chemicals are to blame for birth defects and other health problems.                                                   		 MTR WIX019 Naoma. Water reflection of an abandoned building. Depopulation is very strong in the Coal Fields. Cities aren't are abandoned by the the coal companies that eventually pull out when the coal run out or if the have to shut down a mine permit and booming cities bankrupt suddenly.                                                  MTR WIX020 Arnett, Coal River Road. A building has burnet in the night. Many shop and small business eventually burn down in the vally. Coal Fields residents like to say that is just what happend, and they often blame the coal companies, for trying to send away everyone that diversify the economy                                                       MTR WIX021 West Virginia - USA - Hobet MTR site WV.  A woman sitting on the porch with her dog. The house is located in the middle of the Hobet strip job.                                                           MTR WIX022 Lindytown WV. Lindytown is an unincorporated community in Boone County, West Virginia, United States.
Lindytown was located in the shadows of a large mountain top removal operation owned by Massey Energy. Lindytown today looks like a ghost town instead of the populated rural community that is once was. Only five houses remain in the community while the rest of the houses and even the church were destroyed by bulldozers.                                                     		 MTR WIX023 Delbarton, Mingo County, West Virginia, September 2010 Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is currently the main pollutant of surface water in the mid-Atlantic region. AMD is caused when water flows over or through sulfur-bearing materials forming solutions of net acidity. AMD comes mainly from abandoned coal mines and currently active mining. AMD degrades more than 4,500 stream miles in the mid-Atlantic region                                                       MTR WIX024 Mingo County. Fossils in underground mine.
Coal forms when dead plant matter is converted into peat, which in turn is converted into lignite, then anthracite. This involves biological and geological processes that take place over a long period of time.                                                    		 MTR WIX025 Jolo, WV. Tommy Addair, the local pentecostal pastor holds a rattle snake. Pentecostals are very spread out in WV, although only at the pentecostal church of Jolo people sticks letteraly to the bible and hold snakes                                                       MTR WIX026 Matewan, Mingo Co., West Virginia, September 2010 - Mingo County is a place of hystorical significance for coal miners and Unions on the account of The Battle of Matewan (also known as the Matewan Massacre) . It was a shootout in the town of Matewan, that took place May 19, 1920 between local miners and the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency.                                                        MTR WIX027 A miner poses for a portrait.                                MTR WIX028 Rock Creek WV (USA) Climate Ground Zero Activists by the green house. Climate ground Zero (CGZ), founded in February 2009, is a non-violent civil disobedience campaign against mountaintop removal mining based in the southern coalfields of West Virginia.  Climate Ground Zero believes “that the irrevocable destruction of the mountains of Appalachia and its accompanying toll on the air, water, and lives of Appalachians necessitates continued and direct action"                                                                 . MTR WIX029 Matewan, Mingo Co., West Virginia, September 2010 - Family watching a coal train hauling away from the town. Mingo County is a place of hystorical significance for coal miners and Unions on the account of The Battle of Matewan (also known as the Matewan Massacre) . It was a shootout in the town of Matewan, that took place May 19, 1920 between local miners and the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency.                                                            MTR WIX030 Naoma, West Virginia, September 2010 - Ernie Ruff in front of his house. Ruff is a strong supporter of coal - The writing: "Coal keeps the lights on!" - Mountaintop removal (MTR) mining is a form of surface mining that removes the summit of a mountain by blasting with explosives. It has serious environmental and adverse human health impacts                                                        

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