
CHARLOTTE, NC—This morning, activists from Greenpeace, RAMPS (Radical Action for Mountain People’s Survival), Katuah Earth First!, Mountain Justice and Keepers of the Mountains Foundation blocked a coal train en route to the Marshall Steam Station, a Duke Energy coal-fired power plant, and branded the cars with the iconic Apple logo.
Four activists, including leaders from the anti-mountaintop removal movement, locked themselves to the rail tracks preventing the train from passing. Other activists branded the train with Apple’s logo to show that Apple’s growing iCloud will be powered by more coal as its Maiden, NC, data center expands.
“Duke is using datacenter expansion in North Carolina, like Apple’s, to justify reinvesting in old coal-fired power plants and even worse, as an excuse to build new coal and nuclear plants. But if Apple demands renewable energy from Duke Energy to power its iCloud it could help transform both the IT sector’s and North Carolina’s energy economy,” said Gabe Wisnieweski, Greenpeace USA Coal Campaign Director. “Unfortunately, today Apple’s iCloud uses whatever power Duke offers, and this dirty mix currently includes electricity from burning mountaintop removal coal. The climate and communities throughout Appalachia and North Carolina are paying the price for Apple and Duke’s short-sighted decisions.”
ACT NOW to secure a permanent home for direct action in the Coal River Valley!
We’re nearing the end of our stay in our donated home and, after more than a year of searching, we’ve finally found a property that seems an ideal place for the RAMPS campaign house! We have our sights set on a piece of land with a house, space for a garden and lots of folks. We’ve raised a good deal of money, but we’re still scrambling to find the funds to buy it while we still can, so we want to act fast. Please let us know if you can donate, fundraise, loan us some money or help out in some other way in this effort.
A RAMPS space is vital to this campaign, and we’re so close…
For the latest on our housing search, click on the “Let’s Get an HQ!” tab above.
Those of us in southern West Virginia fighting mountaintop removal stand in solidarity with citizens here in southern West Virginia, northern West Virginia, and the rest of the country fighting the encroachments of hydrofracking onto people’s property, homes, and into their drinking water. Members of RAMPS travelled to Doddridge County in northern West Virginia last week [...]
action alert from Coal River Mountain Watch. Take Action! Tell the Office of Surface Mining to revoke Alpha’s Eagle II permit. online petition In 2008, the WV Department of Environmental Protection granted Massey Energy a permit for mountaintop removal on Coal River Mountain. This permit allows Massey (now Alpha) to destroy 2000 acres of the [...]