Rainforest Action Network

Mountaintop removal is a method of coal mining where explosives are used to blow up entire mountains to uncover coal deposits. Mountain, valley and water ecosystems are ruined in the process. Nearby communities are forced to bear the health, environmental and economic burdens of mountaintop removal. Coal River Mountain Watch (CRMW), a group based in the coalfields of southern West Virginia, has been working to stop mountaintop removal coal mining and to rebuild sustainable communities since 1998.  For the past two years, CRMW has been advocating for a wind farm to be built on Coal River Mountain as an alternative to the planned mountaintop removal coal mining operation. 

This project is fighting to keep 140 million tons of CO2 over the next 30 years in the ground.

The BMWC is an intertribal community group working to address environmental justice and Indigenous Rights issues in the southwest. This group has been working to keep the world’s largest coal company, Peabody, from receiving a mining permit in the Black Mesa region of Northeastern Arizona. In addition to releasing millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere, coal mining operations in this sacred tribal land have relocated hundreds of families and have given Peabody control over the region’s only drinking water supply.

This project is fighting to keep 134 million tons of CO2 in the ground.

LVEJO works within a largely Latino neighborhood in Chicago to bring local environmental and social justice issues to light. LVEJO works on a broad range of issues ranging from childhood asthma to urban agriculture. Their energy-related campaign aims to shut down two coal power plants that are threatening the health of their communities. Studies have shown that the communities near the Fisk and Crawford coal power generating stations suffer from increased mortality and asthma rates.

This project is fighting to keep 5 million tons of CO2 each year from burning into the atmosphere.