Projects

Coal River Mountain Watch is working on multiple fronts to fight mountaintop removal coal mining and build the movement for environmental justice in Appalachian communities impacted by coal mining.

  • Judy Bonds Center for Appalachian Preservation: Coal River Mountain Watch's community center, office, volunteer housing, and sustainable economic demonstration site in Naoma, WV. We host community meetings, cultural events, workshops, the county bookmobile, parties, and more.
  • Save Coal River Mountain: The ongoing campaign to save the last mountain in the Coal River watershed from mountaintop removal.  This includes our proposal for a wind farm on Coal River Mountain, as an alternative to mountaintop removal mining
  • Marsh Fork Elementary: A successful campaign to move Marsh Fork Elementary School out from under a coal sludge impoundment.
  • Citizen Enforcement: We are training citizens to challenging mining permits and putting pressure on the Department of Environmental Protection to do their job: properly regulate mining and prosecute permit violations.
  • Tadpole Project: A project to restore the Marsh Fork of the Big Coal River and to foster community pride in the river.
  • Coal River Environmental Education for Kids (CREEK): An ongoing project that is dedicated to educating children living in the Coal River Valley about the environment and their surroundings.
  • A Portrait-Story Project: “Voices for Appalachia – A Portrait-Story Project- Written and Narrated by Hundreds” documents the stories of hundreds of residents living in the Appalachian coalfields in 2008 and 2009. The project was started by artist Francesco di Santis and Voices for Appalachia, and then later turned into a massive collaboration of local people and organizations. The project is housed and displayed at the Judy Bonds Center for Appalachian Preservation.
  • Sustainable Energy and Economic Diversification (SEED): An effort to develop alternative energy and economic options and work towards a post-coal future.
  • Marsh Fork Elementary: A successful campaign to move Marsh Fork Elementary School away from a coal sludge dam, preparation plant, and mountaintop removal site.