Beyond Coal 

Beyond Coal Committee:

Take Action Now to stop continued destruction of the Appalachian Mountains. The House Clean Water Protection Act (HR 1310) and the Senate Appalachian Restoration Act ( S 696) are critical bills for protecting Appalachia's waters from being polluted and buried by waste created during mountaintop removal coal mining.

Mountaintop removal mining involves clear-cutting native hardwood forests, blowing up entire mountaintops, and dumping millions of tons of debris into nearby streams in order to get at coal seams that lie deep beneath the surface. Already, more than 500 mountains and 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams have been destroyed by mountaintop removal mining operations.

• Go to http://www.ilovemountains.org/pass-the-cwpa/ to send a message of your support. Or call your representatives personally to ask for their support for passage of these bills now.
• For more info contact Beyond Coal committee co-chairs Bette Heger 473-1529 or Paul Ciavarri 734-4866 Be
• Sure to watch Coal Country, premiering on Planet Green on November 14th, 2009 at 8 PM ET. It is a film that shows the real picture behind coal, which supplies half the electricity used in America, and the controversy that stems from the coal-mining. It will re-air on Planet Green on November 15 at 12pm ET, November 19 at 11pm ET, and November 20 at 3pm ET.

Other Beyond Coal News: CLEAN is a collaborative movement of over 125 organizations and individuals with the common goal of implementing a new energy future.

You can check out their website at www.theclean.org to read their analysis on the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Click on current position and talking points for a succinct summary of the good, the bad and the ugly.

NEW: Beyond Coal Committee:

The RRG of the Sierra Club has a new committee that welcomes you, Beyond Coal. The Committee is Co-Chaired by Paul Ciavarri and Bette Heger. Bette will also be the Executive Committee Representative.

This committee’s focus will be educating people about the implications of our continued use of coal, and especially mountaintop removal coal. In the near future they will focus their efforts on the House of Representatives’ Clean Water Protection Act and plan to extend that focus to include the Senate version of that bill.

 Questions? Suggestions? Interest in joining the Beyond Coal initiatives? Call or email the committee co-chairs: Bette Heger 585-473-1529 or bteheger@juno.com  or Paul Ciaverri at 585-734-4866 or 342paul@gmail.com