The Appalachian Public Interest Environmental Law (APIEL) conference
University of Tennessee College of Law
Knoxville, Tennessee
November 19-21
APIEL is designed to unite activists, attorneys, students, scientists and concerned citizens working for environmental justice throughout Appalachian and surrounding states. The weekend conference will feature a series of workshops and dialogues led by activists and lawyers with the goal of exchanging information, sharing skills, and fostering collaboration between the grassroots and the bar in addressing the most pressing ecological problems of the Appalachian bioregion and the surrounding states. Topics include: mountaintop removal and strip mining, air and water pollution, coal combustion waste and coal plants, the Broadform Deed, chemical weapons disposal and the precautionary principle, wetlands protection in the Gulf region, forest protection and ecological restoration and experiencing the criminal system for activist.
APIEL is an opportunity for activists and lawyers to learn from each other and to reach across state and regional lines to meet and network with others who share common interests and goals.
APIEL is modeled on the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) established in Eugene, Oregon, where once a year lawyers, law students, activists, funders, and media come from around the planet to be a part of the nation's leading annual environmental law convergence.
Weekend Overview:
Friday, November 19: Meet upstairs at Barley’s Tap room in the Old City for registration, dinner and socializing.
Saturday, November 20: Conference workshops and panels at the University of Tennessee Law School followed by evening social events.
Sunday, November 21: Morning workshops at the University of Tennessee Law School. Optional lunch out (not included in registration fee) and departure.
Registration
All conference participants must register by completing and submitting the registration form found on the APIEL blog at http://apielforms.blogspot.com/
The attendance fee for the conference is $45 for Friday through Sunday which includes pizza on Friday night. All other meals, transportation and lodging are the responsibility of the participant. Participants who are only attending part of the conference may pay by the day, according to the prices listed below.
· $45 Full weekend conference admission
· Friday night $10, Saturday $25, Sunday $10
· CLE credit is being organized and will be available as affordably as possible.
A limited number of scholarships are available by completing and submitting the fee waiver form found on the APIEL blog at http://apielforms.blogspot.com/
Workshops
We are currently accepting workshop proposals from lawyers and activist for the APIEL conference. To submit a workshop proposal please complete and submit the application found on the APIEL blog at http://apielforms.blogspot.com/
We are currently accepting workshop proposals from lawyers and activist for the APIEL conference. To submit a workshop proposal please complete and submit the application found on the APIEL blog at http://apielforms.blogspot.com/
Sample workshops include the Endangered Species Act (ESA), National Pollution Discharge and Elimination System permits (NPDES), Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, Administrative law and procedures, The Broadform Deed, Legal observing, Collecting Air and Water field data, How to work with your lawyer (for activists), How to work with your activist client (for lawyers), Mountain Top Removal mining (MTR), Water testing on strip mine sites, etc.
For More Information
Please visit the APIEL blog at http://apielknoxville.blogspot.com/ for more information.
Facebook event page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=101827116534567&ref=mf
For questions email: apielconference@yahoo.com
Or Call (865) 257-4029
FAX- 1-888-201-1104
Write: APIEL CONFERENCE
POB 20363
Knoxville, Tennessee
37920
APIEL registration download pdf at:
http://www.mediafire.com/?zmdigvenuaz
APIEL fee waiver request download pdf at:
http://www.mediafire.com/?gwnmtrdfzmd
APIEL workshop request download pdf at:
http://www.mediafire.com/?ni5jznzo02n
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=101827116534567&ref=mf
For questions email: apielconference@yahoo.com
Or Call (865) 257-4029
FAX- 1-888-201-1104
Write: APIEL CONFERENCE
POB 20363
Knoxville, Tennessee
37920
APIEL registration download pdf at:
http://www.mediafire.com/?zmdigvenuaz
APIEL fee waiver request download pdf at:
http://www.mediafire.com/?gwnmtrdfzmd
APIEL workshop request download pdf at:
http://www.mediafire.com/?ni5jznzo02n
Appalachia Rising
A mass mobilization to end mountaintop removal
"We will not stand idly by as we see mountaintop removal blast our heritage to rubble, eliminate our communities and mountains, and poison our neighbors, as coal executives and their shareholders grow rich. Appalachians are not, and never will be, collateral damage for our nation's energy consumption!" Vision Statement, Appalachia Rising. This cry is echoing from every corner of Appalachia – will you respond?
Announcing the nation's largest summit and day of action to end mountaintop removal:
September 25 to 27, Washington DC.
Mountaintop removal has already destroyed over 500 of the world's oldest mountains, more than 2,000 miles of streams, and has contaminated our nation's waters. Stand for the abolition of mountaintop removal with the named and unnamed heroes of coalfield organizing and celebrities Woody Harrelson, Ashley Judd, Gloria Reuben, Ed Begley Jr., Kathy Mattea, Kyra Sedgewick, Kevin Bacon Darryl Hannah, author Silas House, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and climate scientist James Hansen on the Monday, September 27 Day of Action!
Get involved and join people from across Appalachia and America in building the movement to abolish mountaintop removal and create sustainable economies from the ground up: mobilize your friends, family, and community for Appalachia Rising by filling out this 5 question form by clicking here.
