Avatar and the Fight for Blair Mountain «

Avatar and the Fight for Blair Mountain

13 January 2010

In March 2009, the National Park Service listed Blair Mountain in the National Register of Historic Places. Unfortunately, heavy lobbying by Big Coal resulted in the Chief of the National Register for the National Park Service, Carol Schull, removing Blair Mountain for the register, paving the way for coal companies to pursue permits for mountaintop removal mining on the mountain. This decision came from intense pressure, as the coal mining companies want to mine the land at Blair Mountain, so they can dig for coal and destroy the ecosystem.

We must not let them.

Such wanton disregard for the Earth, for the regional people and historic culture of Appalachia, and for federal institutions like the National Register of Historic Places is an appalling abuse of corporate power and smacks strongly of profiteering and greed. This situation, with the exception of the setting, is virtually identical to the one in the recent record-breaking movie, Avatar . When 10,000 people clashed in 1921 with coalmining companies, fighting for the right to unionize, the battle for Blair Mountain lasted 10 days, fomenting a powerful and historic regional rebellion. Now, the fight for Blair Mountain must ramp up or we stand to lose a national historic monument and damage to the land, streams, forests, homes, lives, and the centuries-old culture of Appalachia will be permanent. We must stand with our ancestors and honor the legacy of the Battle of Blair Mountain.

We can stop this madness and here are some resources to reverse this decision.