Sunday, July 31, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Witnessing the Subversion of Democracy in West Virginia
Rahall tells constituents that 90% of the work he does is "symbolic"
 | |
| Mike Roselle watches Chris Hamilton, Vice-President of the West Virginia Coal Association and Roger Horton representing the UMWA in Logan County, WV enter the House Oversight Committee hearing over the Environmental Protection Agency's actions in Appalachia, July 13, 2011 in Washington, DC. photo credit: Antrim Caskey / Appalachia Watch |
As a resident of the Coal River Valley in Raleigh County, West Virginia, I sat in a meeting with a handful of Appalachian Ambassadors at Congressman Nick Joe Rahall’s office on July 13, 2011 in Washington, DC. It was stunning to see the 18th-term Congressman stare in silence -- his only real reply -- as Bo Webb, Maria Gunnoe and Vernon Haltom described the horror and the heartbreak of living with the long-term effects of mountaintop removal coal mining. Armed with the latest Hendryx report, which cites the connection between increased chance of birth defects in newborns with living near mountaintop removal operations, these Power-Hillbillies put this latest evidence in front of a distracted Rahall and announced their demand for an immediate moratorium on mountaintop removal. Rahall had nothing to say other than trying to pass the buck, first to, Alpha Natural Resources (Massey Energy's new name), then Office of Surface Mining (OSM). What we witnessed in Representative Nick Joe Rahall's office is what Bobby Kennedy Jr calls the “subversion of democracy in the state of West Virginia,” and we stared back in silence, in anticipation, as Rep. Rahall, stone dead in the eyes, the dome of the Capitol filling the large window behind him, said nothing to us West Virginians demanding to be represented.
This is what the subversion of democracy looks like in West Virginia, where sprawling corporations have woven their money-hungry tentacles all throughout the Appalachians in search and removal of coal, seizing more that 550 mountaintops and 5000 miles of headwater streams; annihilating hundreds of mountain hamlets, so many treasures, spurned with contempt. All of the normal paths to correct injustices like Massey's chronic corporate nuisances, like the courts and regulatory agencies, have been compromised beyond belief. Instead, West Virginians face a state Supreme Court where the Chief Justice Brent Benjamin was elected with 3 million dollars of help from the local coal company, Massey Energy.
 |
| Dennis Kucinich speaks with residents from the Coal River Valley after the House Oversight Committee hearing on 13 July, 2011, and directs his aide to set up a visit with Bo Webb and Vernon Haltom of Coal River Mountain Watch. photo credit: Antrim Caskey/Appalachia Watch |
Finally, it was Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio who heard us during the House Oversight Committee hearing where Rep. Kucinich proposed a visit to see the atrocities he's been hearing so much about, especially in the brilliant new documentary, The Last Mountain. Kucinich repeatedly demanded that he "wants to view specific sites in the Coal River Valley." We anticipate Congressman Kucinich's visit and we would welcome Congressional investigations into the health effects of mountaintop removal coal mining. It is imperative that you act on this issue.
Where does your energy come from? Check here.
Antrim Caskey
Rock Creek, WV
Friday, July 8, 2011
Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards (video)
On May 18, 2011, Dragline, a 74-page photojournalistic exose of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia, was recognized as the Domestic Photography Winner at the 43rd Annual Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards. Here's the video wrap up of the award ceremony.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Artist-in-Residence Program Begins
On July 1st photographer Bobby Neel Adams left the hot & stinky summer smells of New York bound for Rock Creek. The smells have improved and he now awakens to birds, an pickups with no mufflers and the coal trucks rumbling by. Much better than the M train that passes by his Queens window. Concrete has been replaced with thick and often prickly vegetation that grabs at his ankles as he walks by.
In West Virginia Adams is continuing to work on his series of photographs titled: DROWNED. These Vinatas style photographs depict an underwater world of detritus and decay hinting at the ephemeral nature of life.
So if you live near Rock Creek, WV please throw a garbage bag and gloves in the trunk of your car, as Adams desperately needs fresh road kill to continue his work.
Any donations of skulls, bones, stuffed creatures, and the once living would be greatly appreciated and returned or not.
--Bobby Neel Adams
Appalachia Watch and Climate Ground Zero welcome Bobby Neel Adams as our inaugural artist-in-residence in Rock Creek, West Virginia. The program stems from a suggestion of our dear friend and neighbor Ed Wiley, who kept telling me, "Antrim, you've got to get the New York photographers down here." Wiley, an indefatigable fighter, understands the power of the picture, of media attention, and that we need more down here to end mountaintop removal permanently. So, we offer artists, journalists and filmmakers like Adams and future visiting artists a refuge of Appalachian beauty.
In West Virginia Adams is continuing to work on his series of photographs titled: DROWNED. These Vinatas style photographs depict an underwater world of detritus and decay hinting at the ephemeral nature of life.
So if you live near Rock Creek, WV please throw a garbage bag and gloves in the trunk of your car, as Adams desperately needs fresh road kill to continue his work.
Any donations of skulls, bones, stuffed creatures, and the once living would be greatly appreciated and returned or not.
