(Cross posted from Whit Jones on Power Vote.org)

I spent the past weekend with around 100 young people and community activists at the Weekend In Wise - an incredible weekend in Appalachia, VA where Mountain Top Removal (MTR) mining has deeply impacted the community and citizens have been fighting Dominion’s proposed Wise County Coal Plant. Local community activists led tours of MTR sites and a local plant that burns that coal. A service project and Sustainable Living workshop were led on a local organic farm. Discussions and workshops were held to strategize and plan for overcoming King Coal’s reign.

And you can TAKE ACTION as well to protect this mountain! The Coal River Wind Project is holding a rally today demand that WV Gov. Joe Manchin support WIND and not MTR! Call Manchin now!

One thing that struck me about the action taken thus far, was an emphasis on applying a diversity of tactics - hitting the coal industry from multiple fronts, and along its entire lifecycle. The Wise Energy for VA Coalition has done an incredible job with this, placing emphasis on the negative impacts of coal from extraction to combustion, and presenting the incredible opportunities of a clean energy economy and green collar jobs. They’ve been putting the heat on Dominion, Governor Kaine and all of the regulatory agencies - building a 45,000 person strong petition against the plant, direct actions, and fighting in the court.

The fight continued today with civil disobedience at the construction site of the Wise County Coal Plant. At 6:00 am this morning around 40 peaceful protesters entered the construction site of Dominion Virginia’s (NYSE: D) Wise County coal-fired power plant. About ten protesters locked their bodies to eight large steel drums, two of which have operational solar panels affixed to the top that illuminated a banner reading “renewable jobs to renew Appalachia.” In addition to those locked to the construction site, over 25 protesters from across the country convened in front of the plant singing and holding a 10’x30’ banner, which said “we demand a clean energy future.”

These brave people were out on the front lines of the fight against dirty energy, directly confronting the expansion of coal power and leading the fight towards “Ending Our Dependence on Dirty Energy,” a cornerstone of the Power Vote Platform. Let’s show our support by staying out there, making sure that we talk to everyone about the injustice of MTR and expanding the movement against it, and pushing our elected to address our energy crisis with true solutions.

Keep updated about the action on It’s Getting Hot In Here and the Understory