RAZING APPALACHIA - A film by Sasha Waters
Razing Appalachia explores the controversial issue of mountaintop removal mining by following a grassroots fight to stop the process in West Virginia. Set in Pigeonroost Hollow, a valley tucked away in the misty folds of the Appalachian Mountains, the film follows the journey of several families as they struggle to protect their land from eminent destruction.
The fortunes and history of the people of West Virginia are virtually inseparable from coal mining. But early miners never knew that one day, 20-story tall machines called draglines would bite into the earth and move a hundred tons of rock at a time. Mountaintops are literally sliced off and thrown down into valleys and streams below in an effort to get at the coal buried deep inside. The environmental effects of such practices are devastating.
In May 1998, Arch Coal, Inc. announced it would expand its mine just above Pigeonroost. Rock and soil debris from the mountaintop site began burying the small community. In the face of thunderous blasting and lung-choking dust caused by mountaintop mining, 40 families — where there were once 300 — stayed. RAZING APPALACHIA is the story of the fight between those families, the state’s political leaders, the coal company, and 400 union miners who will lose their jobs at the Arch Coal mine if it is not expanded.


Mountain Justice Summer – www.mountainjusticesummer.org
Mountain Justice Summer is a summer long campaign loosely modeled after Redwood Summer and Mississippi Freedom Summer. Concerned people will be coming to Appalachia from all over the country to participate in events, projects, and non-violent actions all with the aim of furthering the fight against Mountaintop Removal. Mountain Justice Summer is a completely 100% volunteer-run, non-profit group.
Goals of Mountain Justice Summer
1.) Raise world-wide awareness of Mountain Top Removal mining and its effects.
2.) Escalate resistance to Mountain Top Removal from a regional to a national level.
3.) Build support base for the campaign.
4.) Unify and strengthen regional groups fighting Mountain Top Removal.
5.) Mobilize coordinated days of action using tactics ranging from public outreach to civil resistance.
6.) Maintain Safety as a high priority throughout the summer.
7.) Debunk the myth of "clean coal" and "jobs versus the environment".
8.) Encourage conservation, efficiency, solar and wind energy as alternatives to Mountain Top Removal and all forms of surface mining.

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