West Virginia

Tree Sitters Continue Pipeline Protest On Peters Mountain

March 19, 2018 By Joe Dashiell, Wdbj7.com Resist! Pipelines, Protests, West Virginia

MONROE CO., W. Va. With a sharp eye, or better yet a long lens, you can see the tree sitters from the road below Peters Mountain, but to get up close and within earshot is a bit more complicated. Monroe County resident Maury Johnson drove us as far as a private logging road would take us, Roanoke Times Reporter Jeff Sturgeon, Photographer Erica Yoon and I then made a steep climb to the ridge line above, followed by a 10-minute hike on the Appalachian Trail to the point where the pipeline would cross. The tree sitters are about 25-30 feet off the ground, on platforms secured with ropes and covered with plastic. And they've been buffeted by the high winds here on the top of Peters Mountain. We didn't see anyone else on the ground, but one of the tree sitters did poke her head out from under the plastic.

WV DEP Orders Rover Pipeline To Stop Construction, Citing Multiple Violations

March 16, 2018 Kate Mishkin, Wvgazettemail.com Educate! Pipelines, Water Pollution, West Virginia

State regulators have slapped a cease-and-desist order on a natural gas pipeline, citing multiple water pollution violations, according to a letter made public by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. The 713-mile-long Rover Pipeline, which would transport 3.25 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from processing plants in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, received the order on March 5 from Scott Mandirola, director of the Division of Water and Waste Management, documents show. According to the order, DEP officials conducted inspections on four days in February, during which they said they found 14 violations in Doddridge, Tyler and Wetzel counties. The alleged offenses include leaving trash and construction debris partially buried on site, improperly installing perimeter control and failing to inspect or clean public and private roads around the construction site.

What You Didn’t Know About West Virginia Strike + FBI Geeks & Methane Leaks

March 15, 2018 Eleanor Goldfield, Occupy.com Resistance Report FBI, Leak, Methane, Strikes, West Virginia

This week on Act Out! Fracking, fires and methane leaks oh my. The geeks are watching you and here's a solution to student debt. Finally, the strike in West Virginia may be over but the fight continues. We dive into details – good and bad – and the possible rally growing from roots all over the country. West Virginia teacher Brittney Barlett joins us as well to talk backstory – aftermath - and the road ahead.

As Class Divides Expand, More Calls For Internet Censorship

March 13, 2018 By Jerry White, Wsws.org Educate! Censorship, Class Struggle, Internet, Strikes, Teachers, West Virginia

The growing wave of working-class unrest in the United States and internationally is exposing and clarifying basic political questions. Among them is the central purpose of the campaign by the tech giants, the US government and the mass media to censor the Internet, under the fraudulent pretense of combating “fake news” and “Russian meddling.” The real aim is the suppression of social opposition. This week is opening with an expanding number of working-class struggles. Although the unions managed to sell out and end the nine-day strike of 30,000 West Virginia teachers and school employees last week, the rebellion of educators across the US is spreading. Teachers in Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arizona—organizing chiefly through Facebook groups that have added tens of thousands of users in the last few weeks—are pressing for West Virginia-like strikes to demand higher pay and secure pensions.

Anti-Pipeline Tree Sitters In Second Week, Need Support

March 12, 2018 Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance. Resist! Oil and Gas, Pipelines, Tree Sitting, West Virginia

Peters Mountain, WV - Tree sitters with Appalachians Against Pipelines are now in the second week of their action to stop tree cutting for the Mountain Valley Pipeline on the border of Virginia and West Virginia. The pipeline company has to complete the tree cutting by March 31, 2018 or violate federal wildlife protections for bats. The tree sitters need your support.

The West Virginia Option

March 12, 2018 Joe Burns, Portside.org Organize! Labor, Strikes, Teachers, Unions, West Virginia, Workers Rights and Jobs

The ongoing teachers’ strike in West Virginia is remarkable in many ways. Thousands of public workers are engaged in a grassroots rebellion, defying restrictions on their right to strike. They’ve forced the state’s Republican governor to grant concessions, carrying on despite an announced deal by union officials. They’ve inspired other workers to think anew about militant action, both in West Virginia and outside the state. All of this is fitting at a time when anti-union forces are trying to turn back the clock on collective bargaining rights. The modern public employee union movement was born of struggle — the product of a great strike wave in the 1960s and 1970s. The school personnel strike in West Virginia represents a return to those militant days.

