Located in Rock Creek, Raleigh County, West Virginia, Marsh Fork Elementary School accommodated a student body of around 260 children. It sat 400 yards below a 385-foot dam owned by Massey Energy. [1]
Rock Creek is an unincorporated community in Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States. Rock Creek is located on West Virginia Route 3 15 miles (24 km) west-northwest of Beckley.
Marsh Fork Elementary was threatened on two fronts. One is the coal dam that overlooked the school. [2] If it were to fail it would result in 2.8 billion gallons of coal slurry crashing not only into the school, but also a 30 mile wide radius of the surrounding area. The second threat is a coal silo located only 150 feet away from the school that residents claim spews coal dust into the air. Parents of the children were concerned that their children were being exposed to the dust from the silo, with several parents having reported that their children were getting sick on a consistent basis after going to school.
Concerned for the safety of their children, parents across Rock Creek began to protest having the coal dust silo located so close to their school. Due to the population size of Raleigh county and the poor attendance record of other schools in the county Marsh Fork was the only school parents could send their children to. One concerned grandfather, named Ed Wiley, [2] was spurred into action after he and his wife noticed that their granddaughter was becoming sick on an increasing basis.It didn't take him long to find out that his granddaughter wasn't the only child who was sick on a regular basis. So he and several other concerned parents, working in tandem with activists like Appalachian Voices, Coal Mountain River Watch, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and others petitioned the school board for help. [2] This petition caused the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to test the school to see if any coal dust was present. The test came back negative for coal dust. [2] It took two more tests for coal dust to finally appear on a test, though this test was conducted as part of an independent study by D. Scott Simonton, [2] rather than by the state. Wiley felt this study would prompt some action by the state but nothing occurred. Following this Wiley decided to fund raise money for the relocation of the school, which he did by walking 455 miles on foot across two states to the office of Senator Robert C. Byrd on August 2, 2006. Even though Wiley gained the support of Byrd he still had an uphill battle, for funds had to be allocated for the relocation of the school. Most of the money would have had to come from a state source and not a federal one, due to it not being a federal issue; however when asbestos was found in the school there was hope this might change. [2] Following no action by the federal government to provide funds Senator Byrd heavily criticized Massey Energy for knowingly building their silo so close to the school. [3] Massey Energy fought these claims but eventually donated 1 million dollars towards the construction of the new school. This amount was further increased to 1.5 million, prompted by the Annenberg Foundation donation of 2.5 million. [4]
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection is a government agency of the U.S. state of West Virginia.
Massey Energy Company was a coal extractor in the United States with substantial operations in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. By revenue, it was the fourth largest producer of coal in the United States and the largest coal producer in Central Appalachia. By coal production weight, it was the sixth largest producer of coal in the United States.
The Annenberg Foundation is a family foundation that provides funding and support to non-profit organizations in the United States and around the world. Some of the Foundation's core initiatives are the Annenberg/Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) project, which funds many educational television shows broadcast on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) public television in the United States as well as The Annenberg Community Beach House, The Annenberg Space for Photography, Metabolic Studio, explore.org, Wallis Annenberg PetSpace and the Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts.
After 5 years of raising money on December of 2012 10.7 million dollars were raised for the relocation of Marsh Fork. [4] The funds came from several different sources including, the Raleigh County School Board which donated a total of 3.53 million, followed by the School Building Authority of West Virginia who gave 3.146 million, then the Annenberg Foundation at 2.5 million, then Alpha Natural Resources at 1.5 million, and finally 11,000 raised by the Pennies for Promises and Coal River Mountain Watch. [5] The Marsh Fork Elementary would open its doors again to students and faculty a year later. The new Marsh Fork is located 3 miles away from the coal slurry dam.
Raleigh County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 78,859. Its county seat is Beckley. The county was founded in 1850 and is named for Sir Walter Raleigh.
Alpha Natural Resources was a large American producer of metallurgical coal for the industrial production of steel and iron and low-sulfur thermal coal to fuel steam boilers for the production of electrical power. In November, 2018 the company was acquired by Contura Energy. The company also provides industry services relating to equipment repairs, road construction and logistics, with domestic operations and coal reserves within the states of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Wyoming, Utah, Illinois, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania. Alpha Natural Resources does not produce all of the coal it sells; much of the coal sold by Alpha Natural Resources is purchased from independent mining operations and then resold in the worldwide market.
