Foundation News

Wherever there are coal mines, coal shipping ports, and power plants around the globe, local communities are fighting back against deadly pollution and economic destruction. Today, the Sierra Club released its fourth annual report on some of the world’s major, ongoing grassroots coal fights around the world. Pitted against unimaginable wealth and power and too often facing violence and intimidation, these are the people that refuse to be silent.

This year, the danger coal poses to local communities has never been more apparent.

In January, a chemical used to wash coal was leaked into the water supply in West Virginia, causing drinking water to be shut off to over 300,000 Americans across the state. Just weeks later, a coal ash dam pond failed in North Carolina, dumping up to 82,000 tons of toxic material into the Dan River, and again, forcing the shut off of local drinking water. In February, a fire broke out in Australia’s Hazelwood mine, which would last for 45 days and force residents of the nearby town of Morwell to endure weeks of smoke laden with dangerous materials. In May, 301 miners were killed in an explosion in Soma, Turkey.

These are just a few of the reports that grabbed international attention in the past year. What was less reported though were the daily fights in these locations and other places around the world as affected communities worked to protect their air, their land, their water, and their health. You can check out the report here.

-- Nicole Ghio, Sierra Club International Climate Program, and Neha Mathew, Beyond Coal Campaign