Help the EPA send a strong message to Big Coal

		Dear Reader, Don't Let Big Coal Push Us Around:Stand Up for Clean Water! My Neighbor's Well Water This letter was forwarded for Jimmy Hall, the fifth generation Hall to own property on Mill Creek in Letcher County, KY. His great-great-great grandfather owned the entire mountain range here in the late 1800s. Since then, mountaintop removal coal mining has turned my family's special place into a moonscape. And now mining waste has made our drinking water toxic. "DON'T DRINK THE WATER" is what the Water Department said when they called us. They found arsenic and lead from nearby mining operations in my well water. It's not just me -- my neighbors have the same problem. Many of them are chronically ill and some have died. It's gotten so bad that the EPA has vetoed 36 coal permits in the area to keep our water from getting worse. I was glad they decided to help but the State of Kentucky and Big Coal didn't see it that way. They are challenging the EPA's actions to clean up our water. I need your help to show the EPA we've got its back. Please let EPA officials know everyone deserves clean water! Last week, the EPA held hearings in Kentucky on their plans to protect our water. The Kentucky Coal Association bused hundreds of their supporters to the hearings. They did everything they could to intimidate me and the dozens of other activists who were there to speak out for clean water. They booed, heckled, and kicked us. Someone even threatened the safety of the representatives from the EPA who were there to listen to us.1 Big Coal must be scared. But they can't scare us! Not when the health of our children is on the line. One of my neighbors showed me his well water -- it was rust colored and cloudy. He's forced to use it for drinking, food preparation and to bathe his children. The EPA passed the Clean Water Act in 1972 to ensure that no one is forced to give their children filthy water to drink. I'm not going to let the coal companies intimidate me or the EPA into undoing the progress we've made in the last 30 years. Stand with me and my neighbors. Tell the EPA to hold the line for clean water today! My courage comes from people like you who stand together to bring these issues like mine to the surface. What the coal companies are doing is wrong, but the state allowing this to continue is just plain criminal. The EPA is our only hope to continue this battle here on our own soil with mountains blowing up all around us, filling the valleys and streams with poison. If we stand together now and send 30,000 messages to the EPA to protect our water I know we can win. Don't let Big Coal and the State of Kentucky destroy the progress we've made to protect communities under the Clean Water Act. Urge the EPA to hold the line for clean water before it's too late! Thanks for all you do to protect our environment, Jimmy Hall Fifth Generation Kentuckian P.S. After you take action, forward this email, or spread the word on Facebook and Twitter by clicking our handy share buttons below: [1] Anderson, Chris. Miners get vocal at hearing. Appalachian News Express. June 8, 2012.