Grundy is a town in Buchanan County, Virginia, United States, an area of the Appalachian Mountains. The population was 1,105 at the 2000 census and 1,021 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Buchanan County. The town is noted for two educational institutions established since the late 20th century: Appalachian School of Law and Appalachian College of Pharmacy.
The Buffalo Creek flood was a disaster that occurred on February 26, 1972, when the Pittston Coal Company's coal slurry impoundment dam #3, located on a hillside in Logan County, West Virginia, burst, four days after having been declared "satisfactory" by a federal mine inspector.
The Elementary Education Act 1870, commonly known as Forster's Education Act, set the framework for schooling of all children between the ages of 5 and 12 in England and Wales. It established local education authorities with defined powers, authorized public money to improve existing schools, and tried to frame conditions attached to this aid so as to earn the goodwill of managers. It was long been seen as a milestone in educational development, but recent commentators have stressed that it brought neither free nor compulsory education, and its importance has thus tended to be diminished rather than increased.
Blackwater is a form of pollution produced in coal preparation. In its purification, coal is crushed in a coal preparation plant and then separated and transported as a coal slurry, From the slurry, incombustible materials are removed and the coal can be sized. After the recovery of the coal particles from this slurry, the remaining water is black, contains very fine particles of coal. This blackwater cannot be processed in a water treatment plant.
Houston A+ Challenge is a not-for-profit public-private partnership based in Houston, Texas.
Greenville County School District (GCSD) is a public school district in Greenville County, South Carolina (USA). It is the largest school district in the state of South Carolina and the 44th largest in the US. Greenville CSD also takes students from some areas of Spartanburg and Laurens counties. Led by Superintendent of Schools W Burke Royster, GCSD serves over 75,000 students and employs 9,800 people spread across 106 education centers. GCSD has an operating budget of $592.639 million for the 2017 - 2018 school year. GCSD has 14 National Blue Ribbon Schools, 9 Newsweek's Best High Schools, 21 Carolina First Palmetto's Finest Schools, 48 Red Carpet Schools, and 29 National PTA Schools of Excellence.
The South Delta School District is a public school district based in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, USA.
Julia "Judy" Bonds was an organizer and activist from the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, United States. Raised in a family of coalminers, she worked from an early age at minimum wage jobs. Bonds was the director of Coal River Mountain Watch (CRMW). She has been called "the godmother of the anti-mountaintop removal movement."
The Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) was a Chicago public school reform project from 1995 to 2001 that worked with half of Chicago's public schools and was funded by a $49.2 million, 2-to-1 matching challenge grant over five years from the Annenberg Foundation. The grant was contingent on being matched by $49.2 million in private donations and $49.2 million in public money. The Chicago Annenberg Challenge was one of 18 locally designed Annenberg Challenge project sites that received $387 million over five years as part of Walter Annenberg's gift of $500 million over five years to support public school reform. The Chicago Annenberg Challenge helped create a successor organization, the Chicago Public Education Fund (CPEF), committing $2 million in June 1998 as the first donor to Chicago's first community foundation for education.
Coal slurry is a mixture of solids and liquids produced by a coal preparation plant.
Mountaintop Removal is a 2007 documentary film directed by Michael O'Connell. The film explores how mountaintop removal mining in West Virginia has affected local communities. Filmed over a two-year period, Mountain Top Removal features community advocates, such as Ed Wiley, Larry Gibson, Julia Bonds, Maria Gunnoe, and Mountain Justice Summer volunteers, in their efforts to oppose the destruction of Southern Appalachia's natural landscape. The film includes commentary from Jeff Goodell, author of Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future, geologists Dr. William Schlesinger and Dr. Peter Taft, and also Bill Raney, President of the West Virginia Coal Association. The film won the Reel Current Award at the 2008 Nashville Film Festival. Mountaintop Removal also received a Jury award at the 2008 Wild and Scenic Film Festival, Audience award at the 2008 Woods Hole Film Festival and was screened at The Lincoln Center on Earth Day April 22, 2008. The film is currently being distributed nationwide on PBS through NETA. The film's soundtrack includes music by Jim Lauderdale, Donna the Buffalo, John Specker and Sarah Hawker.
The Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill was an environmental and industrial disaster that occurred on Monday December 22, 2008, when a dike ruptured at a coal ash pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tennessee, releasing 1.1 billion US gallons (4,200,000 m3) of coal fly ash slurry. The coal-fired power plant, located across the Clinch River from the city of Kingston, uses ponds to dewater the fly ash, a byproduct of coal combustion, which is then stored in ponds. The spill released a slurry of fly ash and water, which traveled across the Emory River and its Swan Pond embayment, onto the opposite shore, covering up to 300 acres (1.2 km2) of the surrounding land. The spill damaged multiple homes and flowed into nearby waterways including the Emory River and Clinch River. It was the largest fly ash release and worst coal ash-related disaster in United States history.
The Upper Big Branch Mine disaster occurred on April 5, 2010 roughly 1,000 feet (300 m) underground in Raleigh County, West Virginia at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine located in Montcoal. Twenty-nine out of thirty-one miners at the site were killed. The coal dust explosion occurred at 3:27 pm. The accident was the worst in the United States since 1970, when 38 miners were killed at Finley Coal Company's No. 15 and 16 mines in Hyden, Kentucky. A state funded independent investigation would later find Massey Energy directly responsible for the blast.
Climate Ground Zero (CGZ), founded in February 2009, is a non-violent civil disobedience campaign against mountaintop removal mining based in the southern coalfields of West Virginia. According to their website, Climate Ground Zero believes “that the irrevocable destruction of the mountains of Appalachia and its accompanying toll on the air, water, and lives of Appalachians necessitates continued and direct action". The organization seeks to end mountaintop removal mining by drawing attention to the issue through protests involving trespass on the property of mining companies. By locking down to machinery on mine sites, occupying trees in the blast zone, or blockading haul roads to mine sites, protesters associated with Climate Ground Zero directly interfere with mining practices. Other protests draw attention to the alleged negligence of regulatory agencies such as the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) or the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by occupying the offices of these governmental organizations. Climate Ground Zero has been referenced in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Democracy Now, and the Associated Press.
The Last Mountain is a feature-length documentary film directed by Bill Haney and produced by Haney, Clara Bingham and Eric Grunebaum. The film premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and went into general release on June 3, 2011. The film explores the consequences of mining and burning coal, with a particular focus on the use of a method for coal strip-mining in Appalachia commonly known as mountaintop removal mining.
Community Magnet Charter School (CMCS) is a magnet primary school of the Los Angeles Unified School District, located in Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California. It was previously located on the property of the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies in Mid-City. Community is among the oldest magnet schools in LAUSD. It is racially and ethnically diverse, and its students consistently receive among the highest scores in standardized testing within LAUSD. In 1999 Martha Groves of the Los Angeles Times said that Community was a "high-achieving, innovative elementary school." In 2002 Carol Lynn Mithers, a writer and a parent of a Community magnet student, said in a Los Angeles Times opinion column that the school "is one of the district's jewels."
The Brushy Fork Coal Impoundment, also known as the Brushy Fork Coal Sludge Dam, is a large tailings dam on the Brushy Fork near Marfork in western Raleigh County of West Virginia, United States. It is located 18 mi (29 km) northwest of Beckley, the seat of Raleigh County. Brushy Fork flows into Little Marsh Fork, which then enters Marsh Fork, which is a tributary of the Coal River. The purpose of the dam is to store a sludge consisting of tailings and waste from a nearby coal mine. In 1995 Massey Energy received a permit to construct the dam. Over the years additional permits to increase the size and storage volume of the dam have been issued in the midst of local and regional opposition to its structural integrity. Currently at approximately 900 ft (270 m) in height, it is the tallest dam in the Western Hemisphere. When complete its designed height will be 954 ft (291 m). Wasted rock from the coal mining process is used as the dam filler. The dam currently withholds about 25,100 acre⋅ft (31,000,000 m3) of waste. This capacity will be increased to 30,075 acre⋅ft (37,097,000 m3) upon completion.
Mountain Justice is a grassroots movement established in 2005 to raise worldwide awareness of mountaintop removal mining and its effects on the environment and peoples of Appalachia. The group seeks to encourage conservation, efficiency, solar and wind energy as alternatives to all forms of surface mining. It self-describes as "a regional Appalachian network committed to ending mountaintop removal". It seeks justice because the mountaintop removal (MTR) it opposes is a form of coal mining known as mountaintop removal mining which produces coal sludge toxic waste which is stored in a dam on the mountain and leaches into the groundwater, which poisons the environment, which defaces the top of the mountain, and which is not stopped due to political corruption.