MEMORIAL CONCERNING MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL MINING

WHEREAS: Since time began, the mountains in Appalachia have been one of the wonders of this area.

Destroying the beauty of the mountains has been taking place for some time.

WHEREAS: “Mountaintop removal is a quick, cheap method of mining that has become a way of life for the coal companies of Appalachia, leaving approximately 470 mountaintops blasted away in order to mine relatively thin veins of coal…” (www.patchwork films.com/mtraudubon.htm. 12/6/06:

WHEREAS: Mountaintop removal is devastating hundreds of square miles of Appalachia; polluting the headwaters of rivers that provide drinking water to millions of Americans; and destroying a distinctly American culture that has endured for generations;

WHEREAS; Sludge/slurry impoundments sit above small communities behind sometimes leaking earthen dams, providing a continual threat of flooding and leaking toxic chemicals into the groundwater:;

WHEREAS: The Evangelical Church in America’s Social Statements on Caring for Creation, adopted by the 1993 Churchwide Assembly, states that “we see the despoiling of the environment as nothing less than the degradation of God’s gracious gift of creation.”

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America memorialize the voting members of the Churchwide Assembly

1) actively explore ways to raise awareness of Mountaintop Removal Mining practices within the national Church body.

2) work with the West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod and other synods in the Appalachian Region , through their social service branches (i.e. Community Luitheran Partners) to provide direct aid to residents affected by flooding and contaminated drinking water caused by Mountaintop Removal Mining practices. Respectfully submitted by:

Peggy Blatt