Black Diamonds Blog

Maria Gunnoe has been awarded the extremely prestigious Goldman Prize for her work on coal-related pollution and MTR in So. WV. I spent some time with Maria in 2004 interviewing her for Black Diamonds and hiking with her up to the large surface mine behind her home. Julia Bonds (also featured in Black Diamonds) won the Goldman Prize in 2003, and I traveled to Washington DC to film Julia accepting the award at the National Geographic Society. I had some awkward/hopeful conversations at the reception with folks who had just started to realize that MTR was so so prevalent and an international disgrace/human rights violation literally several hundred miles from DC. Also, the direct link of MTR to energy usage in the Mid-Atlantic was beginning to surface in an uncomfortable way with DC corridor environmental groups spurring them to focus on coal production with new scrutiny. Like Julia Bonds, Maria has also suffered threats of violence, death threats, and required the assistance of US Marshals on at least on occasion to monitor her family’s safety due to her outspoken stance on protecting WV mountains, families, properties, and culture. More on Maria’s incredible achievements here: http://www.ohvec.org/links/general_interest/maria_gunnoe.html

In a stunning and unexpected (by me at least) announcement this week - the EPA declared CO2 a pollutant and a threat to human health. More from MSNBC - notable as now more serious regulation of coal fired power plants could begin. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30264214/

Civil disobedience around the building of new coal fired power plants continued outside Duke Energy in Charlotte, NC. Forty people were arrested in the latest action to call attention to public disaffection with coal. The Charlotte Observer has posted slide show reportage here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/galleries/gallery/675641.html