Coal River Wind

Thank you for helping out with the Coal River Wind Lobby Week!!!

At the bottom of this page you will find a number of resources that will assist you in your efforts supporting the Coal River Mountain Wind Resolution.  So read the following letter and then download whichever documents you will need to get the Coal River Wind resolution passed in the West Virginia House of Delegates!!

Hey Folks,

Today, on Monday, March 29, 2009, a “Resolution Supporting the development of a permanent utility-scale wind farm on Coal River Mountain in the Coal River Mountain Area of Raleigh County, West Virginia” will be introduced on the floor of the West Virginia House of Delegates with 41 Co-Sponsors already signed on!!!  The lead sponsor on the Resolution is Raleigh County Delegate Sally Susman, and overall, four out of the five Raleigh delegates are signed on!!  This is an amazing and symbolic accomplishment, as it shows that there is legislative support from Raleigh County and from across West Virginia for the Coal River Mountain Wind campaign!!

But this week is going to be a battle.  We still need to get 10 more House Delegates to support the Resolution, and after it gets read on the floor of the House this morning, it will most likely be sent to the House Rules Committee, where some believe it will be killed by being left off of the Committee agenda.  So, we also need YOUR help in making sure the Resolution makes it out of the Rules Committee.

We thank you for participating and helping this week.  The coal industry has already begun fighting against the Resolution, and as you know, they have a lot of power over our lawmakers, so we need numbers and voices to OVERCOME their influence.  With your help we can do that.

There are two ways to Get Involved this week:

First, if you can, come to the State Capitol in Charleston and lobby with us!!! We will be lobbying between 9am and about 3:30pm, Tuesday (March 31st) through Thursday (April 2nd).  We’ll meet in the Capitol Rotunda at 8:30am each day, but not everyone who wants to help lobby needs to be there at that time.  You can come and lobby in the afternoon as well.

If you can join us, please RSVP at least the day/night before by sending an email to Rory McIlmoil:  rory@coalriverwind.org, or call him at (540) 840-0981.

If you can’t make it for lobbying, PLEASE call your legislators and the members of the House Rules Committee and ask them to support the Resolution, and to put the Resolution on the Committee agenda this week.  We are SO CLOSE to getting the Resolution passed, we can’t let up now!!

The Resolution does not have a bill number yet, but we will update this page and let you know when it does.  However, the following information will help you when you ask for support from your legislators:

Bill Type: House Concurrent Resolution
Lead Sponsor:  Delegate Sally Susman of Raleigh County
Working Title: “Resolution Supporting the development of a permanent utility-scale wind farm on Coal River Mountain in the Coal River Mountain Area of Raleigh County, West Virginia”

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And, to re-state, the Main Goals for this week are to:

1) Gain more support by visiting and calling House Delegates who have yet to sign-on to the Resolution, and ask them to vote FOR it when and if it comes to the House Floor for a vote; and, perhaps most importantly,

2) To get Speaker Rick Thompson (everybody call him) and the rest of the House Rules Committee to put the Resolution on the agenda and move it out of the Committee and back to the Floor for a VOTE!!

Thanks again for your help and support, and for fighting for a just economy and green jobs in the southern West Virginia coalfields!!

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Resources:

Legislator Call-In Language and Talking Points

Key Legislator “Need Your Support” Calling List (for the Delegates we need to pressure and get signed on)

Key Legislator “Thank You” Calling List (for Delegates we want to keep on our side by showing our appreciation)

Text of the Coal River Wind Resolution (can be used for extra talking points)

List of Current Original Sponsors and Co-Sponsors (see if YOUR delegate has signed on, and make sure to Thank them too!!)

Useful Information:

Summary Research document:  “The Impact of Strip-Mining on Existing Wind Resources“