tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68758228233144134222008-07-16T22:25:41.699-04:00B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-55520137331110980902008-05-19T08:55:00.009-04:002008-05-19T09:14:44.247-04:00

If there is ever any doubt that West Virginia is being blown off the map, read this! Blasting Advertisement from the Lincoln Journal (West Virginia) May 15, 2008 Notice is hereby given that Hobet Mining, LLC, P.O. Box 305, Madison, WV 25130, phone (304) 369-6780 intends to conduct blasting activities on the following surface mining permits: Permit S-5003-96 located at or near Lukey Fork and

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-9206273243411483472008-03-03T07:56:00.005-05:002008-03-03T08:58:37.111-05:00

Mary Miller and Pauline Canterberry, better known as "The Sylvester Dustbusters," traveled with me to Kermit, West Virginia on Feb. 24 where we showed "Rise Up! West Virginia" to 27 students from Wheeling Jesuit University. There's nothing like being in a room full of young people to lift you up and keep your head on track! They crowded onto the floor in the after-school room at the Able

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-59371595888157903002008-01-19T09:33:00.001-05:002008-01-19T10:36:14.651-05:00

West Virginia is RISING UP! against King Coal. West Virginians are RISING UP! against Mountaintop Removal. Our people deserve better than to be sacrificed for this country's electricity! We say "NO MORE!" West Virginians are RISING UP! against the poverty brought on by the coal industry! Our people deserve better than to be sacrificed for corporate profits! We say "NO MORE!" West Virginians

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-30053530591577973922008-01-08T09:21:00.000-05:002008-01-08T10:01:00.562-05:00

According to Fox News the following Presidential candidates support Coal-to-Liquid Technology: Obama, Huckabee, Clinton and Romney. Coal-to-Liquid means more Mountaintop Removal. It requires coal to be converted and coal to power the conversion. The process doubles the amount of CO2 as opposed to just burning the coal. John Edwards is THE ONLY candidate that has said NO! to Coal-to-Liquid!

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-50120592749181302842007-12-12T11:11:00.000-05:002007-12-12T12:10:45.881-05:00

"This used to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. And now they're destroying it - and it's all for money. I just pray that they stop this mountaintop removal before I have to leave this earth. If they don't stop it there won't be anything left for our young people." Jim Foster Bob White, West Virginia "Everything here is covered in coal dust. They're poisoning our water and our

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-28375159578374079322007-11-12T08:02:00.000-05:002007-11-13T09:23:19.860-05:00

The "Big Dogs" from Charlottesville, Virginia, have moved in with full force over at Ansted, WV. MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL! They are going to blow us off of the map! Amvest Corporation owns the Powellton Coal Company which owns 18,000 acres of land around this tiny Fayette County community. I figure it took decades to grab that much land from fledgling farmers and property owners. (11/13/07 update:

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-29338347861775831662007-10-27T07:36:00.001-04:002007-10-27T08:36:49.832-04:00

If you've traveled the Midland Trail through West Virginia then you've probably driven through Ansted, which is pictured here. Take a look at the mountain in front of you. It will soon be gone. Why? MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL! U.S. Rt. 60 (the old Roosevelt Trail) curves left and passes by Hawk's Nest State Park. Directly across from its entrance is another mountain - soon to be leveled by

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-61415982273671649652007-10-09T19:44:00.000-04:002007-10-10T07:09:14.915-04:00

Sometimes I hear banter from the coal industry and the politicians that makes me want to spit! The one that's wearing me out these days is "we need flat land - reclaimed mountaintop removal sites provide that." Give me a break! Every time I drive these Appalachian roads I see flat land all over the place. Odd - there's not a thing built on it. Seems to me you'd need flat land if you didn't

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-28837286428023006082007-09-12T05:26:00.001-04:002007-09-12T08:55:48.150-04:00

Filmmakers sometimes use their work for self-exploration, just as writers and poets do. In that process we often find that we don't know what we thought we knew. My ongoing journey through the West Virginia coalfields proves that! On each trip I listen to Muriel Dressler's "Appalachia." It haunts me every time I hear it. I am Appalachia. In my veins runs fierce mountain pride; The hill-fed

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-66572539574318873592007-09-03T15:05:00.000-04:002007-09-03T17:27:58.929-04:00

Today the United Mine Workers of America threw their endorsement to Presidential Candidate John Edwards. (New York Times Blog) I couldn't be happier. I've been an Edwards supporter from the get-go. It's hard not to be when you grew up in a small working-class town in West Virginia. All of us who are battling against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining in Appalachia and beyond remember that in