Stories from the Mountains
Mickey and Nina McCoy live in Inez , Kentucky , in the heart of eastern Kentucky 's coal-industry-ravaged mountains. "Our streams were killed and people's homes flooded by over 300 million gallons of toxic coal sludge from a breach in Massey Energy's Martin County sludge dam on October 11, 2000. We are yet to see the full extent of the devastation. Cancer rates are rising in the toxic flood's wake – now is the time for action, before it is too late," said Mickey McCoy.
In Wise County, Virginia, retired underground miners and residents are uniting to defend Ison Rock Ridge from obliteration at the hands of A & G Coal. Virginia's Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy approved the company's application for a 1,230 acre mountaintop removal site. "This is another permit being railroaded by state regulatory agencies," said Jane Branham, vice-president of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards. "We have significant concerns about the impact of this permit on our waterways, our community and quality of life for those of us who live in the shadow of this permit."
Judy Bonds was the last woman out of her mountain holler, Brushy Fork, when Massey Energy moved in to build a 9-billion-gallon coal slurry dam on Coal River Mountain. After being forced to abandon her home and watching her holler transform into a ghost town, she joined Coal River Mountain Watch, a community group in the Coal River Valley, to fight to protect other communities like hers. "Stop Bombing Appalachia. We demand an end to the blasting of our ancestral mountains and homes and an end to the poisoning of our streams," she said. "On September 27, we will stand with all Americans to demand clean water for all our children and grandchildren."
Appalachia Rising is 100% funded by grassroots donations. Please make it possible, make a donation by clicking here.
See you in Washington DC!
Appalachia Rising Organizing Team
Appalachia Rising is Endorsed By:
Organizations:
Coal River Mountain Watch, On Coal River, Coal Country, Burning the Future, Rainforest Action Network, Student Environmental Action Coalition, Mountain Justice, Climate Ground Zero, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Rising Tide, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, West Virginia Labor History Association, Progressive Democrats of West Virginia, Progressive Democrats of America, United for Peace and Justice, Mountain Keepers, Great Turning, Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy, Topless America Project, Earth Savers, Heartwood, Kentucky Heartwood, CLEAN, United Mountain Defense, Green America, Beehive Collective, WildEarth Guardians, NY Loves Mountains, Church of Life After Shopping, WV Mountain Party, Northern Virginia Greens, Earth Justice, Presbyterian Earthcare, Social Justice Committee of the UU Ohio-Meadville District, 2/3 Goat, Demolition String Band, Nuclear Information and Resource Services, The Great Turning
Celebrities:
James Hansen, Judy Bonds, Maria Gunnoe, Bo Webb, Chuck Nelson, Gloria Reuben, Ashley Judd, Ed Begley Jr., Woody Harrelson, Kathy Mattea, Darryl Hannah, Silas House
One Year After the Tennessee Valley Authority Disaster in Roane County, TN
Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) released a report on December 14, 2009, titled “Outside the Law: Restoring Accountability to the Tennessee Valley Authority” that details the TVA’s poor environmental track record at its 11 coal-fired power plants and reveals How TVA Avoids Compliance with Federal Environmental Laws.
United Mountain Defense, EIP and leading national and southeastern U.S. environmental organizations urged the Obama Administration and Congress to take action to reform the TVA in a letter to the White House.
You can find both documents at: http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/
TVA Coal Ash Disaster,1 year later by Delano Williams - November 11, 2009
Delano Williams is very concerned about the long term health impacts of living near the world's largest coal fly ash disaster. The Tennessee Valley Authority who is responsible for this disaster has not come to Delano's home or his neighborhood. Delano lives less than 1 mile from the disaster.
Pam and Gary Topmiller talk about living next to the TVA coal ash disaster 1 year after the disaster
Pam and Gary Topmiller live directly across the Emory River from the TVA Coal Ash Disaster site. Most of their neighbors have taken a loss on their property by selling to TVA and leaving the area. Many of the houses stand vacant, a modern day ghost town with toxic coal ash in the air. The Topmillers are staying strong and want TVA to do the right thing.
Cumberland County Coal Ash Landfill Public Hearing
Say Yes to Protecting Cumberland County and Our Smith Mountain Neighbors
The Office of Surface Mining will have a public hearing on the proposal to put newly generated coal ash from the TVA’s Kingston Fossil Steam Plant on top of a coal mine valley fill on Crossville Coal Turner Surface mine also know as Smith Mountain. Show up and show your opposition to using Cumberland County as an ash dump. The public hearing is at Stone Memorial High School. 2800 Cook Road, Crossville, TN on November 5 at 6:00 p.m.
OSM can stop the coal ash landfill! Show up and tell OSM why you don’t want coal as in Cumberland County.
If you wish to speak you will have three minutes.
You can also submit written comments at the public hearing.
Or submit written comments by email at:
Or submit written comments by email at:
Or submit written comments by mail to:
Office of Surface Mining
Office of Surface Mining
710 Locust Street, 2nd Floor
Knoxville, TN 37902.
OSM Mine site visit 10-27-09 Crossvillie Coal Turner Surface Mine
A drive over the valley fill.
Water testing 10-27-09 Crossville Coal Turner Surface Mine
Save Coal River Mountain!
Across the country a coalition of environmental groups are calling for the EPA to stop recent blasting on Coal River Mountain, WV. Find out what you can do.
What you can do right now: Call EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and ask her to stop the blasting at Coal River Mountain.
Mountaintop Removal Protest Go Nationwide
On Oct 30 2009 protest where held across America at EPA regional headquarters, JP Morgan Chase branches and other pillars of support for mountaintop removal strip mining.
