NEW YORK, NY, April 29 - Appalachian grandfather Ed Wiley visited the student body of the Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School (WHEELS), a public middle school that opened in 2006, and which is the 4th highest ranked middle school in NYC. Jane Doherty's 6th grade students at WHEELS have taken on a service project called Pennies of Promise, in an attempt to raise money and awareness about how the coal industry in Appalachia is impacting the health of the children of Marsh Fork Elementary School.

Wiley spoke to an all school assembly to the New York City students, who have to this date raised over $320 for the Pennies of Promise.org campaign, to build a new school for Marsh Fork Elementary.

Ed Wiley was interviewed today on Democracy Now! today talking about the need for a new elementary school in the the Marsh Fork District that does not have a coal silo looming over top of it.

It does defy logic, but these pictures clearly show that Massey Energy did in fact put a coal loading silo within 200 feet of an elementary school. And what's more, the white ring on the ground is the beginning of a second silo that will double the amount of coal dust released into the air. What could be worse? The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection allowed them to put the first one there and then allowed the second too before it was discovered that Massey Energy had purposefully moved the permit boundaries to allow the silo to fit. The case will be held before the WV Supreme court soon.


The footing for the second silo is clearly visible in this photo.


There is also a nearly 2000 acre surface mine behind the plane, and the sludge dam.


Right behind the plant there is a leaking dam holding back 2.8 Billion gallons of toxic coal sludge.

All Photos by Antrim Caskey

After a month in New York City, Ed Wiley was interviewed by Today Show hosts, Al Roker and Ann Curry. All through September, Ed stood in Rockefeller Plaza with signs talking about the situation at Marsh Fork Elementary getting on the Today Show for a few seconds everyday.

Ed spent his mornings at the Today Show and afternoons and evenings in fliering in parks, giving presentations, and getting the word out any way he could. Somewhere in his journey's he managed to meet Willie Nelson's daughter and get invited to a private concert at the Hard Rock Cafe.

The only trouble Ed had was half way through the month when Ed found out just how long Sen. Byrd and Gov. Manchin's authority travels. After two weeks of targeting those politicians, Ed was asked to hold off on the Byrd and Manchin signs.

Overall, Ed had a very positive experience with the Today Show staff and you can still write to the today show at today@nbcuni.com suggesting they continue with the story of Marsh Fork Elementary School.

Ed Wiley today found out just how far the long arm of a guilty politician reaches when he was told that signs like the one he's holding here calling on Gov. Manchin to do the right thing are unacceptable.  According to the Today Show crew, signs calling out Gov. Manchin and Senator Byrd are not allowed.  I was never a big fan of that First Amendment thing either, especially when I'm putting hundreds of kids at risk.

You can still write to the today show at today@nbcuni.com suggesting that they should do a story about Ed and Marsh Fork Elementary School.

Things are going well for Ed Wiley and Pennies of Promise in New York City.  Ed has been on TV several times this past week holding signs saying "WV Gov. Manchin:  Save Our Kids" and "It takes a village to raise a child.  In WV our villages are being destroyed" as a special sign when Bill Clinton came to town. 

Ed has spoken to producers and several Today Show anchors off camera.  Hopefully he'll soon be talking with them live on national TV.

Ed did talk to Bill Moyers this week and the "Is God Green" episode of Bill Moyer's Journal focusing on mountaintop removal coal mining  will be rebroadcast Friday September 7, with updates including Ed's trip to New York City.  See when it's airing in your town.

Grandfather Ed Wiley is off to seek justice in NYC.  He will be targeting the camera's and crowds of the Today Show and Rockefeller Plaza.   Wiley will set up in Rockefeller Plaza at 7 am everyday to tell the country about Marsh Fork Elementary School.  Ed will be joined by friends Woody Harrelson, Bobby Kennedy Jr and musicians Here's to the Long Haul at some point during his month long stay.

Ed Wiley will be available for meetings/lectures and presentations, evenings throughout September in New York City. To schedule a meeting, lecture or presentation with Ed Wiley in New York please contact our Presentation Coordinator, Jordan Freeman at (310) 245-7815.  A list of scheduled presentation will be posted shortly.

Charleston, WV — Eleven parents, community leaders and student activists were arrested today while sitting in at the office of West Virginia Governor Joe Mancin. Their sit-in was spurred by a recent decision by the State Mine Board to approve a second coal silo near Marsh Fork Elementary School. Protesters were treating roughly and dragged through puddles of mud. About 40 protesters remain in the governor's office. Marsh Fork Elementary located near Sundial, WV currently sits 225 feet from a coal silo. Residents say Governor Joe Manchin is shirking his responsibility for the health and safety of the students.

The coal silo operated by Massey Energy releases chemical-laden coal dust into the air which is poisoning the air that school kids have to breathe. Independent studies have found coal dust throughout the school. The school is also 400 yards downstream from a 385 foot tall seeping toxic coal waste sludge dam with a nearly 3 billion gallon capacity, over 20 times the volume of the Buffalo Creek sludge dam disaster that killed 125 people in 1972. A 1,849-acre mountaintop removal mine surrounds the sludge dam and much of the nearby area.

"Governor Mancin seems to believe that all he has to do is make promises while the children who attend Marsh Fork continue to breathe in coal dust," says Bill Price ofCharleston, WV. "We are not interested in promises. We want a new school for these kids so that they do not have to breathe in polluted air while they are trying to learn."


"This is exciting that students and community members have joined together to demand a safer school for the kids who attend Marsh Folk Elementary," says Sarah Kidder, a student at Glenville State College and a key protest organizer. "These kids should not have to endanger their lives simply by going to school and having to breathe in air polluted by coal dust."

Massey has been attempting to build a second coal silo near the school, but the WV Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in 2005 rejected Massey's permit request for the second silo. On Tuesday, March 13, the state Surface Mine Board overturned the DEP's order that blocked the silo.

"The situation at Marsh Fork is an embarrassment to West Virginia," said Lindsey Warf of Bluefield, WV. "People from other states can't believe this is happening in theUS."

Contrary to Massey's public claim that the silo would reduce coal dust, their 2005 air quality permit application associated with the second silo's operation predicts an increase in coal dust emissions by three and a half tons of dust per year.

TAKE ACTION!

Call Governor Manchin's office: 1-888-438-2731 (toll free) or 1-304-558-2000 and let him know that you and most of the rest of the world doesn't believe small children should be made to go to school in the shadow of a coal processing facility.

Email the Governor's office: Governor@WVGov.org.

Videos

Below are two videos from the rally at the state capitol on March 16. Residents and their supporters demanded a new school for the kids of March fork Elementary in their community. Thanks to Tommy Bensko for putting these together.