--Bobby Neel Adams
Appalachia Watch and Climate Ground Zero welcome Bobby Neel Adams as our inaugural artist-in-residence in Rock Creek, West Virginia. The program stems from a suggestion of our dear friend and neighbor Ed Wiley, who kept telling me, "Antrim, you've got to get the New York photographers down here." Wiley, an indefatigable fighter, understands the power of the picture, of media attention, and that we need more down here to end mountaintop removal permanently. So, we offer artists, journalists and filmmakers like Adams and future visiting artists a refuge of Appalachian beauty.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Demand Justice
Appalachia Watch Summer 2011 Intern Carolyn Case has produced this 43 second Public Service Announcement (PSA) advocating the end of mountaintop removal coal mining. Includes still photographs, sound, and text.
Demand Justice is to be shared freely. Please embed it today.
Demand Justice is to be shared freely. Please embed it today.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
RFK Jr on Tavis Smiley
A great interview with Bobby Kennedy Jr on Tavis Smiley's program discussing the film The Last Mountain.
Watch the full episode. See more Tavis Smiley.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
PSA: Maria Gunnoe, MTR Stops Here
MTR Stops Here. Check out this PSA shot at MountainFILM Festival in Telluride, Colorado over Labour Day Weekend - STOP MASSEY AT TWILIGHT
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
CBS NEWS: The Last Mountain
THE LAST MOUNTAIN opens 3 June in Washington, DC and New York City. See here for more details. In the meantime, check out this fantastic interview with filmmakers Bill Haney and Clara Bingham and Bobby Kennedy Jr.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Dragline Wins a RFK
Rock Creek, WV — The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights announced the winners of its 43rd Annual Journalism Awards today. Independent photojournalist Laura Antrim Caskey, creator of Dragline, a photographic exposé of mountaintop removal coal mining and the grassroots campaign to end, it has been awarded the prize in Domestic Photography.
” This year’s winning journalists, in eight professional and three student categories, covered a broad array of substantial topics, including the trials of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, the lives of Afghan women, the impact of war on soldiers, the coal industry in West Virginia, and rape at American universities…The awards were established by journalists who covered Robert Kennedy’s historic presidential campaign in 1968. They recognize journalists whose work has focused on human rights, social justice, and the power of individuals to make a difference – issues that defined the life and work of Robert F. Kennedy. Award recipients identify cases of injustice, and examine its causes, conditions, and remedies, ” reads the press release in part.
Caskey has been reporting on the human and environmental costs of mountaintop removal coal mining since May 2005. Currently she is based in Rock Creek, WV in the Coal River Valley, since moving from Brooklyn, NY in 2008.
” This year’s winning journalists, in eight professional and three student categories, covered a broad array of substantial topics, including the trials of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, the lives of Afghan women, the impact of war on soldiers, the coal industry in West Virginia, and rape at American universities…The awards were established by journalists who covered Robert Kennedy’s historic presidential campaign in 1968. They recognize journalists whose work has focused on human rights, social justice, and the power of individuals to make a difference – issues that defined the life and work of Robert F. Kennedy. Award recipients identify cases of injustice, and examine its causes, conditions, and remedies, ” reads the press release in part.
Caskey has been reporting on the human and environmental costs of mountaintop removal coal mining since May 2005. Currently she is based in Rock Creek, WV in the Coal River Valley, since moving from Brooklyn, NY in 2008.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Baltimore To Rock Creek
Last weekend, twenty students and faculty from Towson University visited Climate Ground Zero in Rock Creek, West Virginia to see exactly where their electricity comes from.
On a blustery April Saturday, two vans packed with students who study Anthropology, Geography and Environmental Studies saw EXACTLY where they get their electricity from: Kayford Mountain.
We were there to document their trip, from homemade biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast, to a harrowing ride up Kayford, for those not used to Appalachian Mountain roads, a warm bowl of chili, campfires and cook-outs -- We made a bond and hope to see TSU students again this Fall.
T.S.U. Student Visit to Climate Ground Zero - Images by antrim caskey
On a blustery April Saturday, two vans packed with students who study Anthropology, Geography and Environmental Studies saw EXACTLY where they get their electricity from: Kayford Mountain.
We were there to document their trip, from homemade biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast, to a harrowing ride up Kayford, for those not used to Appalachian Mountain roads, a warm bowl of chili, campfires and cook-outs -- We made a bond and hope to see TSU students again this Fall.
T.S.U. Student Visit to Climate Ground Zero - Images by antrim caskey
Saturday, April 9, 2011
FILM REVIEW: The Last Mountain at Sundance--outakes
Film Review: The Last Mountain
by Mike Roselle
Several very good documentaries have been produced over the last decade on the tragic issue of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. Many of them have focused on the Coal River Valley, and for good reason. This is the heart of coal country, and don’t call it the coalfields, because these mountains and hollows are home to people who have for over a century been sacrificed for those black rocks and some bristle at the term. “The correct term”, says Bo Webb, a local activist and long-term resident, “is sacrifice area.”
“We are being killed for coal.”
Read the entire review at Climate Ground Zero
Sundance 2011 - Images by antrim caskey
by Mike Roselle
Several very good documentaries have been produced over the last decade on the tragic issue of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. Many of them have focused on the Coal River Valley, and for good reason. This is the heart of coal country, and don’t call it the coalfields, because these mountains and hollows are home to people who have for over a century been sacrificed for those black rocks and some bristle at the term. “The correct term”, says Bo Webb, a local activist and long-term resident, “is sacrifice area.”
“We are being killed for coal.”
Read the entire review at Climate Ground Zero
Sundance 2011 - Images by antrim caskey