Tree-Sitting To Stop The Mountain Valley Pipeline

March 9, 2018 The Final Straw Radio, Earthfirstjournal.org Resist! Pipelines, Protests, Social Movements, Virginia, West Virginia

This week, Bursts spoke with Birch and Judy, two folks involved in the Tree Sits on Peter Mountain along the Appalachian Trail on the border of Virginia and West Virginia. The tree sits are operating in order to block the Mountain Valley Pipeline or MVP. Before all of the permits have been ok’d, contractors with the help of local law enforcement have been clearing the path for the pipeline. This preparation would include 3,800 feet blasted through the mountains or if that didn’t work the blasting of a trench that length through the mountains. We also talk about the ACP, or Atlantic Coast Pipeline, in this conversation and the connections between the two projects and their resistance.

West Virginia Gas Companies Wined And Dined Lawmakers Before Scoring Favorable Fracking Legislation

March 7, 2018 By Alex Kotch, Desmogblog.com Educate! Fracking, Gas, Legislation, Lobbying, West Virginia

A country club luncheon. A $130 steak dinner. A whiskey tasting. Dinner at an historic neo-Georgian mansion. These are just a few examples of the many occasions last year when oil and gas lobbyists wined and dined West Virginia state lawmakers on key committees that craft fossil fuel legislation. Lobbyists representing industry players including natural gas giant EQT, Antero Resources, TransCanada, and multiple oil and gas trade associations wooed state lawmakers with thousands of dollars’ worth of food and drink throughout 2017, according to lobbying records obtained by DeSmog. In early 2018, just months after some of these fancy gatherings took place, most oil and gas companies got something they wanted: A “co-tenancy” bill, HB 4268, that allows these companies to drill for natural gas on private land with the consent of only 75 percent of the landowners.

What The Teachers Won

March 7, 2018 Emily Comer and Jay O'Neal, Jacobinmag.com Create! Class Struggle, Strikes, Teachers, West Virginia

West Virginia shows that we can fight back and win. We talk to two teachers to assess the tentative settlement and what comes next. On Tuesday afternoon, a deal to give all public employees in the state of West Virginia a 5 percent pay raise was passed by the legislature and signed by the governor. A struggle that mobilized tens of thousands of workers, won widespread popular support, and was led by rank-and-file leaders, ended in a tangible victory. Confusion arose, however, as reports indicated that Republican state politicians wanted to offset the increase with cuts to social services. But though the Republicans are threatening to pay for this in part through cutting essential services, the bill itself is not tied to any such cuts. To assess the tentative strike settlement, Jacobin’s Eric Blanc sat down with Emily Comer and Jay O’Neal — teachers and union activists in Charleston, West Virginia.

“It Was About The Insurance Fix”

March 6, 2018 Meagan Day, Jacobinmag.com Resist! Medicare for all, Strikes, Teachers, West Virginia

On Friday, hundreds of striking teachers flooded the foyer of the West Virginia capitol building in Charleston. Holding signs that read “Whose side are you on?” they voted to occupy the building until their demands were met. As the Supreme Court considers the Janus v. AFSCME case this very week — posing an existential threat to public sector unions throughout the country — labor movement activists should be watching the West Virginia teachers’ strike closely. The coincidence of the two events seems almost scripted: as Janus promises to gut the legal framework for public sector worker organizing, West Virginia teachers are militantly flouting the law. Many in the labor movement contend that this level of rank-and-file engagement is the key to surviving right to work.