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-74177087430835754222007-08-26T11:41:00.000-04:002007-08-26T14:04:40.152-04:00

George Bush has put the rubber stamp on Mountaintop Removal. Now the coal industry feels obliged to insult our intelligence with all of their "good for the economy" propoganda! Spare me! I don't know how much more "prosperity" West Virginia can stand from the coal companies! On that resurrection morning When the trumpet call shall sound We shall rise - Hallelujah! We shall rise. And the

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-86552647832321273842007-08-23T08:28:00.000-04:002007-08-23T16:57:28.753-04:00

Out in Utah we have 9 dead - 6 of them about to be entombed in Bob Murray's "evil mountain." The editor of the Emory County Progress made a jab at the media for looking like "environmentalists" and wrote: "I think of these environmentalist types and know they don't have a clue about coal mining. Probably 99 percent of them have never been in a coal mine, but they all reap the benefits of

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-56662243375427479102007-08-18T12:45:00.000-04:002007-08-18T13:34:37.662-04:00

I wonder if there are other parents in West Virginia who woke up this morning as I did - with a heavy heart. For the first time in 18 years my son’s shoes are not in the middle of the floor. We’ve sent him off to college, and we are so proud. So why the heavy heart? Unlike those of us paddling back down the highway yesterday – hardly able to wait for the dirty laundry that our kids will bring

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-90905789442286923682007-08-12T10:45:00.000-04:002007-08-18T12:45:05.991-04:00

If West Virginians need courage and support to Rise Up against Mountaintop Removal it might help to know that there are people all over the country that are standing up for us. The following "Letter to the Editor" appeared today in Vermont's Burlington Free Press. "Open Doors Waste Energy." The letter writer gets it!

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-35663197229487256932007-08-10T11:43:00.001-04:002007-08-11T09:29:32.992-04:00

U.S. Rep. Nick Joe Rahall (D-WV) is ganging up with the coal barons and the U. S. Air Force next week when he hosts the National Coal-to-Liquids Conference at Glade Springs Resort near Beckley, WV. Here’s what he said at the US Air Force Energy Summit: “Few, if any, issues are of greater consequence to war and peace, and to our economic stability and domestic security than the availability of

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-49460899733166611962007-08-04T13:03:00.000-04:002007-08-04T14:17:19.899-04:00

In 1977, President Carter signed the "Surface Mine Control and Reclamation Act" to regulate surface mine sites and provide for the reclamation of mined lands. 30 years later, West Virginia is still plagued by bulldozers, blasting, destruction, abandonment. The Office of Surface Mining does little to enforce the law The coal companies say they are: Returning the land to better-than-before

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-24669733451893316532007-08-01T10:37:00.000-04:002007-08-01T11:32:54.518-04:00

Look closely at these two photos. Both were taken from Jim Foster's back yard in Bob White, West Virginia. Last week I stood in the yard with Jim and his neighbor Maria Gunnoe. She lives at the base of the mountain. Jim said that the coal company would put off a blast at 4:00. Sure enough, at 4:04 - KABOOM! Flashback: Brenda Breslauer, reporting for Bill Moyers' "Now" in August 2006,

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-31956404979999500662007-07-27T12:35:00.000-04:002007-07-29T14:10:59.400-04:00

Flashback: On March 23, 1973, the West Virginia Legislature adopted Concurrent Resolution No. 6 designating an official state animal. Here's what it said: WHEREAS, In a poll of students, teachers and sportsmen conducted by the Dept. of Natural Resources in 1954-55, the black bear was chosen for the official state animal; WHEREAS, The black bear is the only species of bear found in the State

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-28567373657978195132007-07-24T21:41:00.000-04:002007-07-24T22:47:05.847-04:00

My friend, Larry Gibson, lives on Kayford Mountain – 35 miles from West Virginia’s State Capital in Charleston. I had the privilege of accompanying Larry on a tour with Kathy Mattea to view the Catenery Coal Company’s mountaintop removal operation there 2 weeks ago. One of things we talked about was the coal industry’s lack of regard and respect for the family cemeteries that are located on

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6875822823314413422.post-85748706646438504862007-07-23T17:02:00.001-04:002007-07-23T22:21:24.367-04:00

WELCOME to "Rise Up! West Virginia." My beautiful State of West Virginia is under attack! Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining is destroying one of the most beautiful places on earth! Coal companies use the excuse that they are responsible for supplying energy to the country. State government uses the excuse that our people need jobs. Our governor uses the excuse that we must do this in the

B J Gudmundssonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03843517582856722654noreply@blogger.com