Coal River Wind

Across southern West Virginia, Mountaintop Removal is destroying the potential for any alternative use of the mountains, uses that could provide lasting economic benefits and employment opportunities for the local communities. Coal River Mountain is being threatened with the same fate. A study conducted in 2007 showed that the ridges along Coal River Mountain exhibit the potential for the development of over 400 Megawatts of wind power. Further studies determined that a Coal River Mountain wind farm would contribute over 200 short-term construction jobs and 40-50 long-term maintenance jobs, while also providing Raleigh County and West Virginia with decades of clean, sustainable energy. In addition, a wind farm would allow for other uses of the land that would benefit our local communities, such as: sustainable forestry, tourism, and the harvesting of ginseng and other forest products. Strip-mining on Coal River Mountain, if allowed to proceed as planned, will forever destroy this opportunity.

Current plans for Coal River Mountain are to strip-mine about 6,600 total acres, leading to the construction of 19 valley fills. The valley fills would impact substantial lengths of Horse Creek, Dry Creek, Rock Creek and Sycamore Creek, among others, while leading to the contamination of our local water resources. Adding to this devastation, the mining will last for only 15 years, and when it is completed, all benefits from the mining operations will be gone, and any opportunity for wind development will have been eliminated.

YOUR support for a Coal River Mountain wind farm could help prevent that from happening. We would like to ask county and state officials to begin looking at alternative uses of West Virginia’s mountains before allowing any further strip-mining, and Coal River Mountain could serve as a powerful symbol of what is possible for West Virginia. We urge you to show your support for the future of Coal River Mountain and our communities by signing the petition below:

Full Name:

Zip Code:

email:

Comments (Optional):

Please enter the text you see in the box:

Last 10 of 14636 signatories

Andrew Lloyd  Why not give the billions of dollars wasted on clean coal initiatives to alternative energy companies. Coal is a diminishing resource that will eventually run out, and there is no such thing as clean coal, it is only slightly less dirty coal! Don’t believe the BS.

Sandip Suresh  The transition to clean energy has to happen…better sooner than later…

Nathan Groenevelt  WE need to do every thing we can to begin moving to clean and renewable sources of energy in this country, doing this could provide a precedent for alternative energy in this country, something that could hopefully be replicated across the country.

Nika McKagen  This world is all we have. Blowing it up is the last thing that should be happening, especially for money. Who cares about some green bills in your pocket when you have nowhere to live? What happens when you explode all of our mountains, with millions of species extinct?

Samuel Dicker  

Steven Adams  Wind fans sustain the land and provide clean energy that will land forever. Don’t destroy our lands beauty!

Kaitlin Lark Williams  

Chris Cichon  

Carlos Rios  

Devon Freeman