West Virginia Teachers Occupy Streets In Statewide Strike

March 3, 2018 Staff, Rt.com Resist! Strikes, Teachers, West Virginia

Every single public school in West Virginia is closed. Teachers across the state staged a walkout in protest against one of the lowest salaries in the country and the rising cost of healthcare. It is the first statewide teachers’ strike in almost 30 years in West Virginia. Over 270,000 students have been affected, according to the latest enrolment figures from the state Education Department. “I never dreamed 19 years ago when I started teaching that I would have to work a second job to provide for my kids. I knew teaching wouldn’t make [me] billions, but I thought it would be enough,” second grade teacher Rebecca Diamond told the Huffington Post. On Thursday, teachers and their supporters demonstrated outside the state Capitol and in other cities.

West Virginia Strike Continues As Teachers Reject Unions’ Back-To-Work Order

March 2, 2018 Joseph Kishore, Wsws.org Resist! Class Struggle, Labor, Strikes, Teachers, Unions, West Virginia

The statewide strike by more than 30,000 West Virginia teachers and school employees is continuing today, with workers rejecting an agreement announced Tuesday by the trade unions and the state’s billionaire governor, Jim Justice. Thousands of teachers descended on the state capitol Wednesday—a day designated by the unions as a “cooling off” period—chanting “We got sold out,” “It’s not over,” “Where’s the union?” and “We’re not leaving.” Signs carried by teachers included, “I just won a chicken on Let’s Make a Deal” and “Cool down day is heating us up.” The continuation of the strike is a devastating repudiation of the American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia (AFT-WV) and the West Virginia Education Association (WVEA), which hailed the agreement with Justice as a major victory for teachers.

In West Virginia, Historic Statewide Teacher Walkouts To Head Into Fourth Day

February 27, 2018 Andrea Germanos, Alternet.org Resist! Protests, Teachers, West Virginia, Workers Rights and Jobs

Thousands of teachers and other school personnel rallied outside in the West Virginia Capitol on Monday, where union officials announced that the first-ever statewide walkout underway would continue for a fourth day. "Our teachers and our public employees are getting less in pay per year every year, and people are fed up and fired up about it," said Morgantown High School art teacher Sam Brunett at a candlelight vigil Sunday outside the Capitol. The strike, which began Thursday, is indeed historic. (A nearly statewide strike took place in 1990.) The current action is taking place throughout the state's 55 counties, which means roughly 20,000 teachers are taking part.

West Virginia’s Public Schools Closed Due To Teacher Walk-Out Over Pay

February 23, 2018 Staff, Wtvr.com Resist! Labor, Protests, Schools, Teachers, West Virginia, Workers Rights and Jobs

Public schools across West Virginia are closed Thursday as teachers and other school employees hit the picket lines, demanding higher wages and better benefits. According to Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association, teachers in all of the state’s 55 counties are participating in the planned two-day walk-out, and a group will march Thursday morning to the capitol building in Charleston. Organizers expect thousands of teachers to participate. The work stoppage comes after Gov. Jim Justice signed legislation late Wednesday night granting teachers a 2% pay increase starting in July, followed by 1% pay increases over the next two years. But union officials have said that’s not a sufficient fix. Teachers are also requesting better healthcare and benefits packages. “We need to keep our kids and teachers in the classroom,” Justice said in a statement after signing the pay raise bill.

Listing Donations Of Committee Members Gets Woman Evicted In W. Virginia

February 12, 2018 Russell Mokhiber, Morgancountyusa.org Resist! Money in Politics, Oil and Gas, West Virginia

Lissa Lucas traveled the 100 miles from her home in Cairo, West Virginia to the state capitol in Charleston yesterday to testify against an oil and gas industry sponsored bill (HB 4268) that would allow companies to drill on minority mineral owners’ land without their consent. Lucas began to testify to the House Judiciary Committee, but a few minutes in, her microphone was turned off. And Lucas was dragged out of the room. Lucas is running for the House of Delegates from Ritchie County, which has been overrun by the fracking industry. “As I tried to give my remarks at the public hearing this morning on HB 4268 in defense of our constitutional property rights, I got dragged out of House chambers,” Lucas said. “Why? Because I was listing out who has been donating to Delegates on the Judiciary Committee.